PROTESTANTISM 


AND 


CATHOLICITY 


COMPARED    IN    THEIR 


EFFECTS  ON  THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  EUROPE. 


WRITTEN     IN     SPANISH 


BY    THE    REV.    J.    BALMES 

n 


TRANSLATED    FROM    THE    FRENCH. 


'  - 


BALTIMORE: 
PUBLISHED    BY    JOHN^MURPHY    &    CO. 

No.    178    MARKET    STREET. 

PITTSBURG:     GEORGE     QUIGLEY. 

Sold  by  Booksellers  generally. 

1851. 


tSX  '753 


50  f 


ENTERED,  according-  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty, 
by  JOHN  MURPHY  &  Co..  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Maryland. 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE. 

AMONG  the  many  and  important  evils  which  have  been  the  necessary 
result  of  the  profound  revolutions  of  modern  times,  there  appears  a  good 
extremely  valuable  to  science,  and  which  will  probably  have  a  beneficial 
influence  on  the  human  race, — I  mean  the  love  of  studies  having  for 
their  object  man  and  society.  The  shocks  have  been  so  rude,  that  the 
earth  has,  as  it  were,  opened  under  our  feet;  and  the  human  mind, 
which,  full  of  pride  and  haughtiness,  but  lately  advanced  on  a  triumphal 
car  amid  acclamations  and  cries  of  victory,  has  been  alarmed  and 
stopped  in  its  career.  Absorbed  by  an  important  thought,  overcome  by 
a  profound  reflection,  it  has  asked  itself,  "What  am  I?  whence  do  I 
come?  what  is  my  destination?"  Religious  questions  have  regained 
their  high  importance;  and  when  they  might  have  been  supposed  to 
have  been  scattered  by  the  breath  of  indifference,  or  almost  annihilated 
by  the  astonishing  development  of  material  interests,  by  the  progress  of 
the  natural  and  exact  sciences,  by  the  continually  increasing  ardour  of 
political  debates, — we  have  seen  that,  so  far  from  having  been  stifled  by 
the  immense  weight  which  seemed  to  have  overwhelmed  them,  they  have 
reappeared  on  a  sudden  in  all  their  magnitude,  in  their  gigantic  form, 
predominant  over  society,  and  reaching  from  the  heavens  to  the  abyss. 

This  disposition  of  men's  minds  naturally  drew  their  attention  to  the 
religious  revolution  of  the  sixteenth  century;  it  was  natural  that  they 
should  ask  what  this  revolution  had  done  to  promote  the  interests  of  hu- 
manity. Unhappily,  great  mistakes  have  been  made  in  this  inquiry. 
Either  because  they  have  looked  at  the  facts  through  the  distorted  me- 
dium of  sectarian  prejudice,  or  because  they  have  only  considered  them 
superficially,  men  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  the  reformers 
of  the  sixteenth  century  conferred  a  signal  benefit  on  the  nations  of 
Europe,  by  contributing  to  the  development  of  science,  of  the  arts,  of 
human  liberty,  and  of  every  thing  which  is  comprised  in  the  word 
civilization. 

What  do  history  and  philosophy  say  on  this  subject  ?  How  has  man, 
either  individually  or  collectively,  considered  in  a  religious,  social,  politi- 
cal, or  literary  point  of  view,  been  benefited  by  the  reform  of  the  six- 
teenth century?  Did  Europe,  under  the  exclusive  influence  of  Catholi- 
city, pursue  a  prosperous  career  ?  Did  Catholicity  impose  a  single  fetter 


IV  PREFACE    TO    THE    AMERICAN    EDITION. 

on  the  movements  of  civilization  ?  This  is  the  examination  which  I 
propose  to  make  in  this  work.  Every  age  has  its  peculiar  wants  ;  and 
it  is  much  to  be  wished  that  all  Catholic  writers  were  convinced,  that  the 
complete  examination  of  these  questions  is  one  of  the  most  urgent  neces- 
sities of  the  times  in  which  we  live.  Bellarmine  and  Bossuet  have  done 
what  was  required  for  their  times ;  we  ought  to  do  the  same  for  ours. 
I  am  fully  aware  of  the  immense  extent  of  the  questions  I  have  adverted 
to,  and  I  do  not  flatter  myself  that  I  shall  be  able  to  elucidate  them  as 
they  deserve ;  but,  however  this  may  be,  I  promise  to  enter  on  my  task 
with  the  courage  which  is  inspired  by  a  love  of  truth ;  and  when  my 
strength  shall  be  exhausted,  I  shall  sit  down  with  tranquillity  of  mind,  in 
expectation  that  another,  more  vigorous  than  myself,  will  carry  into 
effect  so  important  an  enterprise. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

THE  work  of  Balmes  on  the  comparative  influence  of  Protestantism 
and  Catholicity  on  European  civilization,  which  is  now  presented  to  the 
American  public,  was  written  in  Spanish,  and  won  for  the  author  among 
his  own  countrymen  a  very  high  reputation.  A  French  edition  was  pub- 
lished simultaneously  with  the  Spanish,  and  the  work  has  since  been 
translated  into  the  Italian  and  English  languages,  and  been  widely  cir- 
culated as  one  of  the  most  learned  productions  of  the  age,  and  most  ad- 
mirably suited  to  the  exigencies  of  our  times.  When  Protestantism  could 
no  longer  maintain  its  position  in  the  field  of  theology,  compelling  its 
votaries  by  its  endless  variations  to  espouse  open  infidelity,  or  to  fall 
back  upon  the  ancient  church,  it  adopted  a  new  mode  of  defence,  in 
pointing  to  its  pretended  achievements  as  the  liberator  of  the  human 
mind,  the  friend  of  civil  and  religious  freedom,  the  patron  of  science  and 
the  arts;  in  a  word,  the  active  element  in  all  social  ameliorations.  This 
is  the  cherished  idea  and  boasted  argument  of  those  who  attempt  to  up- 
hold Protestantism  as  a  system.  They  claim  for  it  the  merit  of  having 
freed  the  intellect  of  man  from  a  degrading  bondage,  given  a  nobler  im- 
pulse to  enterprise  and  industry,  and  sown  in  every  direction  the  seed 
of  national  and  individual  prosperity.  Looking  at  facts  superficially,  or 
through  the  distorted  medium  of  prejudice,  they  tell  us  that  the  reformers 
of  the  16th  century  contributed  much  to  the  development  of  science  and 


PREFACE    TO    THE    AMERICAN    EDITION.  V 

the  arts,  of  human  liberty,  and  of  every  thing  which  is  comprised  in  the 
word  civilization.  To  combat  this  delusion,  so  well  calculated  to  en- 
snare the  minds  of  men  in  this  materialistic  and  utilitarian  age,  the 
author  undertook  the  work,  a  translation  of  which  is  here  presented  to  the 
public.  "  What  do  history  and  philosophy  say  on  this  subject  ?  How  has 
man,  either  individually  or  collectively,  considered  in  a  religious,  social, 
political,  or  literary  point  of  view,  been  benefited  by  the  reform  of  the  16th 
century?  Did  Europe,  under  the  exclusive  influence  of  Catholicity,  pursue 
a  prosperous  career?  Did  Catholicity  impose  a  single  fetter  on  the  move- 
ments of  civilization?"  Such  is  the  important  investigation  which  the  au- 
thor proposed  to  himself,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  has  accomplished 
his  task  with  the  most  brilliant  success  ?  Possessed  of  a  penetrating 
mind,  cultivated  by  profound  study  and  adorned  with  the  most  varied 
erudition,  and  guided  by  a  fearless  love  of  truth,  he  traverses  the  whole 
Christian  era,  comparing  the  gigantic  achievements  of  Catholicity,  in 
curing  the  evils  of  mankind,  elevating  human  nature,  and  diffusing  light 
and  happiness,  with  the  results  of  which  Protestantism  may  boast;  and 
he  proves,  with  the  torch  of  history  and  philosophy  in  his  hand,  that  the 
latter,  far  from  having  exerted  any  beneficial  influence  upon  society,  has 
retarded  the  great  work  of  civilization  wiiich  Catholicity  commenced,  and 
which  was  advancing  so  prosperously  under  her  auspicious  guidance. 
He  does  not  say  that  nothing  has  been  done  for  civilization  by  Protest- 
ants; but  he  asserts  and  proves  that  Protestantism  has  been  greatly  un- 
favorable, and  even  injurious  to  it. 

By  thus  exposing  the  short-comings,  or  rather  evils  of  Protestantism, 
in  a  social  and  political  point  of  view,  as  Bossuet  and  others  had  exhi- 
bited them  under  the  theological  aspect,  Balmes  has  rendered  a  most  im- 
portant service  to  Catholic  literature.  He  has  supplied  the  age  with  a 
work,  which  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  its  wants,  and  which  must  command 
a  general  attention  in  the  United  States.  The  Catholic,  in  perusing  its 
pages,  will  learn  to  admire  still  more  the  glorious  character  of  the  faith 
which  he  professes:  the  Protestant,  if  sincere,  will  open  his  eyes  to  the 
incompatibility  of  his  principles  with  the  happiness  of  mankind:  while 
the  scholar  in  general  will  find  in  it  a  vast  amount  of  information,  on  the 
most  vital  and  interesting  topics,  and  presented  in  a  style  of  eloquence 
seldom  equalled. 

"The  reader  is  requested  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  author  was  a  native 
of  Spain,  and  therefore  he  must  not  be  surprised  to  find  much  that  re- 
lates more  particularly  to  that  country.  In  fact,  the  fear  that  Protestant- 


VI  PREFACE    TO    THE    AMERICAN    EDITION. 

ism  might  be  introduced  there  seems  to  have  been  the  motive  which  in- 
duced him  to  undertake  the  work.  He  was  evidently  a  man  of  strong 
national  as  well  as  religious  feeling,  and  he  dreaded  its  introduction  both 
politically  and  religiously,  as  he  considered  that  it  would  be  injurious  to 
his  country  in  both  points  of  view.  He  thought  that  it  would  destroy 
the  national  unity,  as  it  certainly  did  in  other  countries. 

"A  very  interesting  part  of  the  work  is  that  where  he  states  the  rela- 
tions of  religion  and  political  freedom ;  shows  that  Catholicity  is  by  no 
means  adverse  to  the  latter,  but,  on  the  contrary,  highly  favorable  to  it ; 
and  proves  by  extracts  from  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  and  other  great  Catho- 
lic divines,  that  they  entertained  the  most  enlightened  political  views. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  shows  that  Protestantism  was  unfavorable  to  civil 
liberty,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fact,  that  arbitrary  power  made  great  pro- 
gress in  various  countries  of  Europe  soon  after  its  appearance.  The 
reason  of  this  was,  that  the  moral  control  of  religion  being  taken  away, 
physical  restraint  became  the  more  necessary."  The  author,  on  this  sub- 
ject, naturally  expresses  a  preference  for  monarchy,  it  being  a  cherished 
inheritance  from  his  forefathers ;  but,  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  princi- 
ples which  he  lays  down  as  essential  to  a  right  administration  of  civil 
affairs,  regard  the  substance  and  not  the  form  of  government;  are  as  ne- 
cessary under  a  republican  as  under  the  monarchical  system ;  and,  if 
duly  observed,  they  cannot  fail  to  ensure  the  happiness  of  the  people. 
This  portion  of  the  volume  will  be  read  with  peculiar  interest  in  this 
country,  and  ought  to  command  an  attentive  consideration. 

In  preparing  this  edition  of  the  work  from  the  English  translation  by 
Messrs.  Hanford  and  Kershaw,  care  has  been  taken  to  revise  the  whole 
of  it,  to  compare  it  with  the  original  French,  and  to  correct  the  various 
errors,  particularly  the  mistakes  in  translation.  A  biographical  notice  of 
the  illustrious  writer  has  also  been  prefixed  to  the  volume,  to  give  the 
reader  an  insight  into  his  eminent  character,  and  the  valuable  services 
he  has  rendered  to  his  country  and  to  society  at  large. 

BALTIMORE,  November  1,  1850. 


NOTICE    OF    THE    AUTHOR. 

JAMES  BALMES  was  born  at  Vich,  a  small  city  in  Catalonia,  in  Spain, 
on  the  28th  of  August,  1810.  His  parents  were  poor,  but  noted  for  their 
industry  and  religion,  and  they  took  care  to  train  him  from  his  childhood 
to  habits  of  rigid  piety.  Every  morning,  after  the  holy  sacrifice  of  mass, 
his  mother  prostrate  before  an  altar  dedicated  to  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin, 
implored  this  illustrious  doctor  to  obtain  for  her  son  the  gifts  of  sanctity 
and  knowledge.  Her  prayers  were  not  disappointed. 

From  seven  to  ten  years  of  age,  Balmes  applied  himself  with  great 
ardor  to  the  study  of  Latin.  The  two  following  years  were  devoted  to 
a  course  of  rhetoric,  and  three  years  more  were  allotted  to  philosophy; 
a  ninth  year  was  occupied  with  the  prolegomena  of  theology.  Such 
was  the  order  of  studies  in  the  seminary  of  Vich.  While  thus  laboring 
to  store  his  mind  with  knowledge,  Balmes  preserved  an  irreproachable 
line  of  conduct.  Called  to  the  ecclesiastical  state,  he  submitted  readily 
to  the  strict  discipline  which  this  vocation  required,  and  he  was  seen 
nowhere  but  under  the  parental  roof,  at  the  church,  in  some  religious 
community,  or  in  the  episcopal  library.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was 
admitted  to  a  benefice,  the  revenue  of  which,  though  small,  enabled  him 
to  complete  his  education.  In  1826,  he  went  to  the  University  of  Cer- 
vera,  which  at  that  time  was  the  centre  of  public  instruction  in  that  part 
of  Spain.  It  numbered  Your  colleges,  in  all  of  which  an  enlightened 
piety  prevailed,  affording  the  young  Balmes  a  most  favorable  opportunity 
of  developing  his  rare  qualities.  Here,  the  frame  and  habit  of  his  mind 
were  observable  to  all,  in  his  deep  and  animated  look,  in  his  grave  and 
modest  demeanor,  and  in  his  method  of  study.  He  would  read  a  few 
pages  over  a  table,  his  head  resting  upon  his  hands ;  then,  wrapt  in  his 
mantle,  he  would  spend  a  Jong  time  in  reflection.  "  The  true  method  of 
study,"  he  used  to  say,  "is  to  read  little,  to  select  good  authors,  and  to 
think  much.  If  we  confined  ourselves  to  a  knowledge  of  what  is  con- 
tained in  books,  the  sciences  would  never  advance  a  step.  We  must 
learn  what  others  have  not  known.  During  my  meditations  in  the  dark, 
my  thoughts  ferment,  and  my  brain  burns  like  a  boiling  cauldron." 

Devoted  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  he  cultivated  retirement  as  a 
means  of  facilitating  the  attainment  of  his  object.  His  thirst  for  learn- 


VIII  NOTICE    OF    THE    AUTHOR. 

ing  was  so  intense,  that  it  held  him  under  absolute  sway,  and  he  found 
it  necessary  at  a  later  period  to  offer  a  systematic  resistance  to  its  ex- 
clusive demands.  Pursuing  his  favorite  method  of  study,  Balmes  re- 
mained four  years  at  the  University  of  Cervera,  reading  no  other  works 
than  the  Sum  of  St.  Thomas,  and  the  commentaries  upon  it  by  Bellar- 
mine,  Suarez  and  Cajetan.  If  he  made  any  exception  from  this  rule, 
it  was  in  favor  of  Chateaubriand's  Genie  du  Christanisme.  "Every- 
thing," said  he,  "  is  to  be  found  in  St.  Thomas  ;  philosophy,  religion, 
politics:  his  writings  are  an  inexhaustible  mine."  Having  thus  strength- 
ened his  mind  by  a  due  application  to  philosophical  and  theological  stu- 
dies, he  proceeded  to  enlarge  his  sphere  of  knowledge  by  reading  a 
greater  variety  of  authors.  In  taking  up  a  work,  he  first  looked  at  the 
table  of  contents,  and  when  it  suggested  an  idea  or  fact  which  seemed 
to  open  before  him  a  new  path,  he  read  that  part  of  the  volume  which 
developed  this  idea  or  fact ;  the  rest  was  overlooked.  In  this  way,  he 
accumulated  a  rich  store  of  varied  erudition.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two 
he  knew  by  memory  the  tabular  contents  of  an  extraordinary  number  of 
volumes ;  he  had  learned  the  French  language ;  he  spoke  and  wrote 
Latin  better  than  his  native  tongue,  and  had  been  admitted  successively 
to  the  degrees  of  bachelor  and  licentiate  in  theology.  The  virtues  of 
his  youth,  far  from  having  been  weakened  by  these  studies,  had  acquired 
greater  strength  and  maturity.  As  he  approached  the  solemn  period  of 
his  ordination,  he  became  still  more  remarkable  for  the  gravity  and  mo- 
desty of  his  deportment.  He  prepared  himself  for  his  elevation  to  the 
priesthood  by  a  retreat  of  one  hundred  days.  After  his  promotion  to  the 
sacerdotal  dignity,  which  took  place  in  his  native  city,  he  returned  to 
the  University  of  Cervera,  where  he  continued  his  studies,  and  performed 
the  duties  of  assistant  professor.  Here  also  he  began  to  manifest  his 
political  views ;  but,  always  with  that  discretion  and  moderation  for 
which  the  Spanish  clergy  have  been  with  few  exceptions  distinguished 
during  the  last  twenty  years.  At  that  period  Spain  was  agitated  by  two 
conflicting  parties,  that  of  Maria  Christina  and  the  other  of  Don  Carlos. 
Balmes  avoided  all  questions  which  were  rather  calculated  to  encourage 
the  spirit  of  faction  than  promote  the  general  interest  of  the  country. 
In  1835  he  evinced  this  circumspection  in  a  remarkable  degree,  when 
the  doctorate  which  had  been  conferred  upon  him,  required  him  to  de- 
liver an  address  in  honor  of  the  reigning  monarch.  Maria  Christina  was 
then  the  queen  regent,  and  civil  war  was  about  to  commence  in  the 
mountains  of  Catalonia ;  but  Balmes  performed  his  task  without  allusion 
to  politics,  and  without  offending  the  adherents  of  either  party. 

After  two  years  of  study  at  Cervera,  where  he  applied  himself  to 
theology  and  law,  our  author  returned  to  Vich,  where  he  determined  to 
spend  four  years  more  in  retirement,  for  the  purpose  of  maturing  his 
character  and  knowledge.  In  this  solitude,  he  devoted  himself  to  his- 


NOTICE    OF    THE     AUTHOR.  IX 

tory,  poetry  and  politics,  but  principally  to  mathematics,  of  which  he  ob- 
tained a  professorship  in  1837.  During  all  these  literary  labors,  Balmes 
was  actuated  by  a  lively  faith,  and  a  sincere,  unassuming  piety.  Religious 
meditation,  intermingled  with  scientific  reflections,  was  the  constant  oc- 
cupation of  his  mind;  he  did  not  neglect,  however,  the  exterior  prac- 
tices of  devotion.  Besides  the  celebration  of  the  holy  sacrifice,  he  fre- 
quently visited  the  blessed  sacrament,  and  paid  his  homage  to  the  B. 
Virgin  in  some  solitary  chapel.  The  Following  of  Christ,  the  Sum  of 
the  angelic  doctor,  and  the  Holy  Scriptures,  were  always  in  his  hands, 
and  he  took  pleasure  in  reading  the  ascetic  writers  of  his  own  country. 
In  this  way  did  he  prepare  himself,  until  the  age  of  thirty,  to  become 
one  of  the  most  solid  and  gifted  minds  of  our  time,  and  to  act  the  im- 
portant part  to  which  he  was  called  by  Divine  Providence. 

The  first  literary  effort  of  Balmes  before  the  public,  was  a  prize  essay 
which  he  wrote  on  clerical  celibacy.  This  was  soon  followed  by  another 
production  of  his  pen,  entitled  "  Observations  on  the  Property  of  the 
Clergy,  in  a  social,  political,  and  commercial  point  of  view,"  which  was 
elicited  by  the  clamoring  of  the  revolutionary  army  under  Espaftero  for 
the  spoliation  of  the  clergy.  The  learning,  philosophy  and  eloquence 
of  the  writer  in  this  work,  excited  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the 
most  distinguished  statesmen  in  the  country.  Some  months  after,  he 
published  his  u  Political  Considerations  on  the  Condition  of  Spain,"  in 
which  he  had  the  courage  to  defend  the  rights  of  both  parties  in  the 
country,  and  to  suggest  means  of  a  conciliatory  nature  for  restoring  pub- 
lic order  and  tranquillity. 

Amidst  these  political  efforts,  Balmes  did  not  lay  aside  his  peculiar 
functions  as  a  minister  of  God.  The  edification  of  the  faithful,  the  reli- 
gious instruction  of  youth,  and  the  defence  of  the  faith  against  the 
assaults  of  heresy  and  rationalism,  were  constant  objects  of  his  atten- 
tion. During  the  same  year,  1840,  he  translated  and  published  the 
"  Maxims  of  St.  Francis  ®f  Sales  for  every  day  in  the  year ;"  he  also 
composed  a  species  of  catechism  for  the  instruction  of  young  persons, 
which  was  very  extensively  circulated.  At  the  same  time  he  undertook 
the  preparation  of  the  present  work,  in  order  to  counteract  the  pernicious 
influence  exerted  among  his  countrymen  by  Guizot's  lectures  on  Euro- 
pean civilization,  and  to  neutralize  the  facilities  offered  under  the  regime 
of  Espartero  for  the  success  of  a  Protestant  Propagandism  in  Spain. 
The  occasion  and  object  of  this  work  rendered  it  expedient  that  it  should 
be  published  simultaneously  in  Spanish  and  in  French,  and  with  this 
view  our  author  visited  France,  and  afterwards,  to  extend  his  observa- 
tions, passed  into  England. 

On  his  return  to  Barcelona,  towards  the  close  of  1842,  Balmes  became 
a  collaborator  in  the  editing  of  the  Civilization,  a  monthly  periodical 
of  great  merit,  devoted  to  literary  reviews,  and  to  solid  instruction  on 


NOTICE    OF    THE    AUTHOR. 


the  current  topics  of  the  day.  His  connection  with  this  work  lasted 
only  eighteen  months.  He  then  commenced  a  review  of  his  own,  enti- 
tled the  Sociedad,  a  philosophical,  political,  and  religious  journal,  which 
acquired  a  great  reputation  during  the  one  year  of  its  existence.  Driven 
soon  after  into  retirement  by  the  disturbances  of  the  times,  Balmes  com- 
posed another  philosophical  work,  El  Criteria,  which  is  a  course  of 
logic  adapted  to  every  capacity. 

From  the  national  uprising  that  overthrew  the  government  of  Espartero, 
there  arose  a  general  feeling  of  patriotic  independence,  which  called  for 
the  cessation  of  civil  strife,  and  the  harmonizing  of  the  two  parties  that 
divided  the  nation.  Many  of  the  adherents  of  Maria  Christina,  who 
were  the  nobility  and  the  bourgeoisie,  recognized  the  excesses  of  the 
revolutionary  faction  which  they  had  called  to  their  aid,  while  the  Carlists 
were  not  all  in  favor  of  absolute  monarchy,  and  numbered  an  imposing 
majority  among  the  lower  classes.  All  these  men  of  wise  and  moderate 
views  longed  to  see  a  remedy  applied  to  the  wounds  of  their  afflicted 
country ;  and  with  one  accord  they  turned  their  eyes  upon  Balmes,  as  the 
only  individual  capable  of  conducting  this  important  affair.  He  had 
already,  in  his  Political  Considerations,  indicated  the  principal  idea  of 
his  policy  for  putting  an  end  to  the  national  evils ;  it  was  a  matrimonial 
alliance  between  the  Queen  and  the  son  of  Don  Carlos.  Under  these 
circumstances  he  commenced  in  February,  1844,  a  new  journal,  entitled 
Pensamiento  de  la  Nation,  the  object  of  which  was  to  denounce  the 
revolutionary  spirit  as  the  enemy  of  all  just  and  peaceful  government, 
and  to  inspire  the  Spanish  people  with  a  proper  reverence  for  the  re- 
ligious, social  and  political  inheritance  received  from  their  ancestors,  and 
'with  a  due  respect  for  the  reasonable  ameliorations  of  the  age.  In  this 
spirit  the  different  questions  of  the  day  were  discussed  with  energy  and 
calmness,  and  especially  the  project  of  an  alliance  between  the  Queen 
and  the  son  of  Don  Carlos,  which  Balmes  considered  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance. This  measure,  such  as  he  proposed  it,  was,  to  use  the  lan- 
guage of  his  biographer,  "the  reconciliation  of  the  past  and  the  future, 
of  authority  and  liberty,  of  monarchy  and  representative  government." 
Such  was  the  patriotism,  dignity  and  force,  with  which  our  author  con- 
ducted his  hebdomadal,  that  it  won  the  esteem  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  among  the  Carlists,  while  it  also  acquired  favor 
among  an  immense  number  in  the  opposite  party.  To  support  its  views, 
a  daily  journal,  the  Conciliador,  was  started  by  a  body  of  young  but 
fervid  and  brilliant  writers,  and  nothing  it  would  seem  was  wanting  to 
insure  a  triumph  for  the  friends  of  Spain.  Prudence,  energy,  modera- 
tion, reason  and  eloquence,  with  a  majority  of  the  people  on  their  side, 
deserved  and  should  have  commanded  success;  but  they  could  not  pre- 
vail against  diplomatic  influence  and  court  intrigue.  Balmes  learned 
with  equal  surprise  and  affliction,  in  the  retirement  of  his  native  moun- 


NOTICE    OF    THE     AUTHOR.  XI 

tains,  that  the  government  had  resolved  to  offer  the  Queen  in  marriage  to 
the  infant  Don  Francisco,  and  the  infanta  to  the  Duke  of  Montpensier. 
This  was  a  severe  stroke  to  the  sincere  and  ardent  patriotism  of  Balmes. 
He  might  have  resisted  this  policy  with  the  power  and  eloquence  of  his 
pen,  but  he  preferred  a  silent  resignation  to  the  heat  of  political  strife, 
and  the  Pensamierlto  de  la  Nation,  although  a  lucrative  publication,  was 
discontinued  on  the  31st  of  December,  1846. 

During  that  same  year,  oar  author  collected  into  one  volume  his  va- 
rious essays  on  politics,  as  wrell  for  his  own  vindication  as  for  the  diffu- 
sion of  sound  instruction  on  the  condition  of  Spain.  The  following 
year  he  completed  his  "  Elementary  course  of  Philosophy."  But  his 
physical  strength  was  not  equal  to  these  arduous  labors.  To  re-establish 
in  some  degree  his  declining  health,  he  travelled  in  Spain  and  France, 
and  remained  several  weeks  in  Paris.  The  intellectual  and  moral  cor- 
ruption which  was  gnawing  at  the  very  vitals  of  the  French  nation,  and 
threatened  all  Europe  with  its  infection,  filled  him  with  increased  anxiety. 
He  predicted  the  dissolution  of  society,  and  a  return  to  barbarism,  unless 
things  would  take  some  unexpected  turn  through  the  special  interposition 
of  Providence.  This  last  hope  was  the  only  resource  left,  in  his  opinion, 
for  the  salvation  of  society  and  civilization,  and  he  exulted  when  he  be- 
held Pius  IX  opening  a  new  career  for  Italy,  and  consecrating  the  aspi- 
rations and  movements  of  all  who  advocated  legitimate  reform  and  ra- 
tional liberty.  The  political  ameliorations,  however,  of  the  sovereign 
Pontiff  appeared  to  the  opponents  of  liberalism  in  Spain,  at  variance 
with  the  great  opposition  which  Balmes  had  always  exhibited  to  the  rev- 
olutionary spirit.  Hence,  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  pay  the  just 
tribute  of  his  admiration  to  the  illustrious  individual  who  sat  in  the  chair 
of  Peter,  and  to  proclaim  the  eminent  virtues  of  the  prince  and  the 
pontiff.  This  he  did  with  surpassing  eloquence,  in  a  brochure  entitled 
Pius  IX,  the  brilliant  style^of  which  is  only  equalled  by  its  wisdom  of 
thought.  In  this  work,  he  sketches  with  graphic  pen,  the  acts  of  the 
papal  policy,  showing  that  the  holy  see  is  the  best  guide  of  men  in  the 
path  of  liberty  and  progress,  that  Pius  IX  shows  a  profound  knowledge 
of  the  evils  that  afflict  society,  and  possesses  all  the  energy  and  firmness 
necessary  to  apply  their  proper  remedy.  Balmes  was  full  of  hope  for  the 
future,  in  contemplating  the  course  of  the  great  head  of  the  church,  and 
he  cherished  this  hope  to  the  last  moment  of  his  life.  His  essay  on  the 
policy  of  Pius  IX  was  the  last  production  of  his  pen.  His  career  in  lit- 
erature was  brief,  but  brilliant  and  effective.  Eight  years  only  had  elapsed 
since  his  appearance  as  a  writer,  and  he  had  labored  with  eminent  suc- 
cess in  every  department  of  knowledge.  The  learned  divine,  the  pro- 
found philosopher,  the  enlightened  publicist,  he  has  stamped  upon  his 
age  the  impress  of  his  genius,  and  bequeathed  to  posterity  a  rich  legacy 
in  his  immortal  works.  In  the  moral  as  well  as  in  the  intellectual  point 


XII  NOTICE     OF     THE     AUTHOR. 

of  view,  his  merit  may  be  summed  up  in  those  words  of  Wisdom :. 
"Being  made  perfect  in  a  short  space,  he  fulfilled  a  long  time."  chap.  iv. 

This  distinguished  ecclesiastic,  the  boast  of  the  Spanish  clergy  and 
the  Catalan  people,  died  at  Vich,  his  native  city,  on  the  9th  of  July, 
1848,  in  the  same  spirit  of  lively  faith  and  fervent  piety  which  had  al- 
ways marked  his  life.  His  funeral  took  place  on  the  llth,  with  all  the 
pomp  that  could  be  furnished  by  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities. 
The  municipality  decreed  that  one  of  the  public  places  should  be  named 
after  him. 

Balmes  was  little  below  the  middle  height,  and  of  weak  and  slender 
frame.  But  the  appearance  of  feeble  health  which  he  exhibited,  was 
combatted  by  the  animation  of  his  looks.  His  forehead  and  lips  bore  the 
impress  of  energy,  which  was  to  be  seen  also  in  his  eyes,  black,  deep- 
set,  and  of  unusual  brightness.  The  expression  of  his  countenance  was 
a  mixture  of  vivacity,  openness,  melancholy  and  strength  of  mind.  A 
careful  observer  of  all  his  sacerdotal  duties,  he  found  in  the  practices  of 
piety,  the  vigor  which  he  displayed  in  his  intellectual  labors.  The  dis- 
tribution of  his  time  was  extremely  methodical,  and  his  pleasures  con- 
sisted only  in  the  society  of  his  friends.  To  the  prospect  of  temporal 
honors  and  the  favor  of  the  great,  he  was  insensible ;  neither  did  he  seek 
after  ecclesiastical  dignities  or  literary  distinctions.  His  aim  was  the 
diffusion  of  truth,  not  the  acquisition  of  a  great  reputation.  These  quali- 
ties, however,  with  his  eminent  talents,  varied  erudition,  and  invaluable 
writings,  have  won  for  him  a  universal  fame. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    NAME    AND    NATURE     OF    PROTESTANTISM,  Page   25 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CAUSES    OF    PROTESTANTISM. 

What  ought  to  be  attributed  to  the  genius  of  its  founders  —  Different  causes  assigned  for 
it  —  Errors  on  this  subject  —  Opinions  of  Guizot  —  Of  Bossuet  —  True  cause  of  Protestant- 
ism to  be  found  in  the  social  condition  of  European  nations)>r-^  -  .  ----  .  -'  .  .-  28 

CHAPTER  III. 

EXTRAORDINARY    PHENOMENON    IN    THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH. 

Divinity  of  the  Catholic  Church  proved  by  its  relations  with  the  human  mind  —  Remarka- 
ble acknowledgment  of  M.  Guizot  —  Consequences  of  that  acknowledgment,  .  .  38 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PROTESTANTISM    AND    THE    HUMAN    MIND. 

Protestantism  contains  a  principle  of  dissolution  —  It  tends  naturally  to  destroy  all  faith  — 
Dangerous  direction  given  to  the  human  mind  —  Description  of  the  human  mind,  .  42 

CHAPTER  V. 

INSTINCT    OF    FAITH    IN    THE    SCIENCES. 

Instinct  of  faith  —  This  instinct  extends  to  all  the  sciences  —  Newton,  Descartes  —  Observa- 
tions on  the  history  of  philosophy  —  Proselytism  —  Present  condition  of  the  human 
mind,  ...............  46 

CHAPTER  VI. 

DIFFERENT    RELIGIOUS    WANTS    OF    NATIONS  -  MATHEMATICS  -  MORAL    SCIENCES. 

Important  error  committed  by  Protestantism,  with  regard  to  the  religious  government  of 
the  human  mind,  .........  .  .  .  .50 

CHAPTER  VII. 

INDIFFERENCE    AND    FANATICISM. 

Two  opposite  evils,  fruits  of  Protestantism  —  Origin  of  fanaticism  —  The  Church  has  pre- 
pared the  history  of  the  human  mind  —  Private  interpretation  of  the  Bible  —  Passage  from 
O'Callaghan  —  Description  of  the  Bible,  .........  53 

N  CHAPTER  VIII. 

FANATICISM  -  ITS    DEFINITION  -  FANATICISM    IN    THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH. 

Connexion  between  fanaticism  and  religious  feeling  —  Impossibility  of  destroying  it  —  Means 
of  diminishing  it  —  The  Church  has  used  these  means,  and  with  what  result?  —  Observa- 
tions on  the  pretended  Catholic  fanatics  —  Description  of  the  religious  excitement  of  the 
founders  of  orders  in  the  Church,  ..........  57 

CHAPTER  IX. 

INCREDULITY    AND     RELIGIOUS     INDIFFERENCE    IN     EUROPE    THE    FRUITS     OF    PROTESTANTISM. 

Lamentable  symptoms  of  these  from  the  beginning  of  Protestantism  —  Remarkable  reli- 
gious crisis  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  —  Bossuet  and  Leibnitz  —  The 
Jansenists—  Their   influence  —  Dictionary  of   Ba 
peared—State  of  opinions  among  the  Protestants, 

CHAPTER  X. 

CAUSES    OF    THE    CONTINUED    EXISTENCE    OF    PROTESTANTISM. 

Important  qV^stion  with  regard  to  the  continuance  of  Protestantism  —  Religious  indiffer- 
ence with  respect  to  man  collectively  and  individually  —  European  societies  with  relation 
to  Mahometanism  and  idolatry  —  How  Catholicity  and  Protestantism  are  capable  of  de- 
fending the  truth—  Intimate  connexion  between  Christianity  and  European  civiliza- 
tion, .  .  .....  64 


Jansenists—  Their   influence  —  Dictionary  of   Bayle  —  The   epoch  when   that  work   ap- 

60 


(A 

qVrestic 


XIV  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    POSITIVE    DOCTRINES    OF     PROTESTANTISM    ARE    REPUGNANT    TO    THE    INSTINCT    OF 

CIVILIZATION. 

Doctrines  of  Protestantism  divided  into  positive  and  negative — Singular  phenomenon  :  one 
of  the  principal  dogmas  of  the  founders  of  Protestantism  repugnant  to  European  civili- 
zation—Eminent service  which  Catholicity  has  done  to  civilization  by  defending  free 
will — Nature  of  error — Nature  of  truth, 68 

CHAPTER  XII. 

EFFECTS  WHICH  THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  PROTESTANTISM    INTO    SPAIN  WOULD  HAVE  PRODUCED. 

Present  state  of  religious  ideas  in  Europe — Victories  of  religion — State  of  science  and  lite- 
«£ture Condition  of  modern  society — Conjectures  on  the  future  influence  of  Catholi- 

/city Is  it  probable  that  Protestantism  will  be  introduced  into  Spain  ? — England — Her 

connexion  with  Spain — Pitt — Nature  of  religious  ideas  in  Spain—Situation  of  Spain — 
How  she  may  be  regenerated, 70 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

PROTESTANTISM    AND     CATHOLICITY    IN    THEIR     RELATION    TO    SOCIAL    PROGRESS PRELIMINA- 
RY   COUP    D'(EIL. 

Commencement  of  the  parallel— Liberty— Vae:ue  meaning  of  the  word — European  civiliza- 
tion chiefly  due  to  Catholicity — East  and  West — Conjectures  on  the  destinies  of  Catho- 
licity amid  the  catastrophies  that  may  threaten  in  Europe — Observations  on  philosophi- 
cal studies — Fatalism  of  a  certain  modern  historical  school, 79 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

DID    THERE    EXIST,    AT    THE    TIME    WHEN     CHRISTIANITY    APPEARED,    ANOTHER     PRINCIPLE    OF 

REGENERATION? 

Condition,  religious,  social,  and  scientific,  of  the  world  at  the  appearance  of  Christianity — 
Roman  law — The  influence  of  Christian  ideas  thereon — Evils  of  the  political  organization 
of  the  empire — System  adopted  by  Christianity  ;  her  first  care  ^as  to  change  ideas — 
Christianity  and  Paganism  with  regard  to  the  teaching  of  moral  doctrines — Protestant 
preaching, 84 

CHAPTER  XV. 

DIFFICULTIES  WHICH  CHRISTIANITY  HAD  TO  OVERCOME  IN  THE  WORK  OF  SOCIAL  REGENE- 
RATION  SLAVERY COULD  IT  HAVE  BEEN  DESTROYED  MORE  SPEEDILY  THAN  IT  WAS  BY 

CHRISTIANITY? 

The  Church  was  not  only  a  great  and  productive  school,  but  she  was  also  a  regenerating 
association— What  she  had  to  do — Difficulties  which  she  had  to  overcome— Slavery — 
By  whom  was  it  abolished  ? — Opinion  of  M.  Guizot — Immense  number  of  the  slaves — 
Caution  necessary  in  the  abolition  of  slavery — Was  immediate  abolition  possible? — Re- 
futation of  the  opinion  of  M.  Guizot, 90 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

IDEAS    AND    MANNERS     OF    ANTIQUITY     RESPECTING      SLAVERY THE     CHURCH     BEGINS     BY    IM- 
PROVING   THE    CONDITION    OF    SLAVES. 

The  Catholic  Church  not  only  employs  her  doctrines,  her  maxims,  and  her  spirit  of  cha- 
rity, but  also  makes  use  of  practical  means  in  the  abolition  of  slavery — Point  of  view  in 
which  this  historical  fact  ought  to  be  considered — False  ideas  of  the  ancients  on  the  sub- 
ject— Homer,  Plato,  Aristotle — Christianity  began  forthwith  to  combat  these  errors — 
Christian  doctrines  on  the  connexion  between  master  and  slave — The  Church  employs 
herself  in  improving  the  condition  of  slaves, 94 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

MEANS    USED    BY    THE    CHURCH    TO    ENFRANCHISE    SLAVES. 

1st.  She  zealously  defends  the  liberty  of  the  enfranchised — Manumission  in  the  churches — 
Effects  of  this  practice — 2d.  Redemption  of  captives — Zeal  of  the  Church  in  practising 
and  extending  the  redemption  of  captives — Prejudices  of  the  Romans  on  this  point — 
The  zeal  of  the  Church  for  this  object  contributes,  in  an  extraordinary  degree,  to  the 
abolition  of  slavery— The  Church  protects  the  liberty  of  the  free,  .  .  .102 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONTINUATION    OF    THE    SAME    SUBJECT.         » 

3d.  System  of  the  Church  with  regard  to  slaves  belonging  to  Jews — Motives  which  ac- 
tuated the  Church  in  the  enfranchisement  of  her  own  slaves — Her  indulgence  to  them — 
Her  generosity  towards  the  freed — The  slaves  of  the  Church  considered  as  consecrated 
to  God — Salutary  effects  of  this  way  of  viewing  them — 4th.  Liberty  is  granted  to  those 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS.  XV 

who  wish  to  embrace  the  monastic  state — Effects  of  this  practice — Conduct  of  the  Church 
with  regard  to  the  ordination  of  slaves — Abuses  introduced  in  this  respect  checked — Dis- 
cipline of  the  Spanish  Church  on  this  point,  . 106 

CHAPTER  XIX.  pS 

DOCTRINES    OF     ST.    AUGUSTIN    AND     ST.    THOMAS     OF    AQUIN    ON    THE     SUBJECT    OF    SLAVERY — 

RECAPITULATION. 

Doctrine  of  St.  Augustin  on  this  subject — Importance  of  this  doctrine  with  respect  to  the 
abolition  of  slavery — Refutation  of  M.  Guizot — Doctrine  of  St.  Thomas  on  the  same 
subject — Marriage  of  slaves — Regulation  of  canon  law  on  that  subject — Resume  of  the 
means  employed  by  the  Church  in  the  abolition  of  slavery — Refutation  of  M.  Guizot — 
The  abolition  of  slavery  exclusively  due  to  Catholicity — Protestantism  had  no  share 

therein, Ill 

CHAPTER  XX.  y- 

CONTRAST    BETWEEN    THE    TWO    KINDS    OF    CIVILIZATION./ 

Picture  of  modern  civilization — Civilizations  not  Christian — Civilization  is  composed  of 
three  elements  :  the  individual,  the  family,  and  the  society — The  perfectness  of  these 
three  elements  depends  on  the  perfectness  of  doctrines, 115 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

OF    THE    INDIVIDUAL OF    THE    FEELING    OF    INDIVIDUALITY    OUT    OF    CHRISTIANITY.      ' 

Distinction  between  the  individual  and  the  citizen — Of  the  individuality  of  barbarians  ac- 
cording to  M.  Guizot — Whether  in  antiquity  individuality  belonged  exclusively  to  the 
barbarians — Twofold  principle  of  the  feeling  of  personal  independence — This  feeling  infi- 
nitely modified — Picture  of  barbarian  life — True  character  of  individuality  among  the 
barbarians — Avowal  of  M.  Guizot — The  feeling  of  individuality,  according  to  the  defini- 
tion of  M.  Guizot,  belongs  in  a  certain  way  to  all  the  ancient  nations,  .  .  .  118 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

HOW    THE   INDIVIDUAL   BECAME    ABSORBED    BY    THE    ANCIENT    SOCIETY. 

Respect  for  man  unknown  to  the  ancients — What  has  been  seen  in  modern  revolutions — 
Tyranny  of  public -power  over  private  interests — Explanation  of  a  twofold  phenomenon, 
which  presents  itself  to  us  in  antiquity  and  in  modern  societies  not  Christian — Opinion  of 
Aristotle — Remarkable  characteristic  of  modern  democracy, 126 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

OF    THE   PROGRESS    OF    INDIVIDUALITY    UNDER    THE     INFLUENCE    OF    CATHOLICITY. 

The  feeling  of  true  independence  was  possessed  by  the  faithful  of  the  primitive  Church- 
Error  of  M.  Guizot  on  this  point:  1st,  dignity  of  conscience  sustained  by  the  Christian 
society  ;  2d,  feeling  of  duty  ;  language  of  St.  Cyprian  ;  3d,  development  of  the  interior 
life  ;  4th,  defence  of  free  will  by  the  Catholic  Church — Conclusion,  .  .  .  131 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

OF    THE    FAMILY MONOGAMY MARRIAGE-TIE    INDISSOLUBLE. 

Woman  ennobled  by  Catholicity  alotfe — Practical  means  employed  by  the  Church  to  raise 
woman — Christian  doctrine  on  the  dignity  of  woman — Monogamy — Different  conduct  of 
Catholicity  and  Protestantism  on  this  point — Firmness  of  Rome  with  respect  to  mar- 
riage— Effects  of  that  firmness — Doctrine  of  Luther — Indissolubility  of  marriage — Of 
divorce  among  Protestants — Effects  of  Catholic  doctrine  with  regard  to  this  sacra- 
ment,    ...  135 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE    PASSION    OF    LOVE. 

Pretended  rigor  of  Catholicity  with  respect  to  unhappy  marriages — Two  systems  of  gov- 
erning the  passions — Protestant  system — Catholic  system — Examples — Passion  of  gam- 
bling— Explosion  of  the  passions  in  time  of  public  troubles — Of  the  passion  of  love — Its 
inconstancy — Marriage  alone  is  not  a  sufficient  control — What  is  wanted  to  make  it  a 
control — Of  the  unity  and  fixity  of  Catholic  doctrine — Conclusion,  .  .  .  140 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

OF    VIRGINITY    IN   ITS    SOCIAL   ASPECT. 

Of  the  ennoblement  of  woman  by  virginity — Conduct  of  Protestantism  on  this  point — 
Close  analysis  of  the  heart  of  woman — Of  virginity  with  respect  to  population — England 
— Serious  thoughts  required  for  the  mind  of  woman — Salutary  influence  of  monastic 
customs — General  method  of  appreciation, 146 


XVI  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

OF    CHIVALRY,  AND    THE    MANNERS   OF  THE    BARBARIANS  IN  THEIR   INFLUENCE    ON    THE   CONDI- 
TION   OF    WOMAN. 

The  life  of  feudal  lords  according  to  M.  Guizot — The  passions  and  faith  in  chivalry — Chiv- 
alry did  not  ennoble  woman,  it  supposed  her  to  be  ennobled — Of  the  respect  of  the  Ger- 
mans for  woman — Analysis  of  a  passage  of  Tacitus — Reflections  on  that  historian — It  is 
difficult  thoroughly  to  understand  the  manners  of  the  Germans — Action  of  Catholicity — 
Important  distinction  between  Christianity  and  Catholicity — That  the  Germans  of  them- 
selves were  incapable  of  giving  dignity  to  woman,  150 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

OF    THE    PUBLIC    CONSCIENCE    IN    GENERAL. 

What  the  public  conscience  is — Influence  of  the  feelings  on  the  public  conscience  in  general 
—Education  contributes  to  form  the  conscience — State  of  the  public  conscience  in  modern 
times — What  has  been  able  to  form  the  public  conscience  in  Europe — Successive  contests 
maintained  by  Christian  morality, 157 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

OF    THE     PRINCIPLE    OF    THE     PUBLIC     CONSCIENCE     ACCORDING     TO     MONTESQUIEU HONOR 

VIRTUE. 

Institution  of  censors  according  to  Montesquieu — Two  kinds  of  prejudice  in  the  author  of 
the  Esprit  des  Lois — He  assigns  honor  as  the  principle  of  monarchies,  and  virtue  as  that 
of  republics — Explanation  of  the  feeling  of  honor — What  is  required  to  strengthen  this 
feeling — The  censorial  power  replaced  by  the  religious — Examples — Contrasts,  .  161 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

ON     THE     DIFFERENT     INFLUENCE     OF     PROTESTANTISM     AND     CATHOLICITY     ON     THE     PUBLIC 

CONSCIENCE. 

Catholicity  considered  as  a  creed — As  an  institution — Ideas,  in  order  to  be  efficacious,  must 
be  realized  in  an  institution — What  Protestantism  has  done  to  destroy  Christian  morality 
— What  it  has  done  to  preserve  it — What  is  the  real  power  of  preaching  among  Protest- 
ants— Of  the  sacrament  of  penance  with  relation  to  the  public  conscience — Of  the  decree 
to  which  the  Catholic  religion  raises  morality — Of  unity  in  the  soul — Unity  simplifies — 
Of  the  great  number  of  moralists  within  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic  Church — Of  the  pecu- 
liar force  of  ideas — Distinction  between  ideas  with  respect  to  their  peculiar  force — Whe- 
ther the  human  race  is  a  faithful  depositary  of  the  truth — How  the  truth  has  been  pre- 
served among  the  Jews — The  native  power  of  Schools — Institutions  are  required,  not 
only  to  teach,  but  also  to  apply  doctrines — Of  the  press  with  relation  to  the  preservation 
of  ideas — Of  intuition — Of  discourses, 165 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

OF  GENTLENESS  OF  MANNERS  IN  GENERAL. 

Wherein  gentleness  of  manners  consists — Difference  between  gentle  and  effeminate  man- 
ners— Influence  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  softening  manners — Pagan  and  Christian 
societies — Slavery — Paternal  authority— Public  games — Reflections  on  Spanish  bull- 
fights  172 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

OF  THE  AMELIORATION  OF  MANNERS  BY  THE  ACTION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

Elements  adapted  to  perpetuate  harshness  of  manners  in  the  bosom  of  modern  society — 
Conduct  of  the  Church  in  this  respect — Remarkable  canons  and  facts — St.  Ambrose  and 
the  Emperor  Theodosius— The  Truce  of  God — Very  remarkable  regulations  of  the  eccle- 
siastical authority  on  this  subject,  .  . 175 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

OF    THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF    PUBLIC     BENEFICENCE    IN   EUROPE. 

Difference  between  Protestantism  and  Catholicity  with  respect  to  public  beneficence — Para- 

v-  dox  of  Montesquieu — Remarkable  canons  of  the  Church — Injury  done  by  Protestantism 

to  the  development  of  public  beneficence — The  value  of  philanthropy,     .         .         .     184 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

OF    TOLERANCE    IN    MATTERS    OF    RELIGION. 

.e  question  of  intolerance  has  been  examined  with  bad  faith — What  tolerance  is — Toler- 
ance of  opinions — Of  error — Tolerance  in  the  individual — With  religious  men — With  un- 
believers— Two  kinds  of  religious  men — Two  kinds  of  unbelievers — Tolerance  in  society 
— What  is  its  origin  ? — Source  of  the  tolerance  which  prevails  in  society  at  present,  189 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS.  XVII 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

OF    THE    RIGHT    OF    COERCION    IN    GENERAL. 

Intolerance  is  a  general  fact  in  history — Dialogues  with  the  partisans  of  universal  tolerance 
— Does  there  exist  a  right  of  punishing  doctrines? — Researches  into  the  origin  of  that 
right — Disastrous  influence  of  Protestantism  and  infidelity  in  this  matter — Of  the  import- 
ance which  Catholicity  attaches  to  the  sin  of  heresy — Inconsistency  of  certain  timid  Vol- 
tairians— Another  reflection  on  the  right  of  punishing  doctrines — Resume,  .  .  196 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

OF    THE    INQUISITION    IN    SPAIN. 

Institutions  and  legislation  founded  on  intolerance — Causes  of  the  rigor  displayed  in  the 
early  times  of  the  Inquisition — Three  epochs  in  the  history  of  the  Inquisition  in  Spain  : 
against  the  Jews  and  Moors;  against  the  Protestants;  against  the  unbelievers — Severi- 
ties of  the  Inquisition — Causes  of  those  severities — Conduct  of  the  Popes  in  that  matter 
— Mildness  of  the  Roman  Inquisition — The  intolerance  of  Luther  with  respect  to  the 
Jews — The  Moors  and  Moriscoes, 203 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

SECOND    PERIOD    OF    THE    INQUISITION    IN    SPAIN. 

New  Inquisition  attributed  to  Philip  II. — Opinion  of  M.  Lacordaire — Prejudice  against  Phi- 
lip II. — Observations  on  the  work  called  Inquisition  Devoilee — Rapid  coup  d'ceil  at  the  se- 
cond epoch  of  the  Inquisition — Trial  of  Carranza — Observation  on  this  trial,  and  on  the 
personal  qualities  of  the  illustrious  accused — Why  there  is  so  much  partiality  against 
Philip  II. — Reflections  on  the  policy  of  that  monarch — Singular  anecdote  of  a  preacher 
who  was  compelled  to  retract — Reflections  on  the  influence  of  the  spirit  of  the  age,  210 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

RELIGIOUS    INSTITUTIONS    IN    THEMSELVES. 

Conduct  of  Protestantism  with  respect  to  religious  institutions — Whether  these  institutions 
have  been  of  importance  in  history — Sophism  on  the  subject  of  the  real  origin  of  reli- 
gious institutions — Their  correct  definition — Of  association  among  the  early  faithful — The 
faithful  dispersed  in  the  deserts — Relations  between  the  Papacy  and  religious  institutions 
— Of  an  essential  want  of  the  human  heart — Of  Christian  pensiveness — Of  the  need  of 
associations  for  the  practice  of  perfection — Of  vows — A  vow  is  the  most  perfect  act  of 
liberty — True  notion  of  liberty, 219 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

RELIGIOUS    INSTITUTIONS    IN    HISTORY THE    EARLY    SOLITARIES. 

Character  of  religious  institutions  in  a  historical  point  of  view — The  Roman  empire — The 
barbarians — The  early  Christians — Condition  of  the  Church  when  Christianity  ascended 
the  throne  of  the  Caesars — Life  of  the  fathers  of  the  desert — Influence  of  the  solitaries  on 
philosophy  and  manners — The  heroism  of  penance  saves  morality — The  most  corrupting 
climate  chosen  for  the  triumph  of  the  most  austere  virtues,  .  229 

^CHAPTER  XL. 

RELIGIOUS    INSTITUTIONS    IN    THE    EAST. 

Influence  of  monasteries  in  the  East — Why  civilization  triumphed  in  the  West  and  perished 
in  the  East — Influence  of  the  Eastern  monasteries  on  Arabian  civilization,  .  .  234 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

RELIGIOUS    INSTITUTIONS    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    WEST. 

Peculiar  character  of  religious  institutions  in  the  West — St.  Benedict — Struggle  of  the 
monks  against  the  decline  of  things — Origin  of  monastic  property — The  possessions  of 
the  monks  serve  to  create  respect  for  property — Population  becomes  spread  over  the 
country — Science  and  letters  in  cloisters — Gratian  arouses  the  study  of  law,  .  .  238 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

OF  RELIGIOUS    INSTITUTIONS  DURING  THE  SECOND  HALF   OF  THE    MIDDLE  AGES    IN  THE  WEST 

THE    MILITARY     ORDERS. 

Character  of  the  military  orders— Opinion  of  the  Crusades— The  foundation  of  the  military 
orders  is  a  continuation  of  the  Crusades, 242 

CHAPTER  XLIII.\J 

CONTINUATION  OF  THE  SAME  SUBJECT EUR6PE  IN  THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 

Transformation  of  the  monastic  spirit  in  the  thirteenth  century— Religious  institutions  arise 
every  where — Character  of  European  opposed  to  that  of  other  civilizations — Mixture  of 
2 


XVIII  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

various  elements  in  the  spirit  of  the  thirteenth  century  —  Semi-barbarous  society  —  Chris- 
tianity and  barbarism  —  A  delusion  common  in  the  study  of  history  —  Condition  of  Eu- 
rope at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  —  Wars  become  more  popular  —  Why  the 
intellectual  movement  began  in  Spain  sooner  than  in  the  rest  of  Europe  —  Ebullition  of 
evil  during  the  course  of  the  twelfth  century  —  Tancheme  —  Eon  —  The  Manichees  —  Vau- 
dois  —  Religious  movement  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  —  The  mendicant 
and  preaching  orders—  The  character  of  these  orders—  Their  influence—  Their  relations 
with  the  Papacy,  ..............  244 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

RELIGIOUS    ORDERS    FOR    THE    REDEMPTION    OF    CAPTIVES. 

Multitude  of  Christians  reduced  to  slavery  —  Religious  orders  for  the  redemption  of  captives 
were  necessary  —  The  Order  of  the  Trinity  and  that  of  Mercy  —  St.  Peter  Armengol,   256 

**^ 


CHAPTER 

UNIVERSAL    ADVANCE     OF    CIVILIZATION    IMPEDED    BY    PROTESTANTISM. 

Effects  of  Protestantism  on  the  progress  of  civilization  in  the  world,  beginning  with  the 
sixteenth  century  —  What  enabled  civilization,  during  the  middle  ages,  to  triumph  over 
barbarism  —  Picture  of  Europe  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  —  The  civilizing 
missions  of  the  16th  century  interrupted  by  the  schism  of  Luther  —  Why  the  action  of 
the  Church  on  barbarous  nations  has  lost  power  during  three  centuries  —  Whether  the 
Christianity  of  our  days  is  less  adapted  to  propagate  the  faith  than  that  of  the  early  ages 
of  the  Church  —  Christian  missions  in  the  early  times  of  the  Church  —  What  the  real 
mission  of  Luther  has  been,  .........  .  260 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

THE    JESUITS. 

Their  importance  in  the  history  of  European  civilization  —  Causes  of  the  hatred  which  has 
been  excited  against  them  —  Character  of  the  Jesuits  —  Contradiction  of  M.  Guizot  on  this 
subject  —  Whether  it  be  true,  as  M.  Guizot  says,  that  the  Jesuits  have  destroyed  nations 
in  Spain  —  Facts  and  dates  —  Unjust  accusations  against  the  Company  of  Jesus,  .  268 

CHAPTER  XLVII. 

THE    FUTURE    OF    RELIGIOUS    INSTITUTIONS  -  THEIR    PRESENT    NECESSITY. 

Present  state  of  religious  institutions  —  Picture  of  society  —  Inability  of  industry  and  com- 
merce to  satisfy  the  heart  of  man  —  Condition  of  minds  with  respect  to  religion  —  Reli- 
gious institutions  will  be  necessary  to  save  existing  society  —  Nothing  fixed  in  that  so- 
ciety —  Means  are  wanting  for  social  organization  —  -The  march  of  European  nations  has 
been  perverted  —  Physical  means  of  restraining  the  masses  —  Moral  means  are  required  — 
Religious  institutions  reconcilable  with  the  advancement  of  modern  times,  .  .  274 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

RELIGION     AND     LIBERTY. 

Rousseau—  The  Protestants—  Divine  law  —  Origin  of  power  —  False  interpretation  of  the 
divine  law  —  St.  John  Chrysostom  —  On  paternal  authority  —  Relations  between  paternal 
authority  and  civil  power,  ...........  281 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 

THE    ORIGIN    OF     SOCIETY,    ACCORDING    TO    CATHOLIC     THEOLOGIANS. 

Doctrines  of  theologians  on  the  origin  of  society—  The  character  of  Catholic  theologians 
compared  to  that  of  modern  writers—  St.  Thomas  —  Bellarmin  —  Suarez—  St.  Alphonsus 
de  Liguori  —  Father  Concina—  Billuart  —  The  Compendium  of  Salamanca,  .  .  288 

CHAPTER  L. 

OF    DIVINE    LAW,  ACCORDING    TO    CATHOLIC    DOCTORS. 

On  the  divine  law  —  Divine  origin  of  civil  power  —  In  what  manner  God  communicates  this 
power  —  Rousseau—  On  pacts—  The  right  of  life  and  death—  The  right  of  war—  Power 
must  necessarily  emanate  from  God  —  Puffendorff  —  Hobbes,  .....  298 

CHAPTER  LI. 

THE    TRANSMISSION    OF    POWER,    ACCORDING    TO    CATHOLIC    DOCTORS. 

Direct  or  indirect  communication  of  civil  power  —  The  distinction  between  the  two  opinions 

\    'important  in  some  respects;  in  others,  not  so  —  Why  Catholic  theologians  have  so  zeal- 

ously maintained  the  doctrine  of  mediate  communication,          .         .  .  305 

CHAPTER  LII. 

ON  THE  FREEDOM  OF  LANGUAGE  UNDER  THE  SPANISH  MONARCHY. 

Influence  of  doctrines  on  society  —  Flattery  lavished  on  power  —  Danger  of  this  flattery  — 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS.  XIX 

Liberty  of  speech  on  this  point  in  Spain  during  the  last  three  centuries — Mariana — 
Saavedra — In  the  absence  of  religion  and  morality,  the  most  rigorous  political  doctrines 
are  incapable  of  saving  society — Why  the  conservative  schools  of  our  days  are  power- 
less—Seneca— Cicero— Hobbes — Bellarmin, 311 

CHAPTER  LIII. 

OF    THE    FACULTIES    OF    THE    CIVIL    POWER. 

Of  the  faculties  of  civil  power — Calumnies  of  the  enemies  of  the  Church — Definition  of  law 
according  to  St.  Thomas — General  reason  and  general  will — The  venerable  Palafox — 
Hobbes— Grotius — The  doctrines  of  certain  Protestants  favorable  to  despotism — Justifi- 
cation of  the  Catholic  Church, 317 

CHAPTER  LIV. 

ON    RESISTANCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    POWER. 

Of  resistance  to  the  civil  power — Parallel  between  Protestantism  and  Catholicity  on  this 
point — Unfounded  apprehensions  of  certain  minds — Attitude  of  revolutions  in  this  age — 
The  principle  inculcated  by  Catholicity  on  the  obligation  of  obeying  the  lawful  authori- 
ties— Preliminary  questions — Difference  between  the  two  powers — Conduct  of  Catholi- 
city and  Protestantism  with  regard  to  the  separation  of  the  two  powers — The  indepen- 
dence of  the  spiritual  power  a  guarantee  of  liberty  to  the  people — Extremes  which  meet — 
The  doctrine  of  St.  Tliomas  on  obedience,  ........  324 

CHAPTER  LV. 

ON     RESISTANCE     TO     DE     FACTO     GOVERNMENTS. 

Governments  existing  merely  de  facto — Right  of  resistance  to  these  governments — Napoleon 
and  the  Spanish  nation — fallacy  of  the  doctrine  establishing  the  obligation  of  obedience 
to  mere  de  facto  governments — Investigation  of  certain  difficulties — Accomplished  facts — 
How  we  are  to  understand  the  respect  due  to  accomplished  facts,  .  .  .  330 

CHAPTER  LVI. 

HOW     IT     IS     ALLOWED     TO     RESIST     THE     CIVIL     POWER. 

On  resistance  to  lawful  authority — The  doctrines  of  the  Council  of  Constance  on  the  assas- 
sination of  a  king — A  reflection  on  the  inviolability  of  kings — Extreme  cases — Doctrine 
of  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  Cardinal  Bellarmin,  Suarez,  and  other  theologians — The  Abbe 
de  Lamennais'  errors — He  is  wrong  in  imagining  that  his  doctrine,  condemned  by  the 
Pope,  is  the  same  as  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin 's — A  parallel  between  the  doctrines  of  St. 
Thomas  and  those  of  the  Abbe  de  Lamennais — A  word  on  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Popes — Ancient  doctrines  on  resistance  to  power — Language  of  the  Counsellors  of  Bar- 
celona— The  doctrine  of  certain  theologians  on  the  case  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff's  falling 
into  heresy  in  his  private  capacity — Why  the  Church  has  been  calumniously  accused  of 
being  sometimes  favorable  to  despotism,  and  sometimes  to  anarchy,  .  .  .  336 

CHAPTER  LVII. 

ON    POLITICAL    SOCIETY    IN    THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY. 

The  Church  and  political  forms — Protestantism  and  liberty — Language  of  M.  Guizot — The 
state  of  the  question  better  defined — Europe  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century — Secial 
movement  at  this  epoch — Its  causes — Its  effects  and  its  aim — The  three  elements,  mon- 
archy, aristocracy,  and  democracy, 343 

CHAPTER  LVIII. 

ON    MONARCHY    IN    THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY. 

The  idea  entertained  of  monarchy  at  this  period — The  application  of  this  idea — Difference 
between  monarchy  and  despotism — The  nature  of  monarchy  at  the  commencement  of  the 
sixteenth  century — Its  relations  with  the  Church, 34G 

CHAPTER  LIX. 

ON    ARISTOCRACY    IN    THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY. 

The  nobility  and  the  clergy — The  differences  between  these  two  aristocracies — The  nobility 
and  monarchy — Differences  between  them — An  intermediate  class  between  the  throne 
and  the  people — The  causes  of  the  fall  of  the  nobility, 348 

CHAPTER  LX. 

ON    DEMOCRACY    IN    THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY. 

The  opinion  entertained  of  democracy — The  prevailing  doctrines  of  that  epoch — The  doc- 
trines of  Aristotle  neutralised  by  the  teaching  of  Christianity — On  castes — A  passage  from 
M.  Guizot  on  castes — Influence  of  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  in  preventing  an  hereditary 
succession — The  consequences  resulting  from  a  married  clergy — Catholicity  and  the  peo- 


XX 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


pie—  Development  of  the  industrial  classes  in  Europe—  The  Hanseatic  Confederation— 
Establishment  of  the  trades-corporations  of  Paris—  Industrial  movement  in  Italy  and 
Spain—  Calvinism  and  the  democratic  element—  Protestantism  aiyl  the  democrats.  ot  the 
sixteenth  century,  ...  ..........  *•*" 

CHAPTER  LXI. 

VALUE    OF    DIFFERENT    POLITICAL    FORMS—  CHARACTER     OF    MONARCHY    IN     EUROPE. 

Value  of  political  forms—  Catholicity  and  liberty—  Monarchy  was  essential—  Character  of 
European  monarchy—  Difference  between   Europe  and   Asia—  Quotation  from  Count  de 
Maistre—  An  institution  for  the  limiting  of  power—  Political  liberty  not  indebted  to  Pro- 
testantism—Influence   of    Councils—  The    aristocracy    of    talent    encouraged    by    the 
Church,         .............. 

CHAPTER  LXII. 

HOW    MONARCHY    WAS    STRENGTHENED    IN    EUROPE. 

Monarchy  in  the  sixteenth  century  is  strengthened  in  Europe—  Its  preponderance  over  free 
institutions—  Why  the  word  liberty  is  a  scandal  to  some  people  —  Protestantism  contri- 
buted to  the  destruction  of  popular  institutions,  .  .  ....  .  .361 

CHAPTER  LXIII. 

TWO    SORTS    OF    DEMOCRACY. 

Two  sorts  of  democracy—  Their  parallel  march  in  the  history  of  Europe—  Their  characters 
_  Their  causes  and  effects  —  Why  absolutism  became  necessary  in  Europe  —  Historical 
_  France  _  England  —  Sweden  —  Denmark  —  Germany,        .....     364 


CHAPTER  LXIV. 

CONTEST    BETWEEN    THE    THREE    SOCIAL    ELEMENTS. 

Contest  between  monarchy,  aristocracy,  and  democracy—  How  monarchy  came  to  prevail 
_  Fatal  effects  of  the  weakening  of  the  political  influence  of  the  clergy  —  Advantages 
which  might  have  arisen  from  this  influence  to  popular  institutions  —  Relations  of  the 
clergy  with  all  powers  and  classes  of  society,  ...  ...  370 

CHAPTER  LXV. 

POLITICAL    DOCTRINES    BEFORE    THE    APPEARANCE    OF    PROTESTANTISM. 

Parallel  between  the  political  doctrines  of  the  eighteenth  century,  those  of  modern  public- 
ists, and  those  which  prevailed  in  Europe  before  the  appearance  of  Protestantism- 
Protestantism  has  prevented  the  homogeneity  of  European  civilization  —  Historical 
proofs,  .........  ....  374 

CHAPTER  LXVI. 

OF    POLITICAL    DOCTRINES    IN    SPAIN. 

Catholicity  and  politics  in  Spain  —  Real  state  of  the  question  —  Five  causes  contributed  to 
the  overthrow  of  popular  institutions  in  Spain  —  Difference  between  ancient  and  modern 
liberty  —  The  Communeros  of  Castille  —  The  policy  of  her  kings  —  Ferdinand  the  Catholic 
and  Ximenes—  Charles  V.  —  Philip  II.,  .........  377 

CHAPTER  LXVII. 

POLITICAL    LIBERTY    AND    RELIGIOUS    INTOLERANCE. 

Political  liberty  and  religious  intolerance  —  Europe  was  developed  under  the  exclusive  influ- 
ence of  Catholicity  —  Picture  of  Europe  from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century  —  Con- 
dition of  the  social  problem  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  —  Temporal  power  of  the 
Popes  —  Its  character,  origin,  and  effects,  ........  382 

CHAPTER  LXVIII. 

UNITY    IN    FAITH    RECONCILED    WITH    POLITICAL    LIBERTY. 

It  is  false  that  unity  of  faith  is  opposed  to  political  liberty  —  Impiety  is  allied  with  liberty  or 
despotism,  according  to  circumstances—  Modern  revolutions  —  Difference  between  the  re- 
volution of  the  United  States  and  that  of  France  —  Pernicious  effects  of  the  French  revo- 
lution —  Liberty  impossible  without  morality  —  Remarkable  passage  from  St.  Augustin  on 
forms  of  government,  ..........  .  38J 

CHAPTER  LXIX. 

INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT    UNDER    THE    INFLUENCE    OF    CATHOLICITY. 

Catholicity  in  its  relations  with  intellectual  development  —  What  is  the  influence  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  submission  to  authority  —  What  are  the  effects  of  this  principle  with  respect  to 
all  the  sciences  —  Parallel  between  ancients  and  moderns  —  God  —  Maji  —  Society  —  Na- 
ture, ......  '  .........  392 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS.  XXI 

CHAPTER  LXX. 

HISTORICAL    ANALYSIS    OF    INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

Historical  investigation  of  the  influence  of  Catholicity  on  the  development  of  the  human 
mind — Refutation  of  one  of  M.  Guizot's  opinions — John  Erigena — Roscelin  and  Abelard 
—St.  Anselm, 398 

CHAPTER  LXXI. 

RELIGION   AND    THE    HUMAN    INTELLECT   IN   EUROPE. 

Religion  and  the  human  intellect  in  Europe — Difference  between  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  the  nations  of  antiquity  and  those  of  Europeans — Causes  that  have  accelerated 
this  development  in  Europe — Origin  of  the  spirit  of  subtilty — Service  which  the  Church 
rendered  to  the  human  mind  by  her  opposition  to  the  subtilties  of  the  innovators — Paral- 
lel between  Roscelin  and  St.  Anselm — Reflections  on  St.  Bernard — St.  Thomas  of  Aquin 
— Advantage  of  his  dictatorship  in  the  schools — Advent  of  St.  Thomas  in  the  middle 
ages  of  immense  advantage  to  me  human  mind .  .  404 

CHAPTER  LXXII. 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  HUMAN  MIND  FROM  THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 

Progress  of  the  human  mind  from  the  eleventh  century  to  our  own  times— Different  phases 
— Protestantism  and  Catholicity  in  their  relations  to  learning,  to  criticism,  to  the  learned 
languages,  to  the  foundation  of  universities,  to  the  progress  of  literature  and  the  arts,  to 
mysticism,  to  high  philosophy,  to  metaphysics,  to  ethics,  to  religious  philosophy,  and  to 
the  philosophy  of  history, 412 

CHAPTER  LXXIII. 

SUMMARY    OF    THE    WORK — DECLARATION    OF    THE    AUTHOR. 

Summary  of  tl.e  work — The  author  submits  it  to  the  judgment  of  the  Roman  Church,  419 


TABLE   OF  NOTES, 


KOTK       PAGE 

1  421.  Gibbon   and   Bossuet's  History  of 

the  Variations. 

2  421 .  Intolerance  of  Luther  and  the  other 

Coryphsei  of  Protestantism. 

3  421.  Origin  of  the  name  Protestantism 

4  422.  Observations  on  names. 

5  422.  Of  abuses  in  the  Church. 

6  423.  Of  the  unity  and  harmonious  ac- 

tion of  Catholicism — Happy  idea 
of  St.  Francis  of  Sales. 

7  423.  Acknowledgments  of  the  most  dis- 

tinguished Protestants  with  re- 
gard to  its  weakness — Luther, 
Melancthon,  Beza,  Calvin,  Gro- 
tius.Papin,  Puffendorf  and  Leib- 
nitz—Of a  posthumous  work  by 
Leibnitz  on  religion. 

8  424.  On     human      knowledge — Louis 

Vives. 

9  425.  On  mathematics — Eximeno,  a  Spa- 

nish Jesuit. 

10  425.  Heresies  of  the  early  ages — their 

character. 

11  425.  Superstition    and     fanaticism    of 

Protestantism  —  Luther's  devil, 
Zwinglius's  phantom,  Melanc- 
thon's  prognostics,  Mathias  Har- 
lem, the  Tailor  of  Leyden,  King 
of  Sion;  Hermann,  Nicholas 
Hacket,  and  others,  visionaries 
and  fanatics. 

12  427.  Visions  of  Catholics— St.  Theresa, 

her  visions. 

13  428.  Bad  faith  of  the  founders  of  Protes- 

tantism— Passages  proving  this 
— Ravages  committed  by  incred- 
ulity after  that  time — Gruet — 
Remarkable  passages  from  Mon- 
taigne. 

14  429.  Extravagance  of  the  early  heresies, 

a  proof  of  the  state  of  knowledge 
in  those  times. 

15  430.  Canons  and  other  documents  which 

shew  the  solicitude  of  the  Church 
to  improve  the  lot  of  slaves,  and 
the  various  means  which  she 
used  to  complete  the  abolition  of 
slavery. 

§  1.  Canons   intended   to  im- 
prove the  lot  of  slaves. 
§2.  Canons  intended  to  defend 
the  freed,  and  to  protect 
thos<i  who   were    recom- 
mended to  the  Church. 
§  3.  Canons   and   other  docu- 
ments relating  to  the  re- 
demption of  captives. 
§  4.  Canons    relating    to    the 
protection  of  the  freed. 


NOTE  PAGE 
15   436. 


'16  442. 

17  444. 

18  444. 

19  445. 

20  445. 

21  446. 
22.  447. 


23   449. 


24  450. 

25  450. 


26   452. 


§  5.  Canons    concerning    the 

slaves  of  Jews. 

§  6.  Canons  concerning  the 
enfranchisement  of  the 
slaves  of  the  Church. 
§  7.  Conduct  of  the  Church 
with  regard  to  modern 
slavery — Apostolic  let- 
ters of  St.  Gregory  XVI. 
— Slave  trade — Doctrine, 
conduct,  and  influence  of 
the  Church  with  regard 
to  the  abolition  of  the 
trade,  and  of  slavery  in 
the  Colonies  —  Passage 
from  Robertson. 

Doctrines  of  Plato   and   Aristotle 
touching  infanticide — Their  doc- 
trine on'the  rights  of  society. 
Degradation  of  woman  in  ancient 

times,  especially  in  Rome. 
The  Germans  of  Tacitus  judged 
according  to  subsequent  events. 
Corruption  of  ancient  manners. 
Different  opinions  of  religion  and 
philosophy  on  the  power  of  ideas 
— How  far  it  is  true  that  every 
idea  requires  an  institution. 
Christianity  is  still  in  our  days  the 
source  of  mildness  of  manners. 
Influence  of  the  Church  on  barba- 
rian legislation — Councils  of  To- 
ledo—  What    the  indulgence  of 
the  criminal    code   among   the 
barbarians  proves. 
Constant      intervention      of     the 
Church  in  the  administration  of 
public  beneficence — Regulations 
of  the  Council  of  Trent  on  this 
subject —  Property    of   hospitals 
considered  as  that  of  the  Church. 
Reference  to  the  following  note. 
Distinction  between  civil  and  reli- 
gious    intolerance  —  Error     of 
Rousseau  on   this    point — False 
doctrine  of  the  Control  Social. 
Passages  from  old  laws  relative  to 
the  Inquisition.— Pragmatic  sanc- 
tion of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella — 
Laws  of  Philip  II.  and  III.— Prag 
matic  sanction  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  concerning  the  relations 
of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  with 
Rome — Passage  from  Don  Anto- 
nio  Perez,  which  mentions  the 
anecdote  of  the  preacher  at  Mad- 
rid— Letter    from   Phillip  II.   to 
Arias  Montano,  on  the  subject  of 
the  library  of  the  Escurial. 


XXIV 


TABLE    OF    NOTES. 


NOTE      PAGE 

26  456.   (Appendix.)  A  few  words  on  Puig- 

blanch,Villeneuve,and  Llorente. 

27  458.  Religious  institutions  in  an  histo- 

rical point  of  view — Last  coup- 
d'ceil  at  their  origin  and  develop- 
ment— Details  with  respect  to 
the  vow  of  chastity  which  virgins 
and  widows  made  in  the  early 
ages  of  the  Church. 

28  459.  Remarkable  texts  explaining  the 

passage  of  St.  Paul  in  the  13th 
chapter  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans— Cicero — Horace. 

29  462.  A  remarkable  fact. 

30  463.  Quotations   from  P.  Fr.  John  de 

Ste.-  Marie,  and  from  P.  Zeballos. 

31  470.  St.    Thomas    reminds   princes   of 

their  duties. 

32  471.  The  opinion  of  D.  Felix  d'Amat, 

bishop  of  Palmyra,  on  the  obedi- 
ence due  tode facto  governments. 

33  471.  Remarkable    passages     from     St. 

Thomas  and  Suarez,  on  the  dis- 
putes which  may  arise  between 
governors  and  the  governed — 
Father  Marquez  on  the  same 
subject. 

34  475.  Charter  of  Hermandad,  between  the 

kingdoms  of  Leon  and  Galicia 
and  that  of  Castille,  for  the  pre- 
servation and  defence  of  their 
fueros  and  liberties. 

35  476.  A  remarkable  passage  from  Cap- 

many  on  the  organization  of  the 
industrial  classes — The  origin 
and  salutary  effects  of  the  insti- 
tution of  trades-corporation. 

36  480.  Reflections  of   Count  de   Maistre 

on  the  causes  which  render  the 
celebration  of  General  Councils 
less  frequent. 

37  480.  Indication  of  historical  sources  for 

the  confirmation  of  certain  facts. 


NOTE     PAGE 

38  480.  Texts  of  St.  Thomas  on  political 

forms— Other  texts  of  St.  Thomas 
to  prove  that  the  law,  and  riot 
the  will  of  man,  should"  govern — 
Opinions  of  P.  Mariana — Opin- 
ions of  the  venerable  Palafox  on 
the  subject  of  imposts,  taken 
from  his  Memoir  to  the  King — 
Severe  language  of  the  same 
author  against  tyranny  and 
those  who  advise  or  excuse  it — 
Passage  from  P.  Marquez  on  the 
right  of  levying  tributes  in  gen- 
eral ;  its  particular  application 
to  Castile — The  opinion  of  the 
same  author  relative  to  the  right 
of  the  supreme  authority  to  the 
property  of  its  subjects — A  case 
in  which,  according  to  him,  that 
authority  may  dispose  of  this 
property. 

39  484.  Reference  to  historical  sources   to 

ascertain  the  march  of  the  de- 
velopment of  monarchical  power 
in  the  different  provinces  of 
Spain. 

40  484.  A    just   observation   of  Count  de 

Maistre  on  the  conduct  of  the 
Popes  compared  to  that  of  other 
sovereigns. 

41  485.  Passages  in  which  St.  Anselm  ex- 

pounds his  views  on  religious 
subjects — Intellectual  moveim  nt 
arising  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Church  without  transgressing 
the  bounds  of  faith — Another 
passage  proving  that  the  demon- 
stration applied  by  Descartes  to 
the  existence  of  God  had  been 
discovered  by  St.  Anselm — Cor- 
roborative Documents  in  support 
of  a  refutation  of  M.  Guizot's  er- 
rors on  the  doctrines  of  Abelard. 


PROTESTANTISM 


COMPAKED   WITH 


CATHOLICITY, 


CHAPTER  I. 

NAME  AND  NATURE   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 

THERE  is  a  fact  in  existence  among  civilized  nations,  very  important  on 
account  of  the  nature  of  the  things  which  it  affects — a  fact  of  transcendent  im- 
portance, on  account  of  the  number,  variety,  and  consequence  of  its  influences 
• — a  fact  extremely  interesting,  because  it  is  connected  with  the  principal  events 
of  modern  history.  This  fact  is  Protestantism. 

Like  a  clap  of  thunder,  it  attracted  at  once  the  attention  of  all  Europe;  on 
one  side  it  spread  alarm,  and  on  the  other  excited  the  most  lively  sympathy :  it 
grew  so  rapidly,  that  its  adversaries  had  not  time  to  strangle  it  in  its  cradle. 
Scarcely  had  it  begun  to  exist,  and  already  all  hope  of  stopping,  or  even  re- 
straining it,  was  gone;  when,  emboldened  by  being  treated  with  respect  and 
consideration,  it  became  every  day  more  daring;  if  exasperated  by  rigour,  it 
openly  resisted  measures  of  coercion,  or  redoubled  and  concentrated  its  forces, 
to  make  more  vigorous  attacks.  Discussions,  the  profound  investigations  and 
scientific  methods  which  were  used  in  combating  it,  contributed  to  develope  the 
spirit  of  inquiry,  and  served  as  vehicles  to  propagate  its  ideas. 

By  creating  new  and  prevailing  interests,  it  made  itself  powerful  protectors; 
by  throwing  all  the  passions  into  a  state  of  fury,  it  aroused  them  in  its  favor. 
It  availed  itself,  by  turns,  of  stratagem,  force,  seduction,  or  violence,  according 
to  the  exigencies  of  times  and  circumstances.  It  attempted  to  make  its  way  in 
all  directions;  either  destroying  impediments,  or  taking  advantage  of  them,  if 
they  were  capable  of  being  turned  to  account. 

When  introduced  into  a  country,  it  never  rested  until  it  had  obtained  guaran- 
tees for  its  continued  existence ;  and  it  succeeded  in  doing  so  everywhere.  After 
having  obtained  vast  establishments  in  Europe — which  it  still  retains — it  was 
transported  into  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  infused  into  the  veins  of  simple 
and  unsuspecting  nations. 

In  order  to  appreciate  a  fact  at  its  just  value,  to  embrace  it  in  all  its  rela- 
tions, and  to  distinguish  properly  between  them,  it  is  necessary  to  examine 
whether  the  constituting  principle  of  the  fact  can  be  ascertained,  or  at  least 
whether  we  can  observe  in  its  appearance  any  characteristic  trait  capable  of 
revealing  its  inward  nature.  This  examination  is  very  difficult  when  we  have 
to  do  with  a  fact  of  the  kind  and  importance  of  that  which  now  occupies  our 
attention.  In  matters  of  this  sort,  numbers  of  opinions  accumulate  in  the 
course  of  time,  in  favor  of  all  which  arguments  have  been  sought.  The  in- 
quirer, in  the  midst  of  so  many  and  such  various  objects,  is  perplexed,  discon- 
certed, and  confounded ;  and  if  he  wish  to  place  himself  in  a  more  advantageous 
point  of  view,  he  finds  the  ground  so  covered  with  fragments,  that  he  cannot 
make  his  way  without  risk  of  losing  himself  at  every  step. 

4  C  25 


26  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

The  first  glance  which  we  give  to  Protestantism,  whether  we  consider  its 
actual  condition,  or  whether  we  regard  the  various  phases  of  its  history,  shows 
us  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  find  any  thing  constant  in  it,  any  thing  which  can 
be  assigned  as  its  constituent  character.  Uncertain  in  its  opinions,  it  modifies 
them  continually,  and  changes  them  in  a  thousand  ways.  Vague  in  its  ten- 
dencies, and  fluctuating  in  its  desires,  it  attempts  every  form,  and  essays  every 
road.  It  can  never  attain  to  a  well-defined  existence;  and  we  see  it  every 
moment  enter  new  paths,  to  lose  itself  in  new  labyrinths. 

Catholic  controversialists  have  pursued  and  assailed  it  in  every  way ;  ask  them 
what  has  been  the  result?  They  will  tell  you  that  they  had  to  contend  with  a 
new  Proteus,  which  always  escaped  the  fatal  blow  by  changing  its  form.  If 
you  wish  to  assail  the  doctrines  of  Protestantism,  you  do  not  know  where  to 
direct  your  attacks,  for  they  are  unknown  to  you,  and  even  to  itself.  On  this 
side  it  is  invulnerable,  because  it  has  no  tangible  body.  Thus,  no  more  power- 
ful argument  has  ever  been  urged,  than  that  of  the  immortal  Bishop  of  Meaux 
— viz.  "  You  change;  and  that  which  changes  is  not  the  truth."  An  argument 
much  feared  by  Protestantism,  and  with  justice;  because  all  the  various  forms 
which  are  assumed  to  evade  its  force,  only  serve  to  strengthen  it.  How  just 
is  the  expression  of  that  great  man  !  At  the  very  title  of  his  book,  Protestant- 
ism must  tremble :  The  History  of  the  Variations !  A  history  of  variations 
must  be  a  history  of  error.  (See  note  at  the  end  of  the  vol.) 

These  unceasing  changes,  which  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised  at  finding  in 
Protestantism,  because  they  essentially  belong  to  it,  show  us  that  it  is  not  in 
possession  of  the  truth ;  they  show  us  also,  that  its  moving  principle  is  not  a 
principle  of  life,  but  an  element  of  dissolution.  It  has  been  called  upon,  and 
up  to  this  time  in  vain,  to  fix  itself,  and  to  present  a  compact  and  uniform 
body.  How  can  that  be  fixed,  which  is,  by  its  nature,  kept  floating  about  in 
the  air?  How  can  a  solid  body  be  formed  of  an  element,  the  essential  ten- 
dency of  which  is  towards  an  incessant  division  of  particles,  by  diminishing 
their  reciprocal  affinity,  and  increasing  their  repellent  force  ? 

It  will  easily  be  seen  that  I  speak  of  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  mat- 
ters of  faith,  whether  it  be  looked  upon  as  a  matter  of  human  reason  alone,  or 
as  an  individual  inspiration  from  heaven. 

If  there  be  any  thing  constant  in  Protestantism,  it  is  undoubtedly  the  sub- 
stitution of  private  judgment  for  public  and  lawful  authority.  This  is  always 
found  in  union  with  it,  and  is,  properly  speaking,  its  fundamental  principle :  it 
is  the  only  point  of  contact  among  the  various  Protestant  sects, — the  basis  of 
their  mutual  resemblance.  It  is  very  remarkable  that  this  exists,  for  the  most 
part,  unintentionally,  and  sometimes  against  their  express  wishes. 

However  lamentable  and  disastrous  this  principle  may  be,  if  the  coryphaei  of 
Protestantism  had  made  it  their  rallying  point,  and  had  constantly  acted  up  to 
it  in  theory  and  practice,  they  would  have  been  consistent  in  error.  When 
men  saw  them  cast  into  one  abyss  after  another,  they  would  have  recognised  a 
system, — false  undoubtedly;  but,  at  any  rate,  a  system.  As  it  is,  it  has  not 
been  even  that :  if  you  examine  the  words  and  the  acts  of  the  first  Reformers, 
you  will  find  that  they  made  use  of  this  principle  as  a  means  of  resisting  the 
authority  which  controlled  them,  but  that  they  never  dreamed  of  establishing 
it  permanently;  that  if  they  labored  to  upset  lawful  authority,  it  was  for  the 
purpose  of  usurping  the  command  themselves;  that  is  to  say,  that  they  fol- 
lowed, in  this  respect,  the  example  of  revolutionists  of  all  kinds,  of  all  ages, 
and  of  all  countries.  Everybody  knows  how  far  Luther  carried  his  fanatical 
intolerance;  he  who  could  not  bear  the  slightest  contradiction,  either  from  his 
own  disciples  or  anybody  else,  without  giving  way  to  the  most  senseless  fits  of 
passion,  and  the  most  unworthy  outrages.  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  who 
founded  there  what  is  called  the  liberty  of  thinking,  sent  to  the  scaffold  those 


PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  27 

who  did  not  think  as  he  did;  and  it  was  at  the  instigation  of  Calvin  that  Ser- 
vetus  was  burnt  alive  at  Geneva. 

I  insist  upon  this  point,  because  it  seems  to  me  to  be  of  great  importance. 
Men  are  but  too  much  inclined  to  pride;  and  if  they  heard  it  constantly 
repeated,  without  contradiction,  that  the  innovators  of  the  sixteenth  century 
proclaimed  the  freedom^Qf  thought,  a  secret  interest  might  be  excited  in  their 
favor;  their  violent  declamations  might  be  regarded  as  the  expressions  of  a 
generous  movement,  and  their  efforts  as  a  noble  attempt  to  assert  the  rights  of 
intellectual  freedom.  Let  it  be  known,  never  to  be  forgotten,  that  if  these  men 
proclaimed  the  principle  of  free  examination,  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  making 
use  of  it  against  legitimate  authority;  but  that  they  attempted,  as  soon  as  they 
could,  to  impose  upon  others  the  yoke  of  their  own  opinions.  Their  constant 
endeavour  was,  to  destroy  the  authority  which  came  from  God,  in  order  to  esta- 
lish  their  own  upon  its  ruins.  It  is  a  painful  necessity  to  be  obliged  to  give 
proofs  of  this  assertion ;  not  because  they  are  difficult  to  find,  but  because  one 
cannot  adduce  the  most  incontestable  of  them  without  calling  to  mind  words 
and  deeds  which  not  only  cover  with  disgrace  the  founders  of  Protestantism, 
but  are  of  such  a  nature,  that  they  cannot  be  mentioned  without  a  blush  on  the 
cheek,  or  written  without  a  stain  upon  the  paper.  (2) 

Protestantism,  when  viewed  in  a  mass,  appears  only  a  shapeless  collection  of 
innumerable  sects,  all  opposed  to  each  other,  and  agreeing  only  in  one  point, 
viz.  in  protesting  against  the  authority  of  the  Church.  We  only  find  among 
them  particular  and  exclusive  names,  commonly  taken  from  the  names  of  their 
founders;  in  vain  have  they  made  a  thousand  efforts  to  give  themselves  a  gene- 
ral name  expressive  of  a  positive  idea;  they  are  still  called  after  the  manner 
of  philosophical  sects.  Lutherans,  Calvinists,  Zuinglians,  Anglicans,  Socinians, 
Arminians,  Anabaptists,  all  these  names,  of  which  I  could  furnish  an  endless 
host,  only  serve  to  exhibit  the  narrowness  of  the  circle  in  which  these  sects  are 
enclosed;  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  pronounce  them,  to  show  that  they  con- 
tain nothing  universal,  nothing  great. 

Everybody  who  knows  any  thing  of  the  Christian  religion  must  be  convinced 
by  this  fact  alone,  that  these  sects  are  not  truly  Christian.  But  what  occurred 
when  Protestantism  attempted  to  take  a  general  name,  is  singularly  remarkable. 
If  you  examine  its  history,  you  will  see  that  all  the  names  which  it  attempted 
to  give  itself  failed,  if  they  contained  any  positive  idea,  or  any  mark  of  Chris- 
tianity; but  that  it  adopted  a  name  taken  by  chance  at  the  Diet  of  Spires;  a 
name  which  carries  with  it  its  own  condemnation,  because  it  is  repugnant  to  the 
origin,  to  the  spirit,  to  the  maxims,  to  the  entire  history  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion; a  name  which  does  not  express  that  unity — that  union  which  is  insepara- 
bly connected  with  the  Christian  name;  a  name  which  is  peculiarly  becoming 
to  it,  which  all  the  world  gives  to  it  by  acclamation,  which  is  truly  its  own — 
viz.  Protestantism.  (3) 

Within  the  vast  limits  marked  out  by  this  name,  there  is  room  for  every 
error  and  for  every  sect.  You  may  deny  with  the  Lutherans  the  liberty  of 
man,  or  renew  with  the  Arminians  the  errors  of  Pelagius.  You  may  admit 
with  some  that  real  presence,  which  you  are  free  to  reject  with  the  Calvinists 
and  Zuinglians;  you  may  join  with  the  Socinians  in  denying  the  divinity  of 
Jesus,  Christ;  you  may  attach  yourself  to  Episcopalians,  to  Puritans,  or,  if  you 
please,  to  the  extravagances  of  the  Quakers;  it  is  of  no  consequence,  for  you 
always  remain  a  Protestant,  for  you  protest  against  the  authority  of  the 
Church ;  your  field  is  so  extensive,  that  you  can  hardly  escape  from  it,  however 
great  may  be  your  wanderings;  it  contains  all  the  vast  extent  that  we  behold  on 
coming  forth  from  the  gates  of  the  Holy  City.  (4) 


28 
CHAPTER  II. 

CAUSES    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 

WHAT,  then,  were  the  causes  of  the  appearance  of  Protestantism  in  Europe, 
of  its  development,  and  of  its  success  ?  This  is  a  question  well  worthy  of 
being  examined  to  the  bottom,  because  it  will  lead  us  to  inquire  into  the  origin 
of  this  great  evil,  and  will  put  us  in  a  condition  to  form  the  best  idea  of  this 
phenomenon,  so  often  but  so  imperfectly  described. 

It  would  be  unreasonable  to  look  for  the  causes  of  an  event  of  this  nature 
and  importance,  in  circumstances  either  trivial  in  themselves,  or  circumscribed 
by  places  and  events  of  a  limited  kind.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  vast 
results  can  be  produced  by  trifling  causes;  and  if  it  be  true  that  great  events 
sometimes  have  their  commencement  in  little  ones,  it  is  no  less  certain  that  the 
commencing  point  is  not  the  cause;  and  that  to  be  the  commencement  of  a 
thing,  and  to  be  its  real  cause,  are  expressions  of  a  widely  different  meaning.  A 
spark  produces  a  dreadful  conflagration,  but  it  is  because  it  falls  upon  a  heap  of 
inflammable  materials.  That  which  is  general  must  have  general  causes;  and 
that  which  is  lasting  and  deeply  rooted  must  have  lasting  and  profound  causes. 

This  law  is  true  alike  in  the  moral  as  in  the  physical  order;  but  its  applica- 
tions cannot  be  perceived  without  great  difficulty,  especially  in  the  moral  order, 
where  things  of  great  importance  are  sometimes  clothed  in  a  mean  exterior; 
where  each  effect  is  found  allied  with  so  many  causes  at  once,  connected  with 
them  by  ties  so  delicate,  that,  possibly,  the  most  attentive  and  piercing  eye  may 
miss  altogether,  or  regard  as  a  trifle,  that  which  perhaps  has  produced  very 
great  results :  trifling  things,  on  the  other  hand,  are  frequently  so  covered  with 
glitter,  tinsel,  and  parade,  that  it  is  very  easy  to  be  deceived  by  them.  We  are 
always  too  much  inclined  to  judge  by  appearances. 

It  will  appear  from  these  principles,  that  I  am  not  disposed  to  give  great 
importance  to  the  rivalry  excited  by  the  preaching  of  indulgences,  or  to  the 
excesses  which  may  have  been  committed  by  some  inferiors  in  this  matter; 
these  things  may  have  been  an  occasion,  a  pretext,  a  signal  to  commence  the 
contest,  but  they  were  of  too  little  importance  in  themselves  to  put  the  world 
in  flames.  There  would  be,  perhaps,  more  apparent  plausibility  in  seeking  for 
the  causes  of  Protestantism  in  the  characters  and  positions  of  the  first  reformers; 
but  this  also  would  be  unsatisfactory. 

People  lay  great  stress  on  the  violence  and  fury  of  the  writings  and  speeches 
of  Luther,  and  show  how  apt  this  savage  eloquence  was  to  inflame  men's  minds, 
and  drag  them  into  the  new  errors  by  the  deadly  hatred  against  Rome  with 
which  it  inspired  them.  Too  much  stress  also  is  laid  on  the  sophistical  art,  the 
order  and  elegance  of  the  style  of  Calvin ;  qualities  which  served  to  give  an 
appearance  of  regularity  to  the  shapeless  mass  of  new  errors,  and  make  them 
more  acceptable  to  men  of  good  taste.  The  talents  and  other  qualities  of  the 
various  innovators  are  described  in  the  same  way  with  more  or  less  truth. 

I  will  not  deny  to  Luther,  Calvin,  and  the  other  founders  of  Protestantism, 
the  titles  on  which  their  sad  celebrity  is  founded;  but  I  venture  to  assert  that 
we  cannot  attribute  to  their  personal  qualifies  the  principal  influence  upon  the 
development  of  this  evil,  without  palpably  mistaking  and  underrating  the  im- 
portance of  the  evil  itself,  and  forgetting  the  instructions  of  universal  history. 

If  we  examine  these  men  with  impartiality,  we  shall  find  that  their  qualities 
were  not  greater  than  those  of  other  sectarian  leaders,  if  so  great.  Their 
talents,  their  learning,  and  their  knowledge,  have  passed  through  the  crucible 
of  criticism,  and  there  is,  even  among  Protestants,  no  well-instructed  and  im- 
partial person  who  does  not  now  consider  the  extravagant  eulogiums  which  have 
been  lavished  upon  them,  as  the  exaggerations  of  party.  They  are  classed 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  29 

among  the  number  of  those  turbulent  men  who  are  well  fitted  to  excite  revolu- 
tions; but  the  history  of  all  times  and  countries,  and  the  experience  of  every 
day,  teach  that  men  of  this  kind  are  not  uncommon,  and  that  they  arise  every- 
where when  a  sad  combination  of  events  affords  them  a  fit  opportunity. 

When  causes  more  in  proportion  to  Protestantism,  by  their  extent  and  im- 
portance, are  sought  for,  two  are  commonly  pointed  out :  the  necessity  of  reform, 
and  the  spirit  of  liberty.  "There  were  numerous  abuses,"  says  one  party; 
"  legitimate  reform  was  neglected :  this  negligence  produced  revolution."  "  The 
human  intellect  was  in  fetters,"  says  another;  "  the  mind  longed  to  break  its 
chains ;  Protestantism  was  only  a  grand  effort  for  the  freedom  of  human  thought, 
a  great  movement  towards  liberating  the  human  mind."  It  is  true,  that  these 
two  opinions  point  out  causes  of  great  importance  and  of  wide  extent :  both  are 
well  adapted  to  make  partisans.  The  one,  by  establishing  the  necessity  of 
reform,  opens  a  wide  field  for  the  censure  of  neglected  laws  and  relaxed  morals; 
this  theme  always  finds  sympathy  in  the  heart  of  man, — indulgent  towards  its 
own  defects,  but  stern  and  inexorable  towards  the  faults  of  others.  With 
respect  to  the  other  opinion,  which  raises  the  cry  of  the  movement  of  religious 
liberty  and  the  freedom  of  the  human  mind,  it  is  sure  to  be  widely  adopted : 
there  are  always  a  thousand  echoes  to  a  cry  which  flatters  our  pride. 

I  do  not  deny  that  a  reform  was  necessary ;  to  be  convinced  of  this,  I  need 
only  glance  at  history,  and  listen  to  the  complaints  of  several  great  men,  justly 
regarded  by  the  Church  as  among  the  most  cherished  of  her  sons.  I  read  in 
the  first  decree  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  that  one  of  the  objects  of  the  Council 
was  the  reform  of  the  Christian  clergy  and  people;  I  learn  from  the  mouth  of 
Pius  IV.,  when  confirming  the  said  Council,  that  one  of  the  objects  for  which 
it  was  assembled,  was  the  correction  of  morals,  and  the  re-establishment  of  dis- 
cipline. Notwithstanding  all  this,  I  am  not  inclined  to  give  to  abuses  so  much 
influence  as  has  been  attributed  to  them.  I  must  also  say,  that  it  appears  to 
me  that  we  give  a  very  bad  solution  of  the  question,  when,  to  show  the  real 
cause  of  the  evil,  we  insist  on  the  fatal  results  produced  by  these  abuses.  These 
words  also,  "  a  new  movement  of  liberty,"  appear  to  me  altogether  insufficient. 
I  shall  say,  then,  with  freedom,  in  spite  of  my  respect  for  those  who  entertain 
the  first  opinion,  and  my  esteem  for  the  talents  of  those  who  refer  all  to  the 
spirit  of  liberty,  that  I  cannot  find  in  either  that  analysis,  at  once  philosophical 
and  historical,  which,  without  wandering  from  the  ground  of  history,  examines 
facts,  clears  them  up,  shows  their  inward  nature,  their  relations  and  connections. 

If  men  have  wandered  so  much  in  the  definition  and  explanation  of  Protest- 
antism, it  is  because  they  have  iiot  sufficiently  observed  that  it  is  not  only  a  fact 
common  to  all  ages  of  the  history  of  the  Church,  but  that  its  importance  and 
its  particular  characteristics  are  owing  to  the  epoch  when  it  arose.  This  simple 
consideration,  founded  on  the  constant  testimony  of  history,  clears  up  every 
thing;  we  have  no  longer  to  seek  in  the  doctrines  of  Protestantism  for  any 
thing  singular  or  extraordinary;  all  its  characteristics  prove  that  it  was  born  in 
Europe,  and  in  the  sixteenth  century.  I  sKall  develope  these  ideas,  not  by 
fanciful  reasonings  or  gratuitous^  suppositions,  but  by  adducing  facts  which 
nobody  can  deny. 

It  is  indisputable  that  the  principle  of  submission  to  authority  in  matters  of 
faith  has  always  encountered  a  vigorous  resistance  in  the  human  mind,  I  shall 
not  point  out  here  the  causes  of  this  resistance ;  I  propose  to  do  so  in  the  course 
of  this  work;  I  shall  content  myself  at  present  with  stating  this  fact,  and 
reminding  those  who  may  be  inclined  to  call  it  in  question,  that  the  history  of 
the  Church  has  always  been  accompanied  by  the  history  of  heresies.  This 
fact  has  presented  different  phases  according  to  the  changes  of  time  and  place. 
Sometimes  making  a  rude  mixture  of  Judaism  and  Christianity,  sometimes 
combining  the  doctrines  of  Jesus  Christ  with  the  dreams  of  the  East,  or  cor- 

c2 


30  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

rupting  the  purity  of  faith  by  the  subtilties  and  chicaneries  of  Grecian  sophistry; 
this  fact  presents  us  with  as  many  different  aspects  as  there  are  conditions  of 
the  mind  of  man.  But  we  always  find  in  it  two  general  characteristics,  which 
clearly  show  that  it  has  always  had  the  same  origin,  notwithstanding  the  varia- 
tion in  its  object  and  in  the  nature  of  its  results:  these  two  characteristics 
are,  hatred  of  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  the  spirit  of  sect. 

In  all  ages  sects  have  arisen,  opposing  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  esta- 
blishing as  dogmas  the  errors  of  their  founders :  it  was  natural  for  the  same 
thing  to  happen  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Now,  if  that  age  had  been  an  excep- 
tion to  the  general  rule,  it  seems  to  me,  looking  at  the  nature  of  the  human 
mind,  that  we  should  have  had  to  answer  this  very  difficult  question,  How  is  it 
possible  that  no  sect  appeared  in  that  age  ?  I  say,  then,  error  having  once 
arisen  in  the  sixteenth  century,  no  matter  what  may  have  been  its  origin,  occa- 
sion, and  pretext — a  certain  number  of  followers  having  assembled  around  its 
banner — Protestantism  forthwith  presents  itself  before  me  in  all  its  extent,  with 
its  transcendent  importance,  its  divisions,  and  subdivisions;  I  see  it,  with  bold- 
ness and  energy,  making  a  general  attack  on  all  the  doctrines  and  discipline 
taught  and  observed  by  the  Church.  In  place  of  Luther,  Zuinglius,  and  Cal- 
vin, let  us  suppose  Arius,  Nestorius,  and  Pelagius;  in  place  of  the  errors  of  the 
former,  let  them  teach  the  errors  of  the  latter;  it  will  all  lead  to  the  same 
result.  The  errors  will  excite  sympathy;  they  will  find  defenders;  they  will 
animate  enthusiasts;  they  will  spread,  they  will  be  propagated  with  the  rapidity 
of  fire,  they  will  be  diffused,  they  will  throw  sparks  in  all  directions;  they 
will  all  be  defended  with  a  show  of  knowledge  and  erudition ;  creeds  will  change 
unceasingly;  a  thousand  professions  of  faith  will  be  drawn  up;  the  liturgy  will 
be  altered, — will  be  destroyed;  the  bonds  of  discipline  will  be  broken;  we  shall 
have  to  sum  up  all  in  one  word,  Protestantism. 

How  did  it  happen  that  the  evil  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  necessarily  so 
extensive,  so  great,  and  so  important  ?  It  was  because  the  society  of  that  time 
was  different  from  any  other  that  had  preceded  it ;  that  which  at  other  times 
would  only  have  produced  a  partial  fire,  necessarily  caused  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury a  frightful  conflagration.  Europe  was  then  composed  of  a  number  of  im- 
mense states,  cast,  so  to  speak,  in  the  same  mould,  resembling  each  other  in 
Ideas,  manners,  laws  and  institutions,  drawn  together  incessantly  by  an  active 
communication  which  was  kept  up  alternately  by  rival  and  common  interests; 
knowledge  found  in  the  Latin  language  an  easy  means  of  diffusion ;  in  fine, 
most  important  of  all,  there  had  become  general  over  all  Europe  a  rapid  means 
of  disseminating  ideas  and  feelings,  a  creation  which  had  flashed  from  the 
human  mind  like  a  miraculous  illumination,  a  presage  of  colossal  destinies, 
viz.  the  press. 

Such  is  the  activity  of  the  mind  of  man,  and  the  ardour  with  which  it  em- 
braces all  sorts  of  innovation,  that  when  once  the  standard  of  error  was  planted, 
a  multitude  of  partisans  were  sure  to  rally  round  it.  The  yoke  of  authority 
once  thrown  off,  in  countries  where  investigation  was  so  active,  where  so  many 
discussions  were  carried  on,  where  ideas  were  in  such  a  state  of  effervescence, 
and  where  all  the  sciences  began  to  germinate,  it  was  impossible  for  the  restless 
mind  of  man  to  remain  fixed  on  any  point,  and  a  swarm  of  sects  was  neces- 
sarily produced.  There  is  no  middle  path ;  either  civilized  nations  must  remain 
Catholic,  or  run  through  all  the  forms  of  error.  If  they  do  not  attach  them- 
selves firmly  to  the  anchor  of  truth,  we  shall  see  them  make  a  general  attack 
upon  it,  we  shall  see  them  assail  it  in  itself,  in  all  that  it  teaches,  in  all  that  it 
prescribes.  A  man  of  free  and  active  mind  will  remain  tranquil  in  the  peaceful 
regions  of  truth,  or  he  will  seek  for  it  with  restlessness  and  disquietude.  If  he 
find  only  false  principles  to  rest  on, — if  he  feel  the  ground  move  under  hia 
feet,  he  will  change  his  position  every  moment,  he  will  leap  from  error  to  error, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  31 

and  precipitate  himself  from  one  abyss  to  another.  To  live  amid  errors,  and 
be  contented  with  them,  to  transmit  error  from  generation  to  generation,  with- 
out modification  or  change,  is  peculiar  to  those  who  vegetate  in  debasement  and 
ignorance;  there  the  mind  of  man  is  not  active,  because  it  is  asleep. 

From  the  point  of  view  where  we  have  now  placed  ourselves,  we  can  see 
Protestantism  such  as  it  is.  From  this  commanding  position  we  see  every  thing 
in  its  place,  and  it  is  possible  for  us  to  appreciate  its  dimensions,  to  perceive  its 
relations,  calculate  its  influence,  and  explain  its  anomalies.  Men  there  assume 
their  true  position;  as  they  are  seen  in  close  proximity  with  the  great  mass  of 
events,  they  appear  in  the  picture  as  very  small  figures,  for  which  others  may 
be  substituted  without  inconvenience;  which  may  be  placed  nearer  or  farther 
off,  and  the  features  and  complexion  of  which  are  not  of  any  consequence.  Of 
what  importance,  then,  are  the  energy  of  character,  the  passion,  and  boldness 
of  Luther,  the  literary  polish  of  Melancthon,  and  the  sophistical  talents  of 
Calvin  ?  We  are  convinced,  that  to  lay  stress  upon  all  this,  is  to  lose  our  time, 
and  explain  nothing. 

What  were  these  men,  and  the  other  coryphaei  of  Protestantism  ?  Was  there 
any  thing  really  extraordinary  about  them  ?  We  shall  find  men  like  them 
everywhere.  There  are  some  among  them  who  did  not  surpass  mediocrity;  and 
it  may  be  said  of  almost  all,  that  if  they  had  not  obtained  an  unhappy  cele- 
brity, they  would  hardly  have  been  celebrated  at  all.  Why,  then,  did  they 
effect  such  great  things?  They  found  a  mass  of  combustibles,  and  they 
set  them  on  fire.  Certainly  this  was  not  difficult,  and  yet  it  was  all  they  did. 
When  I  see  Luther,  mad  with  pride,  commit  those  extravagances  which  were 
the  subject  of  so  many  lamentations  on  the  part  of  his  friends — when  I  see 
him  grossly  insult  all  who  oppose  him,  put  himself  in  a  passion,  and  vomit 
forth  a  torrent  of  impure  words  against  all  those  who  do  not  humble  themselves 
in  his  presence,  I  am  scarcely  moved  by  any  other  feeling  than  pity.  This 
man,  who  had  the  extraordinary  mania  of  calling  himself  the  Noiharius  Dei, 
became  delirious;  but  he  breathed,  and  his  breath  was  followed  by  a  terrible 
conflagration:  it  was  because  a  powder-magazine  was  at  hand  on  which  he 
threw  a  spark.  Nevertheless,  like  a  man  blinded  by  insanity,  he  cried  out, 
"  Behold  my  power  !  I  breathe,  and  my  breath  puts  the  world  in  flames  !" 

But,  you  will  ask  me,  what  was  the  real  influence  of  abuses  ?  If  we  take 
care  not  to  leave  the  point  of  view  where  we  now  are,  we  shall  see  that  they 
were  an  occasion,  and  that  they  sometimes  afforded  food,  but  that  they  did  not 
exercise  all  the  influence  which  has  been  attributed  to  them.  Do  I  wish,  then, 
to  deny,  or  to  excuse  them  ?  Not  at  all.  I  can  appreciate  the  complaints  of 
some  men,  who  are  worthy  of  the  most  profound  respect;  but  while  lamenting 
the  evil,  these  men  never  pretended  to  detail  the  consequences.  The  just  man 
when  he  raises  his  voice  against  vice,  the  minister  of  the  sanctuary  when  he  is 
burning  with  zeal  for  the  house  of  the  Lord,  express  themselves  in  accents  so 
loud  and  vehement,  that  they  must  not  always  be  taken  literally.  Their  whole 
hearts  are  opened,  and,  inflamed  as  they  are  with  a  zealous  love  of  justice,  they 
make  use  of  burning  words.  Men  without  faith  interpret  their  expressions 
maliciously,  exaggerating  and  misrepresenting  them. 

It  appears  to  me  to  be  clear,  from  what  I  have  just  shown,  that  the  principal 
cause  of  Protestantism  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  abuses  of  the  middle  ages. 
All  that  can  be  said  is,  that  they  afforded  opportunities  and  pretexts  for  it. 
To  assert  the  contrary  would  be  to  maintain  that  there  were  always  numerous 
abuses  in  the  Church  from  the  beginning,  even  in  the  time  of  her  primitive 
fervor,  and  of  that  proverbial  purity  of  which  our  opponents  have  said  so  much ; 
for  even  then  there  were  swarms  of  sects  who  protested  against  her  doctrines, 
denied  her  divine  authority,  and  called  themselves  the  true  Church.  The  case 
is  the  same,  and  the  inference  cannot  be  denied.  If  you  allege  the  extent  and 


82  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

rapid  propagation  of  Protestantism,  I  will  remind  you  that  such  was  also  the 
case  with  other  sects;  I  will  repeat  to  you  the  words  of  St.  Jerome,  with  regard 
to  the  ravages  of  Arianism :  "  All  the  world  groans,  and  is  full  of  astonishment 
at  finding  itself  Arian."  I  will  repeat,  again,  that  if  you  observe  any  thing 
remarkable  and  peculiar  belonging  to  Protestantism,  it  ought  not  to  be  attributed 
to  abuses,  but  to  the  epoch  when  it  appeared. 

I  believe  I  have  said  enough  to  give  an  idea  of  the  influence  which  abuses 
could  exert;  yet,  as  it  is  a  subject  which  has  occupied  much  attention,  and  on 
which  many  mistakes  have  been  made,  it  will  be  well  to  revert  to  it  once  more, 
to  make  our  ideas  on  the  subject  still  clearer.  That  lamentable  abuses  had 
crept  in  during  the  course  of  the  middle  ages,  that  the  corruption  of  manners 
had  been  great,  and  that,  consequently,  reform  was  required,  is  a  fact  which 
cannot  be  denied.  This  fact  is  proved  to  us,  with  respect  to  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries,  by  irreproachable  witnesses,  such  as  St.  Peter  Damien,  St. 
Gregory  VII.,  and  St.  Bernard.  Some  centuries  later,  even  after  many  abuses 
had  been  corrected,  they  were  still  but  too  considerable,  as  is  witnessed  by  the 
complaints  of  men  who  were  inflamed  with  a  desire  of  reform.  We  cannot 
forget  the  alarming  words  addressed  by  Cardinal  Julian  to  Pope  Eugenius  IV., 
on  the  subject  of  the  disorders  of  the  clergy,  especially  those  of  Germany. 

Having  fully  avowed  the  truth  on  this  point,  and  my  opinion  that  the  cause 
of  Catholicity  does  not  require  dissimulation  or  falsehood  to  defend  it,  I  shall 
devote  a  few  words  to  examining  some  important  questions.  Are  we  to  blame 
the  court  of  Rome  or  the  bishops  for  these  great  abuses  ?  I  venture  to  think 
that  they  were  to  be  attributed  to  the  evils  of  the  time  alone.  Let  us  call  to 
mind  the  events  which  had  taken  place  in  the  midst  of  Europe;  the  dissolution 
of  the  decrepit  and  corrupt  empire  of  Rome;  the  irruption  and  inundation  of 
northern  barbarians;  their  fluctuations,  their  wars,  sometimes  with  each  other, 
and  sometimes  with  the  conquered  nations,  and  that  for  so  many  ages;  the 
establishment  and  absolute  reign  of  feudalism,  with  all  its  inconveniences,  its 
evils,  its  troubles,  and  disasters;  the  invasion  of  the  Saracens,  and  their 
dominion  over  a  large  portion  of  Europe ;  now,  let  any  reflecting  man  ask  him- 
self whether  such  revolutions  must  not  of  necessity  produce  ignorance,  corrup- 
tion of  morals,  and  the  relaxation  of  all  discipline.  How  could  the  ecclesiastical 
society  escape  being  deeply  affected  by  this  dissolution,  this  destruction  of  the 
civil  society  ?  Could  she  help  participating  in  the  evils  of  the  horrible  state 
of  chaos  into  which  Europe  was  then  plunged  ? 

But  were  the  spirit  and  ardent  desire  of  reforming  abuses  ever  wanting  in  the 
Church  ?  It  can  be  shown  that  they  were  not.  I  will  not  mention  the  saints 
whom  she  did  not  cease  to  produce  during  these  unhappy  periods;  history 
proves  their  number  and  their  virtues,  which,  so  vividly  contrasting  with  the 
corruption  of  the  age,  show  that  the  divine  flames  which  descended  on  the 
Apostles  had  not  been  extinguished  in  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
This  fact  proves  much;  but  there  is  another  still  more  remarkable,  a  fact  less 
subject  to  dispute,  and  which  we  cannot  be  accused  of  exaggerating;  a  fact 
which  is  not  limited  to  individuals,  but  which  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  most  com- 
plete expression  of  the  spirit  by  which  the  whole  body  of  the  Church  was  ani- 
mated; I  mean,  the  constant  meeting  of  councils,  in  which  abuses  were  reproved 
and  condemned,  and  in  which  sanctity  of  morals  and  the  observance  of  disci- 
pline were  continually  inculcated.  Happily  this  consoling  fact  is  indisputable; 
it  is  open  to  every  eye;  and  to  be  aware  of  it,  one  only  needs  to  consult  a 
volume  of  ecclesiastical  history,  or  the  proceedings  of  councils.  There  is  no 
fact  more  worth  our  attention;  and  I  will  add,  that  perhaps  all  its  importance 
has  not  been  observed. 

Let  us  remark  what  passes  in  other  societies :  we  see  that  in  proportion  to  tho 
change  of  ideas  and  manners,  laws  everywhere  undergo  a  rapid  modification ; 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

and  if  manners  and  ideas  come  to  be  directly  opposed  to  laws,  the  latter,  reduced 
to  silence,  are  soon  either  abolished  or  trodden  under  foot.  Nothing  of  this 
sort  has  happened  in  the  Church.  Corruption  has  extended  itself  everywhere 
to  a  lamentable  degree;  the  ministers  of  religion  have  allowed  themselves  to  be 
carried  away  by  the  stream,  and  have  forgotten  the  sanctity  of  their  vocation; 
but  the  sacred  tire  did  not  cease  to  burn  in  the  sanctuary;  the  law  was  there 
constantly  proclaimed  and  inculcated;  and,  wonderful  spectacle!  the  men  who 
themselves  violated  it  frequently  assembled  to  condemn  themselves,  to  censure 
their  own  conduct,  and  thus  to  render  more  public  and  more  palpable  the  jcon- 
trast  which  existed  between  their  instructions  and  their  actions.  Simony  and 
incontinence  were  the  prevailing  vices;  if  you  open  the  canons  of  councils, 
you  will  find  them  everywhere  anathematized.  Nowhere  do  you  find  a  struggle 
so  prolonged,  so  constant,  so  persevering,  of  right  against  wrong;  you  always 
see,  throughout  so  many  ages,  the  law,  opposed  face  to  face  to  the  irregular 
passions,  maintain  itself  firm  and  immovable,  without  yielding  a  single  step, 
without  allowing  them  a  moment  of  repose  or  peace  until  they  were  subjugated. 
And  this  constancy  and  tenacity  of  the  Church  were  not  useless.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  sixteenth  century,  at  the  time  when  Protestantism  appeared, 
we  find  abuses  comparatively  less  numerous,  morals  perceptibly  improved,  dis- 
cipline become  more  strict,  and  observed  with  sufficient  regularity.  The  time 
when  Luther  declaimed  was  not  like  that  when  St.  Peter  Damien  and  St.  Ber- 
nard deplored  the  evils  of  the  Church.  The  chaos  was  reduced  to  form;  order, 
light,  and  regularity  had  made  rapid  progress;  and  an  incontestable  proof  that 
the  Church  was  not  then  plunged  in  such  ignorance  and  corruption  as  is 
alleged,  is,  that  she  produced  the  great  assemblage  of  saints  who  shed  so  much 
lustre  on  the  age,  and  the  men  who  displayed  their  eminent  wisdom  at  the 
Council  of  Trent.  Let  us  remember  that  great  reforms  require  much  time; 
that  they  met  with  much  resistance  both  from  the  clergy  and  laity;  that  for 
having  undertaken  them  with  firmness,  and  urged  them  with  vigour,  Gregory 
VII.  has  been  charged  with  rashness.  Let  us  not  judge  of  men  without  regard 
to  times  and  places;  and  let  us  not  pretend  to  measure  every  thing  according 
to  our  own  limited  ideas;  ages  move  in  an  immense  orbit,  and  the  variety  of 
circumstances  produces  situations  so  strange  and  complicated  that  we  can  hardly 
form  an  idea  of  them. 

Bossuet,  in  his  History  of  the  Variations,  after  having  differently  classed  the 
spirit  which  guided  certain  men,  before  the  thirteenth  century,  in  their  attempts 
at  reform,  and  having  cited  the  threatening  words  of  Cardinal  Julian  on  the 
subject  of  abuses,  adds :  "  It  is  thus  that,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  this  cardinal, 
the  greatest  man  of  his  times,  deplored  these  evils,  and  foresaw  their  fatal 
effects;  by  which  he  seems  to  have  predicted  those  that  Luther  was  about  to 
bring  on  all  Christianity,  and  in  the  first  place  on  Germany;  and  he  was  not 
deceived  when  he  thought  that  the  neglect  of  reformation,  and  the  increased 
hatred  against  the  clergy,  was  about  to  produce  a  sect  more  dangerous  to  the 
Church  than  the  Bohemians."  (Hist,  des  Variat.  liv.  i.)  It  is  inferred  from 
these  words  that  the  illustrious  Bishop  of  Meaux  found  one  of  the  principal 
causes  of  Protestantism  in  the  omission  of  a  legitimate  reform  made  in  time. 
Nevertheless,  we  must  not  suppose  from  this  that  Bossuet  meant,  in  any  degree, 
to  excuse  the  promoters  of  it,  or  that  he  had  any  idea  of  sanctioning  their 
intentions;  on  the  contrary,  he  ranked  them  as  turbulent  innovators,  who,  far 
from  promoting  the  real  reform  which  was  desired  by  wise  and  prudent  men, 
only  served  to  render  it  more  difficult,  by  introducing,  by  the  means  of  their 
erroneous  doctrines,  the  spirit  of  disobedience,  schism,  and  heresy. 

In  spite  of  the  authority  of  Bossuet,  I  cannot  persuade  myself  to  look  upon 
abuses  as  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  Protestantism;  but  it  is  not  necessary 
to  repeat  what  I  have  said  in  support  of  this  opinion.  It  may  not,  however, 


34  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

be  useless  to  repeat,  that  the  authority  of  Bossuet  is  misapplied  when  used  to 
justify  the  intentions  of  the  reformers,  since  the  illustrious  prelate  is  the  first 
to  declare  them  highly  culpable,  and  to  observe,  that  if  abuses  were  in  exist- 
ence, their  intention  was  not  to  correct  them,  but  rather  to  make  them  a  pre- 
text for  abandoning  the  faith  of  the  Church,  throwing  off  the  yoke  of  lawful 
authority,  breaking  the  bands  of  discipline,  and  introducing  thereby  disorder 
and  licentiousness. 

How,  indeed,  can  we  attribute  to  the  reformers  the  real  spirit  of  reform, 
when  almost  all  of  them  proved  the  contrary  by  the  ignominy  of  their  own 
conduct?  If  they  had  condemned,  by  the  austerity  of  their  morals,  or  by 
devoting  themselves  to  a  severe  asceticism,  the  relaxations  of  which  they  com- 
plained, there  might  be  a  question  whether  their  extravagances  were  not  the 
effects  of  exaggerated  zeal,  and  if  some  excess  in  the  love  of  virtue  had  not 
drawn  them  into  error.  But  they  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  Let  us  hear  on 
this  point  an  eye-witness,  a  man  who  certainly  cannot  be  accused  of  fanaticism, 
since  the  connection  which  he  had  with  the  leaders  of  Protestantism  has  ren- 
dered him  culpable  in  the  eyes  of  many.  Behold  what  Erasmus  said,  with  his 
usual  wit  and  bitterness:  "The  reform,  as  far  as  it  has  gone,  has  been  limited 
to  the  secularization  of  a  few  nuns  and  the  marriage  of  a  few  priests  ;  and  this 
great  tragedy  finishes  with  an  event  altogether  comic,  since  every  thing  is  wound 
up,  as  in  comedies,  by  a  marriage." 

This  shows  to  conviction  the  true  spirit  of  the  innovators  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  It  is  clear  that,  far  from  wishing  the  reformation  of  abuses,  they 
wished  rather  to  increase  them.  This  bare  consideration  of  facts  has  led 
M.  Guizot,  on  this  point,  into  the  path  of  truth,  when  he  rejects  the  opinion  of 
those  who  pretend,  that  the  Reformation  was  "  an  attempt  conceived  and  exe- 
cuted simply  with  the  intention  of  reconstructing  a  pure  and  primitive  Church. 
The  Reformation/'  he  said,  "  was  not  a  mere  attempt  at  religious  amelioration, 
or  the  fruit  of  a  Utopian  humanity  and  virtue."  (Histoire  Generale  de  la  Civili- 
sation en  Europe j  douzieme  le§on.) 

We  shall  have  now  no  difficulty  in  appreciating  at  its  just  value  the  explana- 
tion which  the  same  writer  gives  of  this  phenomenon.  "  The  Reformation/' 
says  M.  Guizot,  "  was  a  great  attempt  at  the  liberation  of  human  thought — an 
uprising  of  the  mind  of  man."  This  attempt,  according  to  M.  Guizot,  arose 
out  of  the  energetic  movement  given  to  the  human  mind,  and  the  state  of  inac- 
tion into  which  the  Roman  Church  had  fallen;  it  arose  from  this,  that  the 
human  mind  advanced  rapidly  and  impetuously,  while  the  Church  remained 
stationary.  Explanations  of  this  kind,  and  this  one  in  particular,  are  very  apt 
to  draw  admirers  and  proselytes;  these  ideas  are  high,  and  placed  on  a  level 
so  lofty  and  extended,  that  they  cannot  be  looked  at  closely  by  the  generality 
of  readers ;  and,  moreover,  they  appear  in  brilliant  imagery,  which  blinds  the 
sight  and  prejudices  the  judgment. 

That  which  restrains  freedom  of  thought,  as  understood  by  M.  Guizot  and 
other  Protestants  is,  authority  in  matters  of  faith:  it  was,  then,  against  this 
authority  that  the  uprising  of  the  mind  declared  itself;  or,  in  other  words,  the 
mind  rebelled,  because  it  advanced,  while  the  Church,  immovable  in  her  doc- 
trines, was,  according  to  the  expression  of  M.  Guizot,  "  in  a  stationary  state." 

Whatever  may  be  the  disposition  of  mind  of  M.  Guizot  towards  the  dogmas 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  he  ought,  as  a  philosopher,  to  have  seen  that  it  was  a 
great  mistake  to  point  out  as  the  distinctive  characteristic  of  one  period,  that 
which  had  been  at  every  time  a  glorious  title  for  the  Church.  For  more  than 
eighteen  hundred  years  the  Church  has  been  stationary  in  her  dogmas,  and  it 
is  no  equivocal  proof  that  she  possesses  the  truth :  the  truth  is  unchangeable, 
because  it  is  one. 

What  the  Church  was  in  the  sixteenth  century,  she  had  been  before,  and  she 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY.  35 

has  been  since.  She  had  nothing  particular,  she  adopted  no  new  characteristic. 
The  reason,  then,  by  which  it  is  attempted  to  explain  this  phenomenon,  viz.  the 
uprising  of  the  mind,  cannot  advance  the  explanation  a  single  step ;  and  if  this 
be  the  reason  why  M.  Guizot  compares  the  Church  to  governments  grown  old, 
we  will  tell  him  that  she  has  had  this  old  age  from  her  cradle.  M.  Guizot,  as  if 
he  had  himself  felt  the  weakness  of  his  reasoning,  presents  his  thoughts  in 
groups,  and  as  it  were  ptle-mele ;  he  parades  before  his  readers  ideas  of  different 
kinds,  without  taking  pains  to  classify  or  distinguish  them;  one  would  be 
inclined  to  think  that  he  meant  to  distract  them  by  variety,  and  confound  them 
by  mixture.  Judging,  indeed,  from  the  context  of  his  discourse,  the  epithets 
inert  and  stationary,  which  he  applies  to  the  Church,  do  not  appear,  according 
to  his  intention,  to  relate  to  matters  of  faith;  and  he  gives  us  to  understand 
that  he  speaks  rather  of  the  pretensions  of  the  Church  with  regard  to  politics 
and  state  economy.  He  has  taken  pains,  elsewhere,  to  repel  as  calumnies,  the 
charges  of  tyranny  and  intolerance  which  have  been  so  often  made  against  the 
court  of  Rome. 

We  find  here  an  incoherence  of  ideas  which  was  not  to  be  expected  in  so 
clear  a  mind ;  and  as  many  persons  may  scarcely  be  inclined  to  believe  how  far 
this  incoherence  extends,  it  is  necessary  to  give  his  words  literally :  they  will 
show  us  into  what  inconsistencies  great  minds  can  fall  when  they  are  placed  in 
a  false  position. 

"  The  government  of  the  human  mind,  the  spiritual  power/'  says  M.  Guizot, 
"  had  fallen  into  an  inert  and  stationary  condition.  The  political  influence  of 
the  Church,  of  the  court  of  Rome,  was  much  diminished ;  European  society  no 
longer  was  ruled  by  it ;  it  had  passed  under  the  control  of  lay  governments. 
Nevertheless,  the  spiritual  power  preserved  all  its  pretensions,  all  its  6clat,  all 
its  external  importance.  There  happened  in  this  respect,  what  has  more  than 
once  happened  to  old  governments.  The  greater  part  of  the  complaints  made 
against  it  were  hardly  better  founded." 

It  is  evident  that  M.  Guizot,  in  this  passage,  does  not  point  out  any  thing 
which  is  at  all  connected  with  liberty,  any  thing  which  is  not  quite  of  another 
kind  :  why  does  he  not  do  so  ?  The  court  of  Rome,  he  tells  us,  had  seen  its 
political  influence  diminished,  and  yet  it  preserved  its  pretensions ;  the  direction 
of  European  society  no  longer  belonged  to  it,  but  Rome  kept  its  pomp  and  its 
external  importance.  Is  any  thing  here  meant  besides  the  rivalries  of  which 
political  affairs  had  been  the  subject  ?  Did  M.  Guizot  forget  what  he  himself 
said  some  pages  before,  viz.  that  it  did  not  appear  to  him  to  be  reasonable  to 
assign  the  rivalry  of  kings  witli  the  ecclesiastical  power  as  the  cause  of  Pro- 
testantism, and  that  such  a  cause  was  not  adequate  to  the  extent  and  importance 
of  the  event  ? 

Although  all  this  has  no  direct  connection  with  freedom  of  thought,  still,  if 
any  one  be  inclined  to  attribute  the  uprising  of  the  mind  to  the  intolerance  of 
the  court  of  Rome,  let  him  listen  to  M.  Guizot :  "  It  is  not  true/7  says  he, 
"  that  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  court  of  Rome  was  very  tyrannical ;  that 
abuses,  properly  so  called,  were  then  more  numerous,  more  crying,  than  they 
had  been  at  other  times ;  never,  perhaps,  on  the  contrary,  had  the  ecclesiastical 
power  been  more  easy,  more  tolerant,  more  disposed  to  let  things  go  their  own 
way.  Provided  that  it  was  not  itself  called  in  question,  provided  that  the 
rights  which  it  had  formerly  enjoyed  were  allowed  in  theory,  that  the  same 
existence  was  secured,  and  the  same  tributes  were  paid  to  it,  it  would  willingly 
have  allowed  the  human  mind  to  remain  at  peace,  if  the  human  mind  had  done 
the  same  in  respect  to  it." 

Thus  M.  Guizot  seems  to  have  forgotten  what  he  had  urged  with  the  view 
of  showing  that  the  Protestant  Reformation  was  a  great  attempt  at  the  libera- 
tion of  human  thought — a  rebellion  of  the  mind  of  man.  He  does  not  allege 


36  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

any  thing  which  was  an  obstacle  to  the  freedom  of  man's  thoughts ;  and  hf 
himself  acknowledges  that  there  was  nothing  to  provoke  this  rebellion,  as,  for 
example,  intolerance  or  cruelty;  he  has  himself  just  told  us  that  the  ecclesias- 
tical government  of  the  sixteenth  century,  far  from  being  tyrannical,  was  easy 
and  tolerant,  and  that,  if  left  to  itself,  it  would  willingly  have  allowed  the 
human  mind  to  remain  tranquil. 

It  is,  then,  evident,  that  the  great  attempt  at  the  liberation  of  the  human 
mind  is,  in  M.  Guizot' s  mouth,  only  a  vague,  undefined  expression, — a  brilliant 
veil  with  which  he  seems  to  have  wished  to  cover  the  cradle  of  Protestantism, 
even  at  the  risk  of  being  inconsistent  with  his  own  opinions.  He  reverts  to 
the  political  rivalries  which  he  before  rejected.  Abuses  have  no  importance  in 
his  eyes ;  he  cannot  find  in  them  the  real  cause ;  and  he  forgets  what  he  had 
just  asserted  in  the  preceding  lecture,  viz.  that  if  necessary  reform  had  been 
made  in  time,  the  religious  revolution  might  have  been  avoided. 

He  tries  to  give  a  picture  of  the  obstacles  to  the  liberty  of  thought,  and 
endeavours  to  rise  to  the  general  considerations  which  embrace  all  the  import- 
ance and  influences  of  the  human  mind ;  but  he  stops  at  eclat,  at  external  im- 
portance, and  political  rivalries ;  he  lowers  his  flight  to  the  level  of  tributes 
and  services. 

This  incoherence  of  ideas,  this  weakness  of  reasoning,  and  forgetfulness  of 
assertions  previously  made,  will  appear  strange  only  to  those  who  are  accus- 
tomed rather  to  admire  the  high  flights  of  talented  men  than  to  study  their 
aberrations.  It  is  true  that  M.  Guizot  was  in  a  position  in  which  it  was  very 
difficult  to  avoid  being  dazzled  and  deceived.  If  it  be  true  that  we  cannot 
observe  attentively  what  passes  on  the  ground  around  us  without  narrowing  our 
view  of  the  horizon, — if  this  method  leads  the  observer  to  form  a  collection  of 
isolated  facts  rather  than  compare  general  maxims,  it  is  not  less  certain  that,  by 
extending  our  observations  over  a  larger  space,  we  run  the  risk  of  many  illu- 
sions. Too  great  generalization  borders  on  hypothesis  and  fancy.  The  mind, 
when  taking  an  immoderate  flight  in  order  to  get  a  general  view  of  things,  no 
longer  sees  them  as  they  really  are ;  perhaps  sometimes  even  loses  sight  of  them 
altogether.  Therefore  it  is  that  the  loftiest  minds  should  frequently  remember 
the  words  of  Bacon :  "  We  do  not  want  wings,  but  lead."  Too  impartial  not 
to  confess  that  abuses  had  been  exaggerated, — too  good  a  philosopher  not  to  see 
that  they  could  not  have  had  so  great  an  effect, — M.  Guizot,  who  was  pre- 
vented by  his  sense  of  dignity  and  decency  from  joining  the  crowd  who  inces- 
santly raise  the  cry  of  cruelty  and  intolerance,  has  made  an  effort  to  do  justice 
to  the  Church  of  Rome;  but,  unfortunately,  his  prejudices  against  the  Church 
would  not  allow  him  to  see  things  in  their  true  light.  He  was  aware  that  the 
origin  of  Protestantism  must  be  sought  in  the  human  mind  itself;  but,  knowing 
the  age  and  epoch  when  he  was  speaking,  he  thought  it  was  necessary  to  propitiate 
his  audience  by  frequent  appeals  to  liberty,  in  order  that  his  discourse  might 
be  well  received.  This  is  the  reason  why,  after  having  tempered  the  bitterness 
of  his  reproaches  against  the  Church  by  a  few  soft  words,  he  reserves  all  that 
is  noble,  grand,  and  generous  for  the  ideas  which  produced  the  Reformation, 
and  throws  on  the  Church  all  the  shadows  of  the  picture. 

While  acknowledging  that  the  principal  cause  of  Protestantism  is  to  be  found 
in  the  human  mind,  it  is  easy  to  abstain  from  these  unjust  comparisons;  and 
M.  Guizot  might  have  avoided  the  inconsistency  to  which  we  have  alluded. 
He  might  have  discovered  the  origin  of  the  fact  in  the  character  of  the  human 
mind ;  he  might,  at  the  same  time,  have  shown  the  greatness  and  importance 
of  it,  while  simply  explaining  the  nature  and  position  of  the  societies  in  which 
it  appeared.  In  fine,  he  might  have  observed  that  it  was  no  extraordinary 
effort,  but  a  mere  repetition  of  what  has  happened  in  every  age ;  and  a  pheno- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  37 

menon,  the  character  of  which  depended  on  the  particular  state  of  the  atmo- 
sphere in  which  it  was  produced. 

This  way  of  considering  Protestantism  as  an  ordinary  event,  increased  and 
developed  by  the  circumstances  in  which  it  arose,  appears  to  me  to  be  as  philo- 
sophical as  it  is  little  attended  to.  I  shall  support  it  by  another  observation, 
which  will  supply  us  with  reasons  and  examples  at  the  same  time. 

The  state  of  modern  society  for  three  hundred  years  has  been  such,  that  all 
the  events  that  have  occurred  have  acquired  a  character  of  generalization,  and 
consequently  an  importance,  which  distinguishes  them  from  all  the  events  of  a 
similar  kind  which  occurred  at  other  times  and  in  a  different  social  state.  If 
we  examine  the  history  of  antiquity,  we  shall  see  that  all  the  events  therein 
occurring  were  isolated  in  some  sort  from  each  other ;  this  was  what  rendered 
them  less  beneficial  when  they  were  good,  and  less  injurious  when  they  were 
bad.  Carthage,  Rome,  Sparta,  Athens,  all  these  nations  more  or  less  advanced 
in  the  career  of  civilization,  each  followed  its  own  path,  and  progressed  in  a 
different  way.  Ideas,  manners,  political  constitutions,  succeeded  each  other, 
without  our  being  able  to  perceive  any  influence  of  the  ideas  of  one  nation  on 
those  of  another,  or  of  the  manners  of  one  nation  on  those  of  another ;  we  do 
not  find  any  evidence  of  a  tendency  to  bring  nations  to  one  common  centre. 

We  also  remark  that,  except  when  forced  to  intermix,  ancient  nations  could 
be  a  long  time  in  close  proximity  without  losing  their  peculiarities,  or  suffering 
any  important  change  by  the  contact. 

Observe  how  different  is  the  state  of  things  in  Europe  in  modern  times.  A 
revolution  in  one  country  affects  all  others ;  an  idea  sent  forth  from  the  schools 
agitates  nations  and  alarms  governments.  Nothing  is  isolated,  every  thing  is 
general,  and  acquires  by  expansion  a  terrible  force.  It  is  impossible  to  study 
the  history  of  one  nation  without  seeing  all  the  others  make  their  appearance 
on  the  stage ;  and  we  cannot  study  the  history  of  a  science  or  an  art  without 
discovering  a  thousand  connections  with  objects  which  do  not  belong  to  science 
or  to  art. 

All  nations  are  connected,  objects  are  assimilated,  relations  increase.  The 
affairs  of  one  nation  are  interesting  to  all  the  others,  and  they  wish  to  take  part 
in  them.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  idea  of  non-intervention  in  politics  is,  and 
always  will  be,  impracticable ;  it  is,  indeed,  natural  for  us  to  interfere  in  that 
in  which  we  are  interested. 

These  examples,  although  taken  from  things  of  a  different  kind,  appear  to 
me  very  well  calculated  to  illustrate  my  idea  of  the  religious  events  of  that 
period.  Protestantism,  it  is  true,  is  thereby  stripped  of  the  philosophic  man- 
tle by  which  it  has  been  covered  from  its  infancy ;  it  loses  all  right  to  be  con- 
sidered as  full  of  foresight,  magnificent  projects,  and  high  destinies,  from  its 
cradle^  but  I  do  not  see  that  its  importance  and  extent  are  thereby  diminished ; 
the  fact  itself,  in  a  word,  is  unimpaired,  but  the  real  cause  of  the  imposing 
aspect  in  which  it  has  presented  itself  to  the  world  is  explained. 

Every  thing,  in  this  point  of  view,  is  seen  in  its  just  dimensions;  indivi- 
duals are  scarcely  perceived,  and  abuses  appear  only  what  they  really  are — 
opportunities  and  pretexts ;  vast  plans,  lofty  and  generous  ideas,  and  efforts  at 
independence  of  mind,  are  only  gratuitous  suppositions.  Thence  ambition,  war, 
the  rivalry  of  kings,  take  their  position  as  causes  more  or  less  influential,  but 
always  in  the  second  rank.  All  the  causes  are  estimated  at  their  real  value  j 
in  fine,  the  principal  causes  being  once  pointed  out,  it  is  acknowledged  that  the 
fact  was  sure  to  be  accompanied  in  its  development  by  a  multitude  of  subordi- 
nate agents.  There  remains  still  an  important  question  in  this  matter,  viz. 
what  was  the  cause  of  the  hatred,  or  rather  the  feeling  of  exasperation,  on  the 
part  of  sectarians  against  Rome?  Was  it  owing  to  some  great  abuse,  some 
great  wrong  on  the  part  of  Rome  ?  There  is  but  one  answer  to  make,  viz.  that 

D 


38  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

in  a  storm,  the  waves  always  dash  with  fury  against  the  immovable  rock  which 
resists  them. 

So  far  from  attributing  to  abuses  all  the  influence  which  has  been  assigned 
to  them  on  the  birth  and  development  of  Protestantism,  I  am  convinced,  on 
the  contrary,  that  all  imaginable  legitimate  reforms,  and  the  greatest  degree  of 
willingness  on  the  part  of  the  Church  authorities  to  comply  with  every  exigence, 
would  not  have  been  able  to  prevent  that  unhappy  event. 

fle  has  paid  little  attention  to  the  extreme  inconstancy  and  fickleness  of  the 
human  mind,  and  studied  its  history  to  little  purpose,  who  does  not  recognise 
in  the  event  of  the  sixteenth  century  one  of  those  great  calamities  which  God 
alone  can  avert  by  a  special  intervention  of  his  providence.  (5) 


CHAPTER  III. 

EXTRAORDINARY   PHENOMENON   IN   THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH. 

THE  proposition  contained  in  the  concluding  lines  of  the  last  chapter  sug- 
gests a  corollary,  which,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  offers  a  new  demonstration  of 
the  divine  origin  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Her  existence  for  eighteen  centuries, 
in  spite  of  so  many  powerful  adversaries,  has  always  been  regarded  as  a  most 
extraordinary  thing.  Another  prodigy,  too  little  attended  to,  and  of  not  less 
importance  when  the  nature  of  the  human  mind  is  taken  into  account,  is,  the 
unity  of  the  Church's  doctrines,  pervading,  as  it  does,  all  her  various  instruc- 
tions, and  the  number  of  or  eat  minds  which  this  unity  has  always  enclosed  within 
her  bosom. 

I  particularly  call  the  attention  of  all  thinking  men  to  this  point;  and 
although  I  cannot  hope  to  develope  this  idea  in  a  suitable  manner,  I  am  sure 
they  will  find  in  it  matter  for  very  serious  reflection.  This  method  of  consi- 
dering the  Church  may  perhaps  recommend  itself  to  the  taste  of  some  readers 
on  another  account,  viz.  because  I  shall  lay  aside  Revelation,  in  order  to  con- 
sider Catholicity,  not  as  a  Divine  religion,  but  as  a  school  of  philosophy. 

No  one  who  has  studied  the  history  of  letters  can  deny  that  the  Church  has, 
in  all  ages,  possessed  men  illustrious  for  science.  The  history  of  the  Fathers 
of  the  first  ages  of  the  Church  is  nothing  but  the  history  of  the  most  learned 
men  in  Europe,  in  Africa,  and  in  Asia;  the  list  of  learned  men  who  preserved, 
after  the  irruption  of  the  Barbarians,  some  remains  of  ancient  knowledge,  is 
composed  of  churchmen.  In  modern  times  you  cannot  point  out  a  branch  of 
human  knowledge,  in  which  a  considerable  number  of  Catholics  have  not 
figured  in  the  first  rank.  Thus  there  has  been,  for  eighteen  hundred  years,  an 
uninterrupted  chain  of  learned  men,  who  were  Catholics,  that  is,  men  united  in 
the  profession  of  the  doctrines  taught  by  the  Catholic  Church.  Let  us  lay 
aside  for  a  moment  the  divine  characteristics  of  Catholicity,  to  consider  it  only 
as  a  school  or  sect;  I  say,  that  in  the  fact  which  I  have  pointed  out,  we  find  a 
phenomenon  so  extraordinary,  that  its  equal  cannot  be  found  elsewhere,  and 
that  no  effort  of  reason  can  explain  it,  according  to  the  natural  order  of  human 
things. 

It  is  certainly  not  new  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind  for  a  doctrine,  more 
or  less  reasonable,  to  be  professed  for  a  time  by  a  certain  number  of  learned  and 
enlightened  men;  this  has  been  shown  in  schools  of  philosophy  both  ancient 
and  modern.  But  for  a  creed  to  maintain  itself  for  many  ages,  by  preserving 
the  adhesion  of  men  of  learning  of  all  times  and  of  all  countries — of  minds 
differing  among  themselves  on  other  points — of  men  opposed  in  interests  and 
divided  by  rivalries,  is  a  phenomenon  new,  unique,  and  not  to  be  found  any- 
where but  in  the  Catholic  Church.  It  always  has  been,  and  still  is,  the  practice 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  39 

of  the  Church,  while  one  in  faith  and  doctrine,  to  teach  unceasingly — to  excite 
discussion  on  all  subjects — to  promote  the  study  and  examination  of  the  foun- 
dations on  which  faith  itself  reposes — to  scrutinize  for  this  purpose  the  ancient 
languages,  the  monuments  of  the  remotest  times,  the  documents  of  history,  the 
discoveries  of  scientific  observation,  the  lessons  of  the  highest  and  most  analytic 
sciences,  and  to  present  herself  with  a  generous  confidence  in  the  great  lyceums, 
where  men  replete  with  talents  and  knowledge  concentrate,  as  in  a  focus,  all 
that  they  have  learned  from  their  predecessors,  and  all  that  they  themselves 
have  collected :  and  nevertheless  we  see  her  always  persevere  with  firmness  in 
her  faith  and  in  the  unity  of  her  doctrines ;  we  see  her  always  surrounded  by 
illustrious  men,  who,  with  their  brows  crowned  with  the  laurels  of  a  hundred 
literary  contests,  humble  themselves,  tranquil  and  serene,  before  her,  without 
fear  of  dimming  the  brightness  of  the  glory  which  surrounds  their  heads. 

We  ask  those  who  see  in  Catholicity  only  one  of  the  innumerable  sects  by 
which  the  earth  has  been  covered,  to  point  out  elsewhere  a  similar  fact;  to 
explain  to  us  how  the  Church  has  been  able  to  show  us  a  phenomenon,  con- 
stantly existing,  so  opposed  to  the  ever-varying  spirit  of  the  human  mind ;  let 
them  tell  us  by  what  secret  talisman  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs  have  been  able  to 
do  what  other  men  have  found  impossible.  Those  men,  who  bowed  their  heads 
at  the  command  of  the  Vatican,  who  have  laid  aside  their  own  opinions  to 
adopt  those  of  a  man  called  the  Pope,  were  not  simple  and  ignorant  men. 
Look  at  them  attentively;  you  will  see  in  the  boldness  of  their  mien  their 
knowledge  of  their  own  intellectual  power ;  you  will  read  in  their  bright  and 
penetrating  eyes  the  flame  of  genius  which  burns  in  their  breasts.  They  are 
the  same  men  who  have  filled  the  highest  places  in  the  academies  of  Europe ; 
who  have  spread  their  fame  over  the  world,  and  whose  names  have  been  handed 
down  to  future  generations.  Examine  the  history  of  all  ages,  search  all  the 
countries  of  the  world,  and  if  you  find  anywhere  such  an  extraordinary  combi- 
nation of  knowledge  in  union  with  faith,  of  genius  in  submission  to  authority, 
and  of  discussion  without  breach  of  unity,  you  will  have  made  an  important 
discovery,  and  science  will  have  to  explain  a  new  phenomenon.  But  you  know 
well  that  you  cannot  do  so.  This  is  the  reason  why  you  have  recourse  to  new 
stratagems  in  order  to  cast  a  shade  on  the  brightness  of  this  fact;  for  you  feel 
that  impartial  reason  and  common  sense  must  draw  from  it  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  in  the  Catholic  Church  something  which  is  not  to  be  found  elsewhere. 

These  facts,  say  our  adversaries,  are  certain ;  the  reflections  which  they  sug- 
gest are  dazzling  at  first  sight;  but  if  we  examine  the  subject  thoroughly,  we 
shall  see  the  difficulties  they  raise  disappear.  This  phenomenon,  which  we 
have  seen  realized  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  which  is  not  found  elsewhere, 
only  proves  that  there  has  always  been  in  the  Church  a  fixed  system,  which  has 
been  developed  with  uniform  regularity.  The  Church  knew  that  union  is  the 
source  of  strength;  that  union  cannot  exist  without  unity  of  doctrine;  and 
that  unity  cannot  be  preserved  without  submission  to  authority.  This  simple 
observation  established,  and  constantly  maintained,  the  principle  of  submission. 
Such  is  the  explanation  of  the  phenomenon.  The  idea,  we  grant,  is  profoundly 
wise,  the  scheme  is  grand,  the  system  is  extraordinary;  but  they  do  not  prove 
any  thing  in  favor  of  the  Divine  origin  of  Catholicism. 

This  is  the  best  reply  which  they  can  make ;  it  is  easy  to  show  that  the  diffi- 
culty remains  entire.  Indeed,  if  it  be  true  that  there  has  existed  a  society  on 
earth  which  has  been  for  eighteen  centuries  guided  by  one  fixed  and  constant 
principle — a  society  which  has  known  how  to  bind  to  this  principle  eminent 
men  of  all  ages  and  countries,  the  following  questions  must  be  asked  of  our 
adversaries : — Why  has  the  Church  alone  possessed  this  principle,  and  monopo- 
lized this  idea  ?  If  other  sects  have  been  in  possession  of  it,  why  have  they 
not  acted  on  it  ?  All  the  philosophic  sects  have  disappeared,  one  after  another; 


40  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

the  Church  alone  remains.  Other  religions,  in  order  to  preserve  some  sort  of 
unity,  have  been  compelled  to  shun  the  light,  to  avoid  discussion,  to  hide  them- 
selves in  the  thickest  shades.  Why  has  the  Church  preserved  her  unity  while 
seeking  the  light,  while  publishing  her  books  in  open  day,  while  lavishing  all 
sorts  of  instruction,  and  founding  everywhere  colleges,  universities,  and  esta- 
blishments of  every  description,  where  all  the  splendor  of  knowledge  and 
erudition  has  been  concentrated  ? 

It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  there  was  a  plan — a  system ;  the  difficulty  lies 
in  the  existence  of  this  plan  and  this  system ;  it  consists  in  explaining  how 
they  were  conceived  and  executed.  If  we  had  to  do  with  a  small  number  of 
men,  in  limited  circumstances,  times,  and  countries,  for  the  execution  of  a 
limited  project,  there  would  be  nothing  extraordinary;  but  we  have  to  do  with 
a  period  of  eighteen  hundred  years,  with  all  the  countries  of  the  world,  with 
circumstances  the  most  varied,  the  most  diiferent,  and  the  most  opposed  to  each 
other  ;  we  have  to  do  with  a  multitude  of  men  who  did  not  meet  together,  or 
act  in  concert.  How  is  all  this  to  be  explained  ?  If  it  were  a  plan  and  a 
system  devised  by  man,  we  should  ask,  What  was  the  mysterious  power  of 
Rome  which  enabled  her  to  unite  around  her  so  many  illustrious  men  of  all 
times  and  of  all  countries  ?  How  did  the  Roman  Pontiff,  if  he  be  only  the 
chief  of  a  sect,  manage  to  fascinate  the  world  to  this  extent  ?  What  magician 
ever  did  such  wonders  ?  Men  have  long  declaimed  against  his  religious  despot- 
ism ;  why  has  no  one  been  found  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from  his  grasp  ?  why  has 
not  a  pontifical  throne  been  raised  capable  of  disputing  the  pre-eminence  with 
his,  and  of  maintaining  itself  with  equal  splendor  and  power?  Shall  we 
attribute  it  to  his  temporal  power  ?  This  power  is  very  limited.  Rome  was 
not  able  to  contend  in  arms  with  any  of  the  other  European  powers.  Shall  we 
attribute  it  to  the  peculiar  character,  to  the  knowledge  or  the  virtues  of  the 
men  who  have  occupied  the  Papal  throne  ?  There  has  been,  during  these 
eighteen  hundred  years,  an  infinite  variety  in  the  characters  and  in  the  talents 
and  virtues  of  the  Popes.  For  those  who  are  not  Catholics,  who  do  not  see  in 
the  Roman  Pontiff  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ, — the  rock  on  which  He  has  built 
His  Church, — the  duration  of  this  authority  must  be  the  most  extraordinary 
phenomenon;  and  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  questions  most  worthy  of  being 
examined  by  the  science  which  devotes  itself  to  the  history  of  the  human 
mind ;  how  there  existed  for  many  centuries  an  uninterrupted  series  of  learned 
men,  always  faithful  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman  See  ? 

M.  Guizot  himself,  in  comparing  Protestantism  with  the  Roman  Church, 
seems  to  have  felt  the  force  of  this  truth ;  and  its  light  appears  to  have  made 
him  confused  in  his  remarks.  Let  us  listen  again  to  this  writer,  whose  talents 
and  renown  have  dazzled,  on  this  point,  so  many  readers,  who  do  not  examine 
the  solidity  of  proofs  when  they  are  clothed  in  brilliant  images,  and  who 
applaud  all  kinds  of  ideas  when  they  are  conveyed  to  them  in  a  torrent  of  en- 
chanting eloquence ;  men  who,  pretending  to  intellectual  independence,  sub- 
scribe, without  inquiry,  to  the  decisions  of  the  leaders  of  their  school ;  who 
receive  their  doctrines  with  submission,  and  dare  not  even  raise  their  heads  to 
ask  for  the  titles  of  their  authority.  M.  Guizot,  like  all  the  great  men  among 
Protestants,  was  aware  of  the  immense  void  which  exists  amid  its  various  sects, 
and  of  the  force  and  vigour  which  is  contained  in  Catholicity ;  he  has  not  been 
able  to  free  himself  from  the  rule  of  great  minds, — a  rule  which  is  explicitly 
confirmed  by  the  writings  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  Reformation.  After 
pointing  out  the  inconstant  progress  of  Protestantism,  and  the  error  which  it 
has  introduced  into  the  organization  of  intellectual  society,  M.  Guizot  proceeds 
thus :  "  People  have  not  known  how  to  reconcile  the  rights  and  necessities  of 
tradition  with  those  of  liberty;  and  the  cause  of  it  undoubtedly  has  been,  that 
the  Reformation  did  not  fully  understand  and  accept  either  its  principles  or  its 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  41 

effects."  What  sort  of  a  religion  must  that  be  which  does  not  fully  understand 
and  accept  its  principles  or  its  effects  ? 

Did  a  more  formal  condemnation  of  the  Reformation  ever  issue  out  of  the 
mouth  of  man  ?  could  any  thing  of  the  kind  ever  be  said  of  the  sects  of  phi- 
losophers, ancient  or  modern  ?  Can  the  Reformation,  then,  after  this,  pretend 
to  direct  men  or  society  ?  "  Thence  arises/'  continues  M.  Guizot,  "  a  certain 
air  of  inconsistency  and  narrowness  of  spirit,  which  has  often  given  advantages 
over  it  to  its  opponents.  The  latter  knew  very  well  what  they  did  and  what 
they  wished ;  they  ascended  to  the  principles  of  their  conduct,  and  avowed  all 
their  consequences.  There  never  was  a  government  more  consistent,  more  sys- 
tematic than  that  of  the  Church  of  Rome/'  But  whence  was  the  origin  of  a 
system  so  consistent  ?  When  we  consider  the  fickleness  and  inconstancy  of  the 
human  mind,  do  not  this  system,  this  consistency,  and  these  fixed  principles, 
speak  volumes  to  the  philosopher  and  man  of  good  sense  ? 

We  have  observed  those  terrible  elements  of  dissolution  which  have  theii 
source  in  the  mind  of  man,  and  which  have  acquired  so  much  force  in  modern 
society ;  we  have  seen  with  what  fatal  power  they  destroy  and  annihilate  all 
institutions,  social,  political,  and  religious,  without  ever  succeeding  in  making  a 
breach  in  the  doctrines  of  Catholicity, — without  altering  that  system,  so  fixed 
and  so  consistent.  Is  there  no  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  all  this  in  favour 
of  Catholicity  ?  To  say  that  the  Church  has  done  that  which  no  schools,  or 
governments,  or  societies,  or  religions  could  do,  is  it  not  to  confess  that  she  is 
wiser  than  every  thing  human  ?  And  does  it  not  clearly  prove  that  she  does 
not  owe  her  origin  to  human  thought,  and  that  she  is  derived  from  the  bosom 
of  the  Creator?  This  society — formed,  you  say,  by  men — this  government, 
directed  by  men,  has  endured  for  eighteen  hundred  years ;  it  extends  to  all 
countries,  it  addresses  the  savage  in  the  forest,  the  barbarian  in  his  tent,  the 
civilized  man  in  the  most  populous  cities;  it  reckons  among  its  children  the 
shepherd  clothed  in  skins,  the  laborer,  the  powerful  nobleman;  it  makes  its 
laws  heard  alike  by  the  simple  mechanic  at  his  work,  and  the  man  of  learning 
in  his  closet  absorbed  in  the  profoundest  speculations.  This  government  has 
always  had,  according  to  M.  Guizot,  a  full  knowledge  of  its  actions  and  its 
wishes;  it  has  always  been  consistent  in  its  conduct.  Is  not  this  avowal  its 
most  convincing  apology,  its  most  eloquent  panegyric ;  and  shall  it  not  be  con- 
sidered a  proof  that  it  contains  within  itself  something  more  than  human  ? 

A  thousand  times  have  I  beheld  this  prodigy  with  astonishment ;  a  thousand 
times  have  my  eyes  been  fixed  upon  that  immense  tree  which  -extends  its 
branches  from  east  to  west,  from  north  to  south ;  I  see  beneath  its  shade  a  mul- 
titude of  different  nations,  and  the  restless  genius  of  man  reposing  in  tranquil- 
lity at  its  feet. 

In  the  East,  at  the  period  when  this  divine  religion  first  appeared,  I  see, 
amidst  the  dissolutions  of  all  sects,  the  most  illustrious  philosophers  crowd  to 
hear  her  words.  In  Greece,  in  Asia,  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  in  all  the  coun- 
tries where,  a  short  time  before,  swarmed  innumerable  sects,  I  see  appear  on  a 
sudden  a  generation  of  great  men,  abounding  in  learning,  in  knowledge,  in 
eloquence,  and  all  agreeing  in  the  unity  of  Catholic  doctrine. 

In  the  West,  a  multitude  of  barbarians  throw  themselves  on  an  empire  fall- 
ing to  decay ;  a  dark  cloud  descends  upon  an  horizon  charged  with  calamities 
and  disasters ;  there,  in  the  midst  of  a  people  submerged  in  the  corruption  of 
morals,  and  having  lost  even  the  remembrance  of  their  ancient  grandeur,  I  see 
the  only  men  who  can  be  called  worthy  heirs  of  the  Roman  name,  seek,  in  the 
retirement  of  their  temples,  an  asylum  for  the  austerity  of  their  morals ;  it  is 
there  that  they  preserve,  increase,  and  enrich  the  treasure  of  ancient  knowledge. 
But  my  admiration  reaches  its  height,  when  I  observe  that  sublime  intellect, 
worthy  heir  of  the  genius  of  Plato,  which,  after  having  sought  the  truth  in  all 


42  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

the  schools,  in  all  the  sects,  and  with  indomitable  boldness  run  through  all 
human  errors,  feels  itself  subjugated  by  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  trans- 
forms the  freethinker  into  the  great  Bishop  of  Hippo.  In  modern  times  the 
series  of  great  men  who  shone  in  the  times  of  Leo  X.  and  Louis  XIV.  passes 
before  my  eyes.  I  see  the  illustrious  race  still  continue  throughout  the  calami- 
ties of  the  eighteenth  century ;  and  in  the  nineteenth  I  see  fresh  heroes,  who, 
after  having  followed  error  in  all  directions,  come  to  hang  their  trophies  at 
the  gates  of  the  Catholic  Church.  What,  then,  is  this  prodigy  ?  Has  a  sect 
or  religion  like  it  ever  before  been  seen  ?  These  men  study  every  thing,  dis- 
pute on  every  thing,  reply  to  every  thing,  know  every  thing ;  but  always  agree- 
ing in  unity  of  doctrine,  they  bend  their  noble  and  intellectual  brows  in 
respectful  obedience  to  faith.  Do  we  not  seem  to  behold  another  planetary 
system,  where  globes  of  fire  revolve  in  their  vast  orbits  in  the  midst  of  immen- 
sity, always  drawn  to  their  centre  by  a  mysterious  attraction  ?  That  central 
force,  which  allows  no  aberration,  takes  from  them  nothing  of  their  extent,  or 
of  the  grandeur  of  their  movement ;  but  it  inundates  them  with  light,  while 
giving  to  their  motion  a  more  majestic  regularity.  (6) 


CHAPTER 'IV. 

PROTESTANTISM   AND    THE   MIND. 

THIS  fixedness  of  idea,  this  unanimity  of  will,  this  wisdom  and  constancy  of 
plan,  this  progress  with  a  firm  step  towards  a  definite  object  and  end ;  and,  in 
fine,  this  admirable  unity,  acknowledged  in  favor  of  Catholicism  by  M.  Guizot 
himself,  have  not  been  imitated  by  Protestantism,  either  in  good  or  evil.  Pro- 
testantism, indeed,  has  not  a  single  idea,  of  which  it  can  say :  "  This  is  my 
own."  It  has  attempted  to  appropriate  to  itself  the  principle  of  private  judg- 
ment in  matters  of  faith ;  and  if  several  of  its  opponents  have  been  too  willing 
to  accord  it,  it  was  because  they  were  unable  to  find  therein  any  other  consti- 
tutive element ;  it  was  also  because  they  felt  that  Protestantism,  in  boasting  of 
having  given  birth  to  such  a  principle,  labored  to  throw  disgrace  on  itself,  like 
a  father  who  boasts  of  having  unworthy  and  depraved  sons.  It  is  false,  how- 
ever, that  Protestantism  produced  this  principle  of  private  judgment,  since  it 
was  itself  the  offspring  of  that  principle.  That  principle,  before  the  Reforma- 
tion, was  formed  in  the  bosom  of  all  sects  ;  it  is  the  real  germ  of  all  errors  ;  in 
proclaiming  it,  Protestants  only  yielded  to  a  necessity  which  is  common  to  all 
the  sects  separated  from  the  Church. 

There  was  therein  no  plan,  no  foresight,  no  system.  The  mere  resistance  to 
the  authority  of  the  Church  included  the  necessity  of  unlimited  private  judg- 
ment, and  the  establishment  of  the  understanding  as  supreme  judge;  even  had 
the  coryphaei  of  Protestantism  wished  from  the  first  to  oppose  the  consequences 
and  applications  of  this  right,  the  barrier  was  broken,  and  the  torrent  could 
not  have  been  confined. 

"  The  right  of  examining  what  we  ought  to  believe,"  says  a  celebrated  Pro- 
testant, (Germany,  by  Mad.  de  Stael,  part  iv.  chap.  2),  "is  the  foundation  of 
Protestantism.  The  first  Reformers  did  not  think  thus ;  they  thought  themselves 
able  to  place  the  pillars  of  Hercules  of  the  mind  according  to  their  own  lights ; 
but  they  were  mistaken  in  hoping  to  make  those  who  had  rejected  all  authority 
of  this  kind  in  the  Catholic  religion  submit  to  their  decisions  as  infallible." 
This  resistance  on  their  part  proves,  that  they  were  not  led  by  any  of  those 
ideas,  which,  although  erroneous,  show,  in  some  measure,  nobleness  and  gene- 
rosity of  heart;  and  that  it  is  not  of  them  that  the  human  mind  can  say : 
"  They  have  erred,  but  it  was  in  order  to  give  me  more  liberty  of  action." 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  43 

"  The  religious  revolution  of  the  sixteenth  century,"  says  M.  Gruizot,  "  did  not 
understand  the  true  principles  of  intellectual  liberty ;  it  liberated  the  human 
mind,  and  yet  pretended  to  govern  it  by  law." 

But  it  is  in  vain  for  man  to  struggle  against  the  nature  of  things :  Protest- 
antism endeavored,  without  success,  to  limit  the  right  of  private  judgment.  It 
raised  its  voice  against  it,  and  sometimes  appeared  to  attempt  its  total  destruc- 
tion ;  but  the  right  of  private  judgment,  which  was  in  its  own  bosom,  remained 
there,  developed  itself,  and  acted  there  in  spite  of  it.  There  was  no  middle 
course  for  Protestantism  to  adopt :  it  was  compelled  either  to  throw  itself  into 
the  arms  of  authority,  and  thus  acknowledge  itself  in  the  wrong,  or  else  allow 
the  dissolving  principle  to  exert  so  much  influence  on  its  various  sects,  as  to 
destroy  even  the  shadow  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  debase  Christianity 
to  the  rank  of  a  school  of  philosophy. 

The  cry  of  resistance  to  the  authority  of  the  Church  once  raised,  the  fatal 
results  might  be  easily  imagined;  it  was  thus  easy  to  foresee  that  that  poisoned 
germ,  in  its  development,  must  cause  the  ruin  of  all  the  Christian  truths;  and 
what  could  prevent  its  rapid  development  in  a  soil  where  fermentation  was  so 
active  ?  Catholics  were  not  wanting  to  proclaim  loudly  the  greatness  and  im- 
minence of  the  danger;  and  it  must  be  allowed  that  many  Protestants  foresaw 
it  clearly.  No  one  is  ignorant  that  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  sect 
gave  their  opinions  on  this  point,  even  from  the  beginning.  Men  of  the  greatest 
talent  never  found  themselves  at  ease  in  Protestantism.  They  always  felt  that 
there  was  an  immense  void  in  it;  this  is  the  reason  why  they  have  constantly 
inclined  either  towards  irreligion  or  towards  Catholic  unity. 

Time,  the  best  judge  of  opinions,  has  confirmed  these  melancholy  prognos- 
tics. Things  have  now  reached  such  a  pass,  that  those  only  who  are  very  ill 
instructed,  or  who  have  a  very  limited  grasp  of  mind,  can  fail  to  see  that  the 
Christian  religion,  as  explained  by  Protestants,  is  nothing  more  than  an  opinion 
— a  system  made  up  of  a  thousand  incoherent  parts,  and  which  is  degraded  to 
the  level  of  the  schools  of  philosophy.  If  Christianity  still  seems  to  surpass 
these  schools  in  some  respects,  and  preserves  some  features  which  cannot  be 
found  in  what  is  the  pure  invention  of  the  mind  of  man,  it  ought  not  to  be  a 
matter  of  astonishment.  It  is  owing  to  that  sublimity  of  doctrine  and  that 
sanctity  of  morality  which,  more  or  less  disfigured,  always  shines  while  a  trace 
is  preserved  of  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  the  feeble  light  which  strug- 
gles with  darkness  after  the  sun  has  sunk  below  the  horizon,  cannot  be  com- 
pared to  that  of  day:  darkness  advances  and  spreads;  it  extinguishes  the  expir- 
ing reflection,  and  night  comes  oft.  Such  is  the  doctrine  of  Christianity  among 
Protestants.  A  glance  at  these  sects  shows  us  that  they  are  not  purely  philo- 
sophical, but  it  shows  us  at  the  same  time  that  they  have  not  the  characters  of 
true  religion.  Christianity  has  no  authority  therein ;  and  is  there  like  a  being 
out  of  its  proper  element, — a  tree  deprived  of  its  roots :  its  face  is  pale  and 
disfigured  like  that  of  a  corpse.  Protestantism  talks  of  faith,  and  its  funda- 
mental principle  destroys  it;  it  endeavors  to  exalt  the  gospel,  and  its  own  prin- 
ciple, by  subjecting  that  gospel  to  private  judgment,  weakens  its  authority.  If 
it  speak  of  the  sanctity  and  purity  of  Christian  morality,  it  is  reminded  that 
some  of  its  dissenting  sects  deny  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  that  they 
all  may  do  so  according  to  the  principle  on  which  it  rests.  The  Divinity  of 
Jesus  Christ  once  doubted,  the  God-made  man  is  reduced  to  the  rank  of  a  great 
philosopher  and  legislator ;  He  has  no  longer  the  authority  necessary  to  give  to 
His  laws  the  august  sanction  which  renders  them  so  holy  in  the  eyes  of  men; 
He  can  no  longer  imprint  upon  them  the  seal  which  raises  them  above  all  hu- 
man thoughts,  and  His  sublime  instructions  cease  to  be  lessons  flowing  from 
the  lips  of  uncreated  Wisdom. 

If  you  deprive  the  human  mind  of  the  support  of  authority  of  some  kind  or 


44  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

other,  on  what  can  it  depend  ?  Abandoned  to  its  own  delirious  dreams,  it  is 
forced  again  into  the  gloomy  paths  which  led  the  philosophers  of  the  ancient 
schools  to  chaos.  Reason  and  experience  are  here  agreed.  If  you  substitute 
the  private  judgment  of  Protestants  for  the  authority  of  the  Church,  all  the 
great  questions  respecting  God  and  man  remain  without  solution.  All  the  dif- 
ficulties are  left;  the  mind  is  in  darkness,  and  seeks  in  vain  for  a  light  to  guide 
it  in  safety :  stunned  by  the  voices  of  a  hundred  schools,  who  dispute  without 
being  able  to  throw  any  light  on  the  subject,  it  relapses  into  that  state  of  dis- 
couragement and  prostration  in  which  Christianity  found  it,  and  from  which, 
with  so  much  exertion,  she  had  withdrawn  it.  Doubt,  pyrrhonism,  and  indif- 
ference become  the  lot  of  the  greatest  minds ;  vain  theories,  hypothetical  sys- 
tems, and  dreams  take  possession  of  men  of  more  moderate  abilities ;  the  igno- 
rant are  reduced  to  superstitions  and  absurdities. 

Of  what  use,  then,  would  Christianity  have  been  on  the  earth,  and  what 
would  have  been  the  progress  of  humanity?  Happily  for  the  human  race,  the 
Christian  religion  was  not  abandoned  to  the  whirlwind  of  Protestant  sects.  In 
Catholic  authority  she  has  found  ample  means  of  resisting  the  attacks  of  sophis- 
try and  error.  What  would  have  become  of  her  without  it  ?  Would  the  subli- 
mity of  her  doctrines,  the  wisdom  of  her  precepts,  the  unction  of  her  counsels, 
have  been  now  any  thing  more  than  a  beautiful  dream,  related  in  enchanting 
language  by  a  great  philosopher?  Yes,  I  must  repeat,  without  the  authority 
of  the  Church  there  is  no  security  for  faith ;  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  be- 
comes a  matter  of  doubt ;  His  mission  is  disputed ;  in  fact,  the  Christian  reli- 
gion disappears.  If  she  cannot  show  us  her  heavenly  titles,  give  us  full  cer- 
tainty that  she  has  come  from  the  bosom  of  the  Eternal,  that  her  words  are 
those  of  God  Himself,  and  that  He  has  condescended  to  appear  on  earth  for  the 
salvation  of  men,  she  has  then  lost  her  right  to  demand  our  veneration.  Re- 
duced to  the  level  of  human  ideas,  she  must,  then,  submit  to  our  judgment  like 
other  mere  opinions ;  at  the  tribunal  of  philosophy  she  may  endeavor  to  main- 
tain her  doctrines  as  more  or  less  reasonable ;  but  she  will  always  be  liable  to 
the  reproach  of  having  wished  to  deceive  us,  by  passing  herself  off  as  divine 
when  she  was  only  human  ;  and  in  all  discussions  on  the  truth  of  her  doctrines, 
she  will  have  this  fatal  presumption  against  her,  viz.  that  the  account  of  her 
origin  was  an  imposture. 

Protestants  boast  of  their  independence  of  mind,  and  reproach  the  Catholic 
religion  with  violating  the  most  sacred  rights,  by  demanding  a  submission  which 
outrages  the  dignity  of  man.  Here  extravagant  declamation  about  the  strength 
of  our  understanding  is  introduced  with  good  effect;  and  a  few  seductive  images 
and  expressions,  such  as  "bold  flights"  and  "  glittering  wings"  &c.,  are  enough 
to  delude  many  readers. 

Let  the  human  mind  enjoy  all  its  rights  \  let  it  boast  of  possessing  that  spark 
of  divinity  called  the  intellect ;  let  it  pass  over  all  nature  in  triumph,  observing 
all  the  beings  by  which  it  is  surrounded,  and  congratulate  itself  on  its  own  im- 
mense superiority,  in  the  midst  of  the  wonders  with  which  it  has  known  how  to 
embellish  its  abode;  let  it  point  out,  as  proofs  of  its  strength  and  grandeur,  the 
changes  which  are  everywhere  worked  by  its  presence ;  by  its  intellectual  force 
and  boldness  it  has  acquired  the  complete  mastery  over  nature.  Let  us  acknow- 
ledge the  dignity  and  elevation  of  our  minds  to  show  our  gratitude  to  our  Crea- 
tor, but  let  us  not  forget  our  weakness  and  defects.  Why  should  we  deceive 
ourselves  by  fancying  that  we  know  what  we  are  really  ignorant  of?  Why  for- 
get the  inconstancy  and  variableness  of  our  minds,  and  conceal  the  fact,  that 
with  respect  to  many  things,  even  of  those  with  which  we  are  supposed  to  be 
acquainted,  we  have  but  confused  ideas?  How  delusive  is  our  knowledge,  and 
what  exaggerated  notions  we  have  of  our  progress  in  information  ?  Does  not 
one  day  contradict  what  another  had  affirmed  ?  Time  runs  its  course,  laughs 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY.  45 

at   our  predictions,  destroys  our  plans,  and  clearly  shows  how  vain  are  our 
projects. 

What  have  those  geniuses  who  have  descended  to  the  foundations  of  science, 
and  risen  by  the  boldest  flights  to  the  loftiest  speculations,  told  us  ?  After 
having  reached  the  utmost  limits  of  the  space  which  it  is  permitted  to  the  hu- 
man mind  to  range  over, — after  having  trodden  the  most  secret  paths  of  science, 
and  sailed  on  the  vast  ocean  of  moral  and  physical  nature,  the  greatest  minds 
of  all  ages  have  returned  dissatisfied  with  the  results.  They  have  seen  a  beau- 
tiful illusion  appear  before  their  eyes, — the  brilliant  image  which  enchanted 
them  has  vanished ;  when  they  thought  they  were  about  to  enter  a  region  of 
light,  they  have  found  themselves  surrounded  with  darkness,  and  they  have 
viewed  with  affright  the  extent  of  their  ignorance.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
the  greatest  minds  have  so  little  confidence  in  the  strength  of  the  human  intel- 
lect, although  they  cannot  but  be  fully  aware  that  they  are  superior  to  other 
men.  The  sciences,  in  the  profound  observation  of  Pascal,  have  two  extremes 
which  meet  each  other  :  the  first  is,  the  pure  natural  state  of  ignorance  in  which 
men  are  at  their  birth ;  the  other  extreme  is,  that  at  which  great  minds  arrive 
when,  having  reached  the  utmost  extent  of  human  knowledge,  they  find  that 
they  know  nothing,  and  that  they  are  still  in  the  same  state  of  ignorance  as  at 
first.  (Penstes,  1  partie,  art.  6.) 

Catholicism  says  to  man,  "  Thy  intellect  is  weak,  thou  hast  need  of  a  guide 
in  many  things."  Protestantism  says  to  him,  "  Thou  art  surrounded  by  light, 
walk  as  thou  wilt ;  thou  canst  not  have  a  better  guide  than  thyself."  Which 
of  the  two  religions  is  most  in  accordance  with  the  lessons  of  the  highest  phi- 
losophy? 

It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising  that  the  greatest  minds  among  Protestants  have 
all  felt  a  certain  tendency  towards  Catholicism,  and  have  seen  the  wisdom  of 
subjecting  the  human  mind,  in  some  things,  to  the  decision  of  an  infallible  au- 
thority. Indeed,  if  a*n  authority  can  be  found  uniting  in  its  origin,  its  dura- 
tion, its  doctrines,  and  its  conduct,  all  the  characteristics  of  divinity,  why  should 
the  mind  refuse  to  submit  to  her ;  and  what  has  it  to  gain  by  wandering,  at  the 
mercy  of  its  illusions,  on  the  most  serious  subjects,  in  paths  where  it  only  meets 
with  recollections  of  errors,  with  warnings  and  delusions  ? 

If  the  human  mind  has  conceived  too  great  an  esteem  for  itself,  let  it  study 
its  own  history,  in  order  to  see  and  understand  how  little  security  is  to  be  found 
in  its  own  strength.  Abounding  in  systems,  inexhaustible  in  subtilties;  as 
ready  in  conceiving  a  project  as  incapable  of  maintaining  it;  full  of  ideas  which 
arise,  agitate,  and  destroy  each  other,  like  the  insects  which  abound  in  lakes  j 
now  raising  itself  on  the  wings  of  sublime  inspiration,  and  now  creeping  like  a 
reptile  on  the  face  of  the  earth ;  as  able  and  willing  to  destroy  the  works  of 
others,  as  it  is  impotent  to  construct  any  durable  ones  of  its  own ;  urged  on 
by  the  violence  of  passion,  swollen  with  pride,  confounded  by  the  infinite 
variety  of  objects  which  present  themselves  to  it ;  confused  by  so  many  false 
lights  and  so  many  deceptive  appearances,  the  human  mind,  when  left  entirely 
to  itself,  resembles  those  brilliant  meteors  which  dart  at  random  through  the 
immensity  of  the  heavens,  assume  a  thousand  eccentric  forms,  send  forth  a 
thousand  sparks,  dazzle  for  a  moment  by  their  fantastic  splendour,  and  disappear 
without  leaving  even  a  reflected  light  to  illuminate  the  darkness. 

Behold  the  history  of  man's  knowledge !  In  that  immense  and  confused 
heap  of  truth,  error,  sublimity,  absurdity,  wisdom,  and  folly,  are  collected  the 
proofs  of  my  assertions,  and  to  that  do  I  refer  any  one  who  may  be  inclined  to 
accuse  me  of  having  overcharged  the  picture.  (7) 


46 
CHAPTER  V. 

INSTINCT   OF   FAITH   IN   THE   SCIENCES. 

THE  truth  of  what  I  have  just  advanced  with  respect  to  the  weakness  of  our 
intellect,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  hand  of  God  has  placed  at  the  bottom 
of  our  souls  a  preservative  against  the  excessive  changeability  of  our  minds, 
even  in  things  which  do  not  regard  religion.  Without  this  preservative  all 
social  institutions  would  be  destroyed,  or  rather  never  would  have  had  exist- 
ence ;  without  it  the  sciences  would  not  have  advanced  a  step,  and  when  it  had 
disappeared  from  the  human  heart,  individuals  and  society  would  have  been 
swallowed  up  by  chaos.  I  allude  to  a  certain  tendency  to  defer  to  authority — 
to  the  instinct  of  faith,  if  I  may  so  call  it — an  instinct  which  we  ought  to  exa- 
mine with  great  attention,  if  we  wish  to  know  any  thing  of  the  human  mind, 
and  the  history  of  its  development. 

It  has  often  been  observed  that  it  is  impossible  to  comply  with  the  most 
urgent  necessities,  or  perform  the  most  ordinary  acts  of  life,  without  respecting 
the  authority  of  the  statement  of  others ;  it  is  easy  to  understand  that,  without 
this  faith,  all  the  treasures  of  history  and  experience  would  soon  be  dissipated, 
and  that  even  the  foundation  of  all  knowledge  would  disappear. 

These  important  observations  are  calculated  to  show  how  vain  is  the  charge 
against  the  Catholic  religion,  of  requiring  nothing  but  faith ;  but  this  is  not  my 
only  object  here ;  I  wish  to  present  the  matter  under  another  aspect,  and  place 
the  question  in  such  a  position  as  to  make  this  truth  gain  in  extent  and  interest, 
without  losing  any  thing  of  its  immovable  firmness.  In  looking  over  the  his- 
tory of  human  knowledge,  and  glancing  at  the  opinions  of  our  contemporaries, 
we  constantly  observe  that  the  men  who  boast  the  most  of  their  spirit  of  in- 
quiry and  freedom  of  thought,  only  echo  the  opinions  of  others.  If  we  examine 
with  attention  that  great  study  which,  under  the  name  of  science,  has  made  so 
much  noise  in  the  world,  we  shall  observe  that  it  contains  at  bottom  a  large 
portion  of  authority;  and  that  if  a  perfectly  free  spirit  of  inquiry  were  to  be 
introduced  into  it,  even  with  respect  to  points  of  pure  reason,  the  greatest  part 
of  the  edifice  of  science  would  be  destroyed,  and  very  few  men  would  remain 
in  possession  of  its  secrets. 

No  branch  of  knowledge,  whatever  may  be  the  clearness  and  exactitude  of 
which  it  boasts,  is  an  exception  to  this  rule.  Do  not  the  natural-  and  exact 
sciences,  rich  as  they  are  in  evident  principles,  rigorous  in  their  deductions, 
abounding  in  observation  and  experience,  depend,  nevertheless,  for  a  great  many 
of  their  truths,  upon  other  truths  of  a  higher  nature ;  the  knowledge  of  which 
necessarily  requires  a  delicacy  of  observation,  a  power  of  calculation,  a  clear 
and  penetrating  coup  d'ceil,  which  belongs  to  few? 

When  Newton  proclaimed  to  the  scientific  world  the  fruit  of  his  profound 
calculations,  how  many  of  his  disciples  could  flatter  themselves  that  they  were 
able  to  confirm  them  by  their  own  convictions  ?  I  do  not  except  from  this 
question  many  of  those  who,  by  laborious  efforts,  had  been  able  to  comprehend 
something  of  this  great  man ;  they  had  followed  the  mathematician  in  his  cal- 
culations, they  had  a  full  knowledge  of  the  mass  of  facts  and  experience  which 
the  naturalist  exposed  to  their  view;  they  had  listened  to  the  reasons  on  which 
the  philosopher  rested  his  conjectures ;  in  this  way  they  thought  that  they  were 
fully  convinced,  and  that  they  did  not  owe  their  assent  to  any  thing  but  the 
force  of  reason  and  evidence.  Well,  take  away  the  name  of  Newton,  efface 
from  the  mind  the  profound  impression  made  by  the  authority  of  the  man  who 
made  so  extraordinary  a  discovery,  and  has  employed  so  much  genius  in  sup- 
porting it, — take  away,  I  repeat  it,  the  shade  of  Newton,  and  you  will  directly 
see,  in  the  minds  of  his  disciples,  their  principles  vacillate,  their  reasonings  be- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  47 

come  less  convincing  and  exact,  and  their  observations  appear  less  in  accordance 
with  the  facts.  Then,  he  who  thought  himself  a  perfectly  impartial  observer, 
a  perfectly  independent  thinker,  will  see  and  understand  to  how  great  an  extent 
he  was  enthralled  by  the  force  of  authority,  by  the  ascendency  of  genius ;  he 
will  find  that,  on  a  variety  of  points,  he  assented  without  being  convinced;  and 
that,  instead  of  being  a  perfectly  independent  philosopher,  he  was  only  an  obe- 
dient and  accomplished  pupil. 

I  appeal  with  confidence  to  the  testimony,  not  of  the  ignorant,  not  of  those 
who  have  only  a  smattering  of  scientific  knowledge,  but  of  real  men  of  learn- 
ing, of  those  who  have  devoted  much  time  to  the  various  branches  of  study. 
Let  them  look  into  their  own  minds,  let  them  examine  anew  what  they  call  their 
scientific  convictions,  let  them  ask  themselves,  with  perfect  calmness  and  impar- 
tiality, whether,  even  on  those  subjects  in  which  they  consider  themselves  the 
most  advanced,  their  minds  are  not  frequently  controlled  by  the  ascendency  of 
some  author  of  the  first  rank.  I  believe  they  will  be  compelled  to  acknowledge 
that,  if  they  strictly  applied  the  method  of  Descartes  even  to  some  of  the  ques- 
tions which  they  have  studied  the  most,  they  would  find  that  they  believe  rather 
than  are  convinced.  Such  always  has  been,  and  such  always  will  be,  the  case. 
It  is  a  thing  deeply  rooted  in  the  nature  of  our  minds,  and  it  cannot  be  pre- 
vented. Perhaps  the  regulation  is  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity;  perhaps  it 
contains  much  of  that  instinct  of  preservation  which  God,  with  so  much  wis- 
dom, has  diffused  throughout  society ;  perhaps  it  is  intended  to  counteract  the 
many  elements  of  dissolution  which  society  contains  within  its  bosom.  Un- 
doubtedly, it  is  often  very  much  to  be  regretted  that  men  servilely  follow  in  the 
footsteps  of  others,  and  injurious  consequences  not  unfrequently  are  the  result. 
But  it  would  be  still  worse,  if  men  constantly  held  themselves  in  an  attitude  of 
resistance  to  all  others,  for  fear  of  deception.  Woe  to  man  and  to  society,  if 
the  philosophic  mania  of  wishing  to  submit  all  matters  to  a  rigorous  examina- 
tion were  to  become  general  in  the  world ;  and  woe  to  science,  if  this  rigorous, 
scrupulous,  and  independent  scrutiny  were  extended  to  every  thing. 

I  admire  the  genius  of  Descartes,  and  acknowledge  the  signal  services  which 
he  has  rendered  to  science ;  but  I  have  more  than  once  thought  that,  if  his 
method  of  doubting  became  general  for  any  time,  society  would  be  destroyed. 
And  it  seems  to  me  that,  among  learned  men  themselves,  among  impartial 
philosophers,  this  method  would  do  great  harm ;  at  least,  it  may  be  supposed 
that  the  number  of  men  devoid  of  sense  in  the  scientific  world  would  be  consi- 
derably increased. 

Happily  there  is  no  danger  of  xthis  being  the  case.  If  it  be  true  that  there 
is  always  in  man  a  certain  tendency  towards  folly,  there  is  also  always  to  be  found 
there  a  fund  of  good  sense  which  cannot  be  destroyed.  When  certain  indivi- 
duals of  heated  imaginations  attempt  to  involve  society  in  their  delirium,  society 
answers  with  a  smile  of  derision ;  or  if  it  allows  itself  to  be  seduced  for  a 
moment,  it  soon  returns  to  its  senses,  and  repels  with  indignation  those  who 
have  endeavored  to  lead  it  astray.  Passionate  declamation  against  vulgar  pre- 
judice, against  docility  in  following  others  and  willingness  to  believe  all  without 
examination,  is  only  considered  as  worthy  of  contempt  by  those  who  are  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  human  nature.  Are  not  these  feelings  participated  in 
by  many  who  belong  not  to  the  vulgar?  Are  not  the  sciences  full  of  gratui- 
tous suppositions,  and  have  they  not  their  weak  points,  with  which,  however, 
we  are  satisfied,  as  if  they  afforded  a  firm  basis  to  rest  upon  ? 

The  right  of  possession  and  prescription  is  also  one  of  the  peculiarities  which 
the  sciences  present  to  us ;  and  it  is  well  worthy  of  remark  that,  without  ever 
having  borne  the  name,  this  right  has  been  acknowledged  by  a  tacit  but  unani- 
mous consent.  How  can  this  be  ?  Study  the  history  of  the  sciences,  and  you 
will  find  at  every  step  this  right  acknowledged  and  established.  How  is  it; 


48  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

amid  the  continual  disputes  which  have  divided  philosophers,  that  we  see  an  old 
opinion  make  a  long  resistance  to  a  new  one,  and  sometimes  succeed  in  pre- 
venting its  establishment  ?  It  is  because  the  old  opinion  was  in  possession,  and 
was  strengthened  by  the  right  of  prescription.  It  is  of  no  importance  that  the 
words  were  not  used,  the  result  was  the  same ;  this  is  the  reason  why  discoverers 
have  so  often  been  despised,  opposed,  and  even  persecuted. 

It  is  necessary  to  make  this  avowal,  although  it  may  be  repugnant  to  our 
pride,  and  may  scandalize  some  sincere  admirers  of  the  progress  of  knowledge. 
These  advances  have  been  numerous;  the  field  over  which  the  human  mind  has 
exercised  itself,  and  its  sphere  of  action,  are  immense  ;  the  works  by  which  it 
has  proved  its  power  are  admirable ;  but  there  is  always  in  all  this  a  large  por- 
tion of  exaggeration,  and  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  considerable  allowance, 
especially  in  the  moral  sciences.  It  cannot  justly  be  inferred,  from  these 
exaggerated  statements,  that  our  intellect  is  capable  of  advancing  in  every  path 
with  perfect  ease  and  activity ;  no  deduction  can  be  drawn  from  it  to  contradict 
the  fact  which  we  have  just  established,  viz,  the  mind  of  man  is  almost  always 
in  subjection,  even  imperceptibly,  to  the  authority  of  other  men. 

In  every  age  there  appear  a  small  number  of  privileged  spirits,  who,  by 
nature  superior  to  all  the  rest,  serve  as  guides  in  the  various  careers ;  a  nume- 
rous crowd,  who  think  themselves  learned,  follow  them  with  precipitation,  and, 
fixing  their  eyes  on  the  standard  which  has  been  raised,  rush  breathlessly  after 
it;  and  yet,  strange  as  it  is,  they  all  boast  of  their  independence,  and  flatter 
themselves  that  they  are  distinguishing  themselves  by  pursuing  the  new  path ; 
one  would  imagine  that  they  had  discovered  it,  and  that  they  were  walking  in 
it  guided  by  their  own  light  and  inspirations.  Necessity,  taste,  or  a  thousand 
other  circumstances,  lead  us  to  cultivate  this  or  that  branch  of  knowledge ;  our 
own  weakness  constantly  tells  us  that  we  have  no  creative  power;  that  we  can- 
not produce  any  thing  of  our  own,  and  that  we  are  incapable  of  striking  out  a 
new  path ;  but  we  flatter  ourselves  that  we  share  some  part  of  the  glory  belong- 
ing to  the  illustrious  chief  whose  banner  we  follow ;  we  sometimes  will  succeed 
in  persuading  ourselves,  in  the  midst  of  these  reveries,  that  we  do  not  fight 
under  anybody's  standard,  and  that  we  are  only  rendering  homage  to  our  own 
convictions,  when,  in  reality,  we  are  the  proselytes  of  others. 

Herein  common  sense  shows  itself  to  be  wiser  than  our  weak  reason ;  and 
thus  language,  which  gives  such  deep  expression  to  things,  where  we  find,  with- 
out knowing  whence  they  come,  so  much  truth  and  exactitude,  gives  us  a  severe 
admonition  on  the  subject  of  these  vain  pretensions.  In  spite  of  us,  language 
calls  things  by  their  right  names,  and  knows  how  to  class  us  and  our  opinions 
according  to  the  leader  that  we  follow.  What  is  the  history  of  science  but  the 
history  of  the  contests  of  a  small  number  of  illustrious  men  ?  If  we  glance 
over  ancient  and  modern  times,  and  bring  into  view  the  various  branches  of 
knowledge,  we  shall  see  a  number  of  schools  founded  by  a  philosopher  of  the 
first  rank,  and  then  falling  under  the  direction  of  another  whose  talents  have 
made  him  worthy  to  succeed  the  founder.  Thus  the  thing  goes  on,  until  circum- 
stances having  changed,  or  the  spirit  of  vitality  being  gone,  the  school  dies  a 
natural  death,  unless  a  man  of  bold  and  independent  mind  appears,  who  takes 
the  old  school  and  destroys  it,  in  order  to  establish  his  own  doctrines  on  the  ruins. 

When  Descartes  dethroned  Aristotle,  did  he  not  immediately  take  his  place  ? 
Then  philosophers  pretended  to  independence — an  independence  which  was  con- 
tradicted by  the  very  name  they  bore,  that  of  Cartesians.  Like  nations  who, 
in  times  of  rebellion,  cry  out  for  liberty,  dethrone  their  old  king,  and  after- 
wards submit  to  the  first  man  who  has  the  boldness  to  seize  the  vacant  throne. 

It  is  thought  in  our  age,  as  it  has  been  in  times  gone  by,  that  the  human  mind 
acts  with  perfect  independence,  owing  to  declamation  against  authority  in  scien- 
tific matters,  and  the  exaltation  of  the  freedom  of  thought.  The  opinion  has 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY.  49 

become  general  that,  in  these  times,  the  authority  of  any  one  man  is  worth 
nothing ;  it  has  been  thought  that  every  man  of  learning  acts  according  to  his 
own  convictions  alone.  Moreover,  systems  and  hypotheses  have  lost  all  credit, 
and  a  great  desire  for  examination  and  analysis  has  become  prevalent.  This  has 
made  people  believe  not  only  that  authority  in  scientific  matters  is  completely 
gone,  but  that  it  is  henceforth  impossible. 

At  first  sight  there  appears  to  be  some  truth  in  this ;  but  if  we  look  atten- 
tively around  us,  we  shall  observe  that  the  number  of  leaders  is  only  somewhat 
increased,  and  the  time  of  their  command  somewhat  shortened.  Our  age  is 
truly  one  of  commotions,  literary  and  scientific  revolutions,  like  those  in  poli- 
tics, where  nations  imagine  that  they  possess  more  liberty  because  the  govern- 
ment is  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  greater  number  of  persons,  and  because  they 
find  more  facility  in  getting  rid  of  their  rulers.  They  destroy  those  men  to 
whom  but  a  short  time  before  they  have  given  the  names  of  fathers  and  libera- 
tors; then,  the  first  transport  being  passed,  they  allow  other  men  to  impose  upon 
them  a  yoke  in  reality  not  less  heavy.  Besides  the  examples  afforded  us  by  the 
history  of  the  past  century,  at  the  present  day  we  see  only  great  names  succeed 
each  other,  and  the  leaders  of  the  human  mind  take  each  other's  places. 

In  the  field  of  politics,  where  one  would  imagine  the  spirit  of  freedom  ought 
to  have  full  scope,  do  we  not  see  men  who  take  the  lead ;  and  are  they  not 
looked  upon  as  the  generals  of  an  army  during  a  campaign  ?  In  the  parlia- 
mentary arena,  do  we  see  any  thing  but  two  or  three  bodies  of  combatants,  per- 
forming their  evolutions  under  their  respective  chiefs  with  perfect  regularity  and 
discipline  ?  These  truths  are  well  understood  by  those  who  occupy  these  high 
positions !  They  are  acquainted  with  our  weakness,  and  they  know  that  men 
are  commonly  deceived  by  mere  words.  A  thousand  times  must  they  have  been 
tempted  to  smile,  when,  contemplating  the  field  of  their  triumphs,  and  seeing 
themselves  surrounded  by  followers  who,  proud  of  their  own  intelligence,  admire 
and  applaud  them,  they  have  heard  one  of  the  most  ardent  of  their  disciples 
boast  of  his  unlimited  freedom  of  thought,  and  of  the  complete  independence 
of  his  opinions  and  his  votes. 

Such  is  man,  as  shown  to  us  by  history  and  the  experience  of  every  day.  The 
inspiration  of  genius,  that  sublime  force  which  raises  the  minds  of  some  privi- 
leged men,  will  always  exercise,  not  only  over  the  ignorant,  but  even  over  the 
generality  of  men  who  devote  themselves  to  science,  a  real  fascination.  Where, 
then,  is  the  insult  which  the  Catholic  religion  offers  to  reason  when,  presenting 
titles  which  prove  her  divinity,  she  asks  for  that  faith  which  men  grant  so 
easily  to  other  men  in  matters  of  various  kinds,  and  even  in  things  with  which 
they  consider  themselves  to  be  the  best  acquainted  ?  Is  it  an  insult  to  human 
reason  to  point  out  to  him  a  fixed  and  certain  rule  with  respect  to  matters  of 
the  greatest  importance,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  she  leaves  him  perfectly  free 
to  think  as  he  pleases  on  all  the  various  questions  which  God  has  left  to  his 
discretion  ?  In  this  the  Church  only  shows  herself  to  be  in  accordance  with 
the  lessons  of  the  highest  philosophy.  She  shows  a  profound  knowledge  of  the 
human  mind,  and  she  delivers  it  from  all  the  evils  which  are  inflicted  by  its 
fickleness,  its  inconstancy,  and  its  ambition,  combined  as  these  qualities  are 
with  an  extraordinary  tendency  to  defer  to  the  opinions  of  individuals.  Who 
does  not  see  that  the  Catholic  Church  puts  thereby  a  check  on  the  spirit  of 
proselytism,  of  which  society  has  had  so  much  reason  to  complain  ?  Since 
there  is  in  man  this  irresistible  tendency  to  follow  the  footsteps  of  another,  does 
she  not  confer  an  eminent  service  on  humanity,  by  showing  it  a  sure  way  of 
following  the  example  of  a  Grod  incarnate  ?  Does  she  not  thus  take  human 
liberty  under  her  protection,  and  at  the  same  time  save  from  shipwreck  those 
branches  of  knowledge  which  are  the  most  necessary  to  individuals  and  to 
society  ?  (8) 


50 


CHAPTER  VI. 

DIFFERENCES   IN  THE  RELIGIOUS   WANTS  OF  NATIONS — MATHEMATICS — 

MORAL   SCIENCES. 

THE  progress  of  society,  and  the  high  degree  of  civilization  and  refinement 
to  which  modern  nations  have  attained,  will  no  doubt  be  urged  against  the  au- 
thority which  seeks  to  exercise  jurisdiction  over  the  mind.  In  this  way  men 
will  attempt  to  justify  what  they  call  the  emancipation  of  the  human  mind. 
For  my  own  part,  this  objection  seems  to  have  so  little  solidity,  and  to  be  so 
little  supported  by  facts,  that,  from  the  progress  of  society,  I  should,  on  the 
contrary,  conclude  that  there  is  the  more  need  of  that  living  rule  which  is 
deemed  indispensable  by  Catholics. 

To  say  that  society  in  its  infancy  and  youth  may  have  required  this  authority 
as  a  check,  but  that  this  check  has  become  useless  and  degrading  since  the  hu- 
man mind  has  reached  a  higher  degree  of  development,  is  completely  to  mistake 
the  connection  which  exists  between  the  various  conditions  of  our  mind  and  the 
objects  over  which  this  authority  extends.  The  true  idea  of  God,  the  origin, 
the  end,  and  the  rule  of  human  conduct,  together  with  all  the  means  with  which 
God  has  furnished  us  to  attain  to  our  high  destiny,  such  are  the  subjects  with 
which  faith  deals,  and  with  respect  to  which  Catholics  contend  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  have  an  infallible  rule.  They  maintain  that  without  this  it  would  be 
impossible  to  avoid  the  most  lamentable  errors,  and  to  protect  truth  from  the 
effects  of  human  passions. 

This  consideration  will  suffice  to  show,  that  private  judgment  would  be  much 
less  dangerous  among  nations  still  less  advanced  in  the  career  of  civilization. 
There  is,  indeed,  in  a  young  nation,  a  great  fund  of  natural  candor  and  simpli- 
city, which  admirably  disposes  it  to  receive  with  docility  the  instructions  con- 
tained in  the  sacred  volume.  Such  a  people  will  relish  those  things  which  are 
easily  to  be  understood,  and  will  bow  with  humility  before  the  sublime  obscurity 
of  those  pages  which  it  has  pleased  God  to  cover  with  a  veil  of  mystery.  More- 
over, the  condition  of  this  people,  as  yet  exempt  from  the  pride  of  knowledge, 
would  create  a  sort  of  authority,  since  there  would  be  found  within  its  bosom 
only  a  small  number  of  men  able  to  examine  divine  revelation ;  and  thus  a 
centre  for  the  distribution  of  instruction  would  be  naturally  formed. 

But  it  is  far  otherwise  with  a  nation  far  advanced  in  the  career  of  knowledge. 
With  the  latter,  the  extension  of  knowledge  to  a  greater  number  of  individuals, 
by  augmenting  pride  and  fickleness,  multiplies  sects,  and  ends  by  revolution- 
izing ideas  and  corrupting  the  purest  traditions.  A  young  nation  is  devoted  to 
simple  occupations ;  it  remains  attached  to  its  ancient  customs ;  it  listens  with 
respect  and  docility  to  the  aged,  who,  surrounded  by  their  children  and  grand- 
children, relate  with  emotion  the  histories  and  the  maxims  which  they  have  re- 
ceived from  their  ancestors.  But  when  society  has  reached  a  great  degree  of 
development,  when  respect  for  the  fathers  of  families  and  veneration  for  gray 
hairs  have  become  weakened ;  when  pompous  titles,  scientific  display,  and  grand 
libraries  make  men  conceive  a  high  idea  of  their  intellectual  powers  ;  when  the 
multitude  and  activity  of  communications  widely  diffuse  those  ideas,  which, 
when  put  in  motion,  have  an  almost  magical  power  of  affecting  men's  minds, 
then  it  is  necessary, — it  is  indispensable  to  have  an  authority,  always  living, 
always  ready  to  act  whenever  it  is  wanted, — to  cover  with  a  protecting  aegis  the 
sacred  deposit  of  truths  which  are  the  same  in  all  times  and  places;  truths 
without  the  knowledge  of  which  man  would  be  left  to  the  mercy  of  his  own 
errors  and  caprices  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave ;  truths  on  which  society  rests 
as  its  surest  foundation  j  truths  which  cannot  be  destroyed  without  shaking  to 
pieces  the  whole  social  edifice.  The  literary  and  political  history  of  Europe  for 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  51 


the  last  three  hundred  years  affords  but  too  many  proofs  of  this.  Religious 
revolution  broke  out  at  the  moment  when  it  was  capable  of  doing  the  most 
harm :  it  found  society  agitated  by  all  the  activity  of  the  human  mind,  and  it 
destroyed  the  control  when  it  was  most  necessary. 

Undoubtedly,  it  is  necessary  to  guard  against  depreciating  the  mind  of  man 
by  charging  it  with  faults  which  it  has  not,  or  by  exaggerating  those  which  it 
has ;  but  it  is  no  less  improper  to  puff  it  up  by  exalting  its  strength  too  much. 
The  latter  would  be  injurious  to  it  in  several  ways,  and  would  be  little  likely  to 
advance  its  progress ;  it  would  also,  if  properly  understood,  be  little  conforma- 
ble to  that  gravity  and  discretion  which  ought  to  distinguish  true  science.  In- 
deed, to  merit  the  name,  science  ought  to  show  the  folly  of  being  vain  of  what 
does  not  rightly  belong  to  it ;  it  ought  to  know  its  limits,  and  have  sufficient 
candor  and  generosity  to  acknowledge  its  weakness. 

There  is  a  fact  in  the  history  of  science,  which,  by  revealing  the  intrinsic 
weakness  of  the  mind,  palpably  shows  the  flattery  of  those  unmeasured  eulogies 
which  are  sometimes  lavished  on  it,  and  also  demonstrates  to  us  how  dangerous 
it  would  be  to  abandon  it  to  itself  without  any  guide.  This  fact  is,  the  obscu- 
rity which  increases  in  proportion  as  we  approach  the  first  principles  of  science; 
so  that  even  in  those  sciences  the  truth,  evidence,  and  exactness  of  which  are 
considered  the  best  established,  it  seems  that  no  firm  ground  is  to  be  obtained 
when  we  attempt  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  them ;  and  the  mind,  not  finding  any 
security,  recoils  in  the  fear  of  meeting  with  something  to  throw  doubt  and  un- 
certainty on  the  truths  of  which  it  was  convinced. 

I  do  not  participate  in  the  ill-humor  of  Hobbes  against  the  mathematics. 
Devoted  to  their  progress,  and  deeply  convinced  as  I  am  of  the  advantages 
which  their  study  confers  on  the  other  sciences  and  on  society,  I  shall  not  at- 
tempt to  underrate  their  merit,  or  deny  any  of  their  great  claims ;  but  who  can 
say  that  they  are  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  ?  Have  they  not  their  weak 
points  and  their  darksome  paths? 

It  is  true  that,  when  we  confine  ourselves  to  the  explanation  of  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  these  sciences,  and  the  deduction  from  them  of  the  most  elementary 
propositions,  the  mind  is  on  firm  ground,  where  no  fear  of  making  a  false  step 
occurs  to  it.  I  put  aside  at  present  the  obscurity  which  would  be  found  in 
idealogy  and  metaphysics,  if  they  were  to  discuss  certain  points  according  to  the 
writings  of  the  most  distinguished  philosophers.  Let  us  confine  ourselves  to 
the  circle  to  which  the  mathematics  are  naturally  confined.  Who  that  has 
studied  them  is  ignorant  that  you  may  reach  a  point  in  their  theories,  where  the 
mind  finds  nothing  but  obscurity  ?  The  demonstration  is  before  our  eyes ;  it 
has  been  developed  in  all  its  parts ;  and  yet  the  mind  wavers,  feeling  within 
itself  a  kind  of  uncertainty  which  it  cannot  well  describe.  It  sometimes  hap- 
pens that,  after  reasoning  a  long  time,  the  truth  rushes  upon  us  like  the  light 
of  day;  but  it  is  not  until  we  have  walked  in  darkness  for  along  period.  When 
we  fix  our  attention  upon  those  thoughts  which  wander  in  our  minds  like  mov- 
ing lights,  on  those  almost  imperceptible  emotions  which,  on  these  occasions, 
arise,  and  then  die  away  in  the  soul,  we  observe  that  the  mind,  in  the  midst  of 
its  fluctuations,  seeks  instinctively  for  the  anchor  which  is  to  be  found  in  the 
authority  of  another.  To  reassure  ourselves  completely,  we  then  invoke  the 
authority  of  some  great  mathematicians,  and  we  rejoice  that  the  fact  is  placed 
beyond  a  doubt  by  the  series  of  great  men  who  have  always  viewed  it  in  the 
same  light.  But  perhaps  our  ignorance  and  pride  will  not  admit  the  truth  of 
these  reflections.  Let  us,  then,  study  these  sciences,  or  at  least  read  their  his- 
tory, and  we  shall  be  convinced  that  they  afford  numerous  proofs  of  the  weak- 
ness of  the  intellect. 

Did  not  the  extraordinary  invention  of  Newton  and  Leibnitz  find  many  oppo- 
nents in  Europe  ?  Were  there  not  required  to  establish  it,  both  the  sanction  of 


52  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

time  and  the  touchstone  of  experience,  which  made  manifest  the  truth  of  their 
principles  and  the  exactness  of  their  reasonings  ?  Do  you  believe  that,  if  this 
invention  were  again,  for  the  first  time,  to  make  its  appearance  in  the  field  of 
science,  even  fortified  with  all  the  proofs  which  have  been  brought  forward  to 
strengthen  it,  and  surrounded  with  all  the  light  which  so  many  explanations 
have  shed  upon  it, — do  you  believe,  I  say,  that  it  would  not  need  a  second  time 
the  right  of  prescription,  to  regain  its  tranquil  and  undisturbed  empire  ? 

It  is  easy  to  suppose  that  the  other  sciences  have  no  little  share  in  this  uncer- 
tainty arising  from  the  weakness  of  the  human  mind ;  as  I  do  not  imagine  that 
this  assertion  will  be  called  in  question,  I  pass  on  to  a  few  remarks  on  the 
peculiar  character  of  the  moral  sciences. 

The  fact  has  not  been  sufficiently  attended  to,  that  there  is  no  study  more 
deceptive  than  that  of  the  moral  sciences ;  I  say  deceptive,  because  this  study, 
seducing  the  mind  by  an  appearance  of  facility,  draws  it  into  difficulties  which 
it  is  no  easy  matter  to  overcome.  It  may  be  compared  to  those  tranquil  waters 
which,  although  apparently  but  shallow,  are  in  reality  unfathomably  deep. 
Familiarized  from  our  infancy  with  the  language  of  this  science,  surrounded  by 
its  continual  applications,  and  having  before  our  eyes  its  truths  under  a  palpable 
form,  we  possess  a  certain  facility  of  speaking  readily  on  many  parts  of  the 
subject;  and  we  have  the  rashness  to  suppose  that  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
master  its  highest  principles  and  its  most  delicate  relations.  But  wonderful  as 
it  is,  scarcely  have  we  quitted  the  path  of  common  sense,  and  attempted  to  go 
beyond  those  simple  impressions  which  we  have  received  from  our  mothers, 
when  we  find  ourselves  in  a  labyrinth  of  confusion.  If  the  mind  gives  itself 
up  to  subtilties,  it  ceases  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  the  heart,  which  speaks  to  it 
with  equal  simplicity  and  eloquence  ;  if  it  does  not  repress  its  pride,  and  attend 
to  the  wise  counsels  of  good  sense,  it  will  be  guilty  of  despising  those  salutary 
and  necessary  truths,  which  have  been  preserved  by  society  to  be  transmitted 
from  generation  to  generation :  it  is  then,  while  groping  its  way  in  the  dark, 
that  it  falls  into  the  wildest  extravagances,  the  lamentable  effects  of  which  are 
so  often  exemplified  in  the  history  of  the  sciences. 

If  we  observe  attentively,  we  shall  find  something  of  the  same  kind  in  all  the 
sciences.  The  Creator  has  taken  care  to  supply  us  with  knowledge  necessary 
for  the  purposes  of  life,  and  for  the  attainment  of  our  destiny ;  but  it  has  not 
pleased  Him  to  gratify  our  curiosity  by  discovering  to  us  what  was  not  neces- 
sary. Nevertheless,  in  some  things  he  has  communicated  to  the  mind  a  power 
which  renders  it  capable  of  constantly  adding  to  its  knowledge;  but,  with 
respect  to  moral  truths,  it  has  been  left  sterile.  What  man  is  required  to  know, 
has  been  deeply  engraven  on  his  heart,  in  characters  simple  and  intelligible;  or 
is  contained  in  the  sacred  volume ;  and  moreover,  he  has  had  pointed  out  to 
him,  in  the  authority  of  the  Church,  a  fixed  rule,  to  which  he  can  apply  to  have 
his  doubts  explained.  With  respect  to  the  rest,  man  has  been  placed  in  such  a 
position,  that  if  he  attempt  to  enter  into  matters  which  are  too  subtle,  he  only 
wanders  backwards  and  forwards  in  the  same  road,  at  the  extremities  of  which 
he  finds  on  the  one  side  skepticism,  on  the  other  pure  truth. 

Perhaps  some  modern  idealogists  will  urge,  in  opposition  to  this,  the  result 
of  their  own  analytical  labours.  "  Before  men  began  to  analyze  facts,"  they 
will  say,  "  and  while  they  indulged  in  fanciful  systems,  and  satisfied  themselves 
with  verbal  disputes  without  critical  examination,  all  this  might  be  true ;  but 
now  that  we  have  explained  all  the  ideas  of  moral  good  and  evil,  in  so  perfect 
a  way,  and  have  separated  the  prejudice  in  them  from  the  true  philosophy;  now 
that  the  whole  system  of  morality  is  based  upon  the  simple  principles  of  plea- 
sure and  pain,  and  we  have  given  the  clearest  ideas  of  these  things,  such,  for  ex- 
ample, as  the  sensations  produced  in  us  by  an  orange ;  to  maintain  your  assertion, 
is  to  be  ungrateful  towards  science,  and  to  underrate  the  fruit  of  our  labours." 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  53 

I  am  aware  of  the  labours  of  some  moral  idealogists,  and  I  know  with  what 
deceptive  simplicity  they  develope  their  theories,  by  giving  to  the  most  difficult 
things  an  easy  turn,  which  affects  to  make  them  intelligible  to  the  most  limited 
minds.  This  is  not  the  place  to  examine  these  analytical  investigations,  and 
their  results.  I  shall,  however,  remark  that,  in  spite  of  their  promised  sim- 
plicity, it  does  not  appear  that  either  society  or  science  makes  much  progress 
through  their  means,  and  that  these  opinions,  although  but  a  short  time  broached, 
are  already  superannuated.  This  is  not  a  matter  of  astonishment  to  us ;  for  it 
was  easy  to  perceive  that,  in  spite  of  their  positiveness,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to 
use  the  expression,  these  idealogists  are  as  hypothetical  as  many  of  their  prede- 
cessors, who  are  loaded  by  them  with  sarcasms  and  contempt.  They  are  a  poor, 
narrow-minded  school,  devoid  of  the  truth,  and  not  even  adorned  by  the  brilliant 
dreams  of  great  men ;  a  proud  and  deluded  school,  who  fancy  they  explain  a 
fact,  when  they  only  obscure  it ;  and  prove  a  thing,  when  they  only  assert  it ; 
and  imagine  that  they  analyze  the  human  heart,  when  they  take  it  to  pieces. 

If  such  is  the  human  mind;  if  such  is  its  inability  in  matters  of  science, 
whether  physical  or  moral,  that  it  has  not  advanced  a  single  step  beyond  the 
limit  prescribed  by  a  beneficent  Providence;  what  service  has  Protestantism 
rendered  to  modern  society,  by  impairing  the  force  of  authority,  that  power 
which  could  alone  present  an  effectual  barrier  to  man's  unhappy  wander- 
ings? (9) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

INDIFFERENCE   AND    FANATICISM. 

IN  rejecting  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  in  adopting  this  resistance  as 
its  only  principle,  Protestantism  was  compelled  to  seek  its  whole  support  in 
man ;  thus  to  mistake  the  true  character  of  the  human  mind,  and  its  relations 
with  religious  and  moral  truth,  was  to  throw  itself,  according  to  circumstances, 
into  the  opposite  extremes  of  fanaticism  and  indifference. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  these  opposite  errors  should  emanate  from  the  same 
source;  and  yet  nothing  is  more  certain.  Protestantism,  by  appealing  to  man 
alone  in  religious  matters,  had  only  two  courses  to  adopt;  either  to  suppose 
men  to  be  inspired  by  Heaven  for  the  discovery  of  truth,  or  to  subject  all  reli- 
gious truths  to  the  examination  of  reason.  To  submit  religious  truths  to  the 
judgment  of  reason  was  sooner^or  later  to  produce  indifference;  on  the  other 
hand,  private  inspiration  must  engender  fanaticism. 

There  is  a  universal  and  constant  fact  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind — 
viz.  its  decided  inclination  to  invent  systems  in  which  the  reality  of  things  is 
completely  laid  aside,  and  where  we  only  see  the  workings  of  a  spirit  which  has 
chosen  to  quit  the  ordinary  path  in  order  to  give  itself  up  to  its  own  inspira- 
tions. The  history  of  philosophy  is  little  else  than  a  perpetual  repetition  of 
this  phenomenon,  which  the  human  mind  shows,  in  some  shape  or  other,  in  all 
things  which  admit  of  it.  When  the  mind  has  conceived  a  peculiar  idea,  it 
regards  it  with  that  blind  and  exclusive  predilection  which  is  found  in  the  love 
of  the  father  for  his  children.  Under  the  influence  of  this  prejudice,  the  mind 
developes  its  ideas  and  accommodates  facts  to  suit  it ;  that  which  at  first  was 
only  an  ingenious  and  extravagant  idea,  becomes  the  germ  of  important  doc- 
trines ;  and  if  it  arise  in  a  person  of  an  ardent  disposition,  fanaticism,  the  cause 
of  so  much  madness,  is  the  consequence. 

The  danger  is  very  much  increased  when  the  new  system  applies  to  religious 
matters,  or  is  immediately  connected  with  them.  The  extravagances  of  a 
diseased  mind  are  then  looked  upon  as  inspirations  from  Heaven ;  the  fever  of 

E2 


54  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

delirium  as  a  divine  flame ;  and  a  mania  of  being  singular  as  an  extraordinary 
vocation.  Pride,  unable  to  brook  opposition,  rises  against  all  that  it  finds  esta- 
blished ;  it  insults  all  authority ;  it  attacks  all  institutions ;  it  despises  every- 
body ]  it  conceals  the  grossest  violence  under  the  mantle  of  zeal,  and  ambition 
under  the  name  of  apostleship.  The  dupe  of  himself  rather  than  an  impostor, 
the  wretched  maniac  sometimes  becomes  deeply  persuaded  that  his  doctrines  are 
true,  and  that  he  has  received  the  commands  of  Heaven.  As  there  is  some- 
thing extraordinary  and  striking  in  the  fiery  language  of  the  madman,  he  com- 
municates to  those  who  listen  to  him  a  portion  of  his  insanity,  and  makes,  in  a 
short  time,  a  considerable  number  of  proselytes.  The  men  capable  of  playing 
the  first  part  in  this  scene  of  madness  are  not  numerous,  it  is  true  \  but  unhap- 
pily the  majority  of  men  are  foolish  enough  to  be  easily  led  away.  History  and 
experience  sufficiently  prove  that  the  crowd  are  easily  attracted,  and  that  to  form 
a  party,  however  criminal,  extravagant,  or  ridiculous,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
raise  a  standard. 

I  wish  to  take  this  opportunity  of  making  an  observation  which  I  have  never 
seen  pointed  out — viz.  that  the  Church,  in  her  contest  with  heresy,  has  ren- 
dered an  important  service  to  the  science  which  devotes  itself  to  the  examina- 
tion of  the  true  character,  tendency,  and  power  of  the  human  mind.  The  zeal- 
ous guardian  of  all  great  truths,  she  has  always  known  how  to  preserve  them 
unimpaired ;  she  was  fully  acquainted  with  the  weakness  of  the  mind  of  man, 
and  its  extreme  proneness  to  folly  and  extravagance }  she  has  followed  it  closely 
in  all  its  steps,  has  watched  it  in  all  its  movements,  and  has  constantly  resisted 
it  with  energy,  when  it  attempted  to  pollute  the  pure  fountain  of  which  she  is 
the  guardian.  During  the  long  and  violent  contests  which  she  has  had  with  it, 
the  Church  has  made  manifest  its  incurable  folly;  she  has  exhibited  it  on  every 
side,  and  has  shown  it  in  all  its  forms.  Thus  it  is  that,  in  the  history  of  here- 
sies, she  has  made  an  abundant  collection  of  facts,  and  has  painted  an  extremely 
interesting  picture  of  the  human  mind,  where  its  characteristic  physiognomy  is 
faithfully  represented;  a  picture  which  will  doubtless  be  of  great  service  in  the 
composition  of  the  important  work  which  is  yet  unwritten — viz.  the  true  his- 
tory of  the  human  mind.  (10) 

Certain  it  is  that  the  ravings  and  extravagances  of  fanaticism  have  not  been 
wanting  in  the  history  of  Europe  for  the  last  three  hundred  years.  Their  mo- 
numents still  remain ;  in  whatever  direction  we  turn  our  steps,  we  find  bloody 
traces  of  the  fanatical  sects  produced  by  Protestantism,  and  engendered  by  its 
fundamental  principle.  Nothing  could  confine  this  devastating  torrent,  neither 
the  violent  character  of  Luther,  nor  the  furious  efforts  which  he  made  to  oppose 
every  one  who  taught  doctrines  different  from  his  own.  Impiety  succeeded  im- 
piety, extravagance  extravagance,  fanaticism  fanaticism.  The  pretended  Refor- 
mation was  soon  divided  into  as  many  sects  as  there  were  found  men  with  the 
ingenuity  to  invent  and  the  boldness  to  maintain  a  system  of  their  own.  This 
was  necessarily  the  case ;  for  besides  the  danger  of  leaving  the  human  mind 
without  a  guide  on  all  questions  of  religion,  there  was  another  cause  fruitful  in 
fatal  results,  I  mean  the  private  interpretation  of  the  sacred  books. 

It  was  then  found  that  the  best  things  may  be  abused,  and  that  these  divine 
volumes,  which  contain  so  much  instruction  for  the  mind,  and  so  much  consola- 
tion for  the  heart,  are  full  of  danger  to  the  proud.  How  great  will  this  be,  if 
you  add  to  the  obstinate  resolution  of  resisting  all  authority  in  matters  of  faith, 
the  false  persuasion  that  the  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  is  everywhere  clear,  and 
that,  in  all  cases,  the  inspirations  of  Heaven  may  be  expected  to  solve  every 
doubt  ?  What  will  happen  to  those  who  turn  over  their  pages  with  a  longing 
desire  to  find  some  text  which,  more  or  less  tortured,  may  seem  to  authorize  their 
sophisms,  subtilties,  and  absurdities  ? 

There  never  was  a  greater  mistake  than  that  which  was  committed  by  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  55 

Protestant  leaders,  when  they  placed  the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  all  for  self-inter- 
pretation ;  never  was  the  nature  of  that  sacred  volume  more  completely  lost 
sight  of.  It  is  true  that  Protestantism  had  no  other  method  to  pursue,  and  that 
every  objection  which  it  could  make  to  the  private  interpre.tation  of  the  sacred 
text  would  be  a  striking  inconsistency,  an  apostasy  from  its  own  principles,  and 
a  denial  of  its  own  origin;  but  at  the  same  time,  this  is  its  most  decided  con- 
demnation. What  claim,  indeed,  can  that  religion  have  to  truth  and  sanctity 
whose  fundamental  principle  contains  the  germ  of  sects  the  most  fanatical — the 
most  injurious  to  society? 

It  would  be  difficult  to  collect  into  so  narrow  a  space,  in  opposition  to  this 
essential  error  of  Protestantism,  so  many  facts  and  convincing  proofs  of  this,  as 
are  contained  in  the  following  lines,  written  by  a  Protestant,  O'Callaghan, 
which,  I  have  no  doubt,  my  readers  will  thank  me  for  quoting  here.  "  Led 
away,"  says  O'Callaghan,  "by  their  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  the  first  Reformers  loudly  proclaimed  the  right  of  interpreting  the  Scrip- 
tures according  to  each  one's  private  judgment;  but  in  their  eagerness  to  eman- 
cipate the  people  from  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  they  proclaimed  this  right 
without  explanation  or  restriction  :  and  the  consequences  were  fearful.  Impa- 
tient to  undermine  the  papal  jurisdiction,  they  maintained  without  exception, 
that  each  individual  has  an  incontestable  right  to  interpret  the  Scriptures  for 
himself;  and  as  this  principle,  carried  to  the  fullest  extent,  was  not  sustainable, 
they  were  obliged  to  rely  for  support  upon  another,  viz.  that  the  Bible  is  an 
easy  book,  within  the  comprehension  of  all  minds,  and  that  the  divine  revela- 
tions contained  in  it  are  always  clear  to  all ;  two  propositions  which,  whether 
we  consider  them  together  or  apart,  cannot  withstand  a  serious  attack. 

"  The  private  judgment  of  Muncer  found  in  the  Scriptures  that  titles  of  no- 
bility and  great  estates  are  impious  usurpations,  contrary  to  the  natural  equality 
of  the  faithful,  and  he  invited  his  followers  to  examine  if  this  were  not  the 
case.  They  examined  into  the  matter,  praised  God,  and  then  proceeded  by  fire 
and  sword  to  extirpate  the  impious  and  possess  themselves  of  their  properties. 
Private  judgment  made  the  discovery  in  the  Bible  that  established  laws  were 
a  permanent  restriction  on  Christian  liberty;  and,  behold,  John  of  Leyden, 
throwing  away  his  tools,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  mob  of  fanatics,  surprised 
the  town  qf  Munster,  proclaimed  himself  king  of  Sion,  and  took  fourteen  wives 
at  a  time,  asserting  that  polygamy  is  Christian  liberty,  and  the  privilege  of  the 
saints.  But  if  the  criminal  madness  of  these  men  in  another  country  is  afflict- 
ing to  the  friends  of  humanity  and  of  real  piety,  certainly  the  history  of  Eng- 
land, during  a  great  part  of  the-  seventeenth  century,  is  not  calculated  to  con- 
sole them.  During  that  period  an  immense  number  of  fanatics  appeared,  some- 
times together  and  sometimes  in  succession,  intoxicated  with  extravagant  doc- 
trines and  mischievous  passions,  from  the  fierce  ravings  of  Fox  to  the  more 
methodical  madness  of  Barclay ;  from  the  formidable  fanaticism  of  Cromwell  to 
the  silly  profanity  of  '  Praise  G-od  Barebones/  Piety,  reason,  and  good  sense 
seemed  to  be  extinct  on  earth,  and  to  be  succeeded  by  an  extravagant  jargon,  a 
religious  frenzy,  and  a  zeal  without  discretion.  All  quoted  the  Scriptures,  all 
pretended  to  have  had  inspirations,  visions,  and  spiritual  ecstasies,  and  all,  in- 
deed, had  equal  claims  to  them.  It  was  strongly  maintained  that  it  was  proper 
to  abolish  the  priesthood  and  the  royal  dignity,  because  priests  were  the  minis- 
ters of  Satan,  and  kings  the  delegates  of  the  whore  of  Babylon,  and  that  the 
existence  of  both  were  inconsistent  with  the  reign  of  the  Redeemer.  The  fana- 
tics condemned  science  as  a  Pagan  invention,  and  universities  as  seminaries  of 
antichristian  impiety.  Bishops  were  not  protected  by  the  sanctity  of  their 
functions,  or  kings  by  the  majesty  of  the  throne ;  both,  as  objects  of  contempt 
and  hatred,  were  mercilessly  put  to  death  by  these  fanatics,  whose  only  book 
was  the  Bible,  without  note  or  comment.  During  this  time,  the  enthusiasm  for 


56  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

prayer,  preaching,  and  the  reading  of  the  sacred  books  was  at  the  highest  point; 
everybody  prayed,  preached,  and  read,  but  nobody  listened.  The  greatest  atro- 
cities were  justified  by  the  Scriptures ;  in  the  most  ordinary  transactions  of  life, 
scriptural  language  was  made  use  of;  national  affairs,  foreign  and  domestic, 
were  discussed  in  the  phraseology  of  Holy  Writ.  There  were  scriptural  plots, 
conspiracies,  and  proscriptions ;  and  all  this  was  not  only  justified  but  even 
sanctified  by  quotations  from  the  word  of  God.  These  facts,  attested  by  his- 
tory, have  often  astonished  and  alarmed  men  of  virtue  and  piety,  but  the  reader, 
too  much  imbued  with  his  own  ideas,  forgets  the  lesson  to  be  learnt  by  this  fatal 
experience;  namely,  that  the  Bible  without  note  or  comment  was  not  intended  to 
be  read  by  rude  and  ignorant  men. 

"The  majority  of  mankind  must  be  content  to  receive  the  instructions  of 
others,  and  are  not  enabled  to  trust  themselves.  The  most  important  truths  in 
medicine,  in  jurisprudence,  in  physics,  in  mathematics,  must  be  received  from 
those  who  drink  at  the  fountain  head.  The  same  plan  has  in  general  been  pur- 
sued with  respect  to  Christianity ;  and  whenever  the  departure  from  it  has  been 
wide  enough,  f  society  has  been  shaken  to  its  foundation.'  n 

These  words  of  O'Callaghan  do  not  require  any  comment.  It  cannot  be  said 
that  they  are  hyperbolical  or  declamatory,  as  they  are  only  a  simple  and  faithful 
narration  of  acknowledged  facts.  The  recollection  of  these  events  should  suffice 
to  prove  the  danger  of  placing  the  sacred  Scriptures,  without  note  or  comment, 
into  the  hands  of  all,  as  Protestantism  does,  under  the  pretence,  that  the  au- 
thority of  the  Church  is  useless  for  understanding  the  holy  books ;  and  that 
every  Christian  has  only  to  listen  to  the  dictates  which  generally  emanate  from 
his  passions  and  heated  imagination.  By  this  error  alone,  if  it  had  committed 
no  other,  Protestantism  is  self-reproved  and  condemned;  for  it  is  a  religion 
which  has  established  a  principle  destructive  to  itself.  In  order  to  appreciate 
the  madness  of  Protestantism  on  this  point,  and  to  see  how  false  and  dangerous 
is  the  position  which  it  has  assumed  with  regard  to  the  human  mind,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  be  a  theologian,  or  a  Catholic ;  it  is  enough  to  have  read  the  Scrip- 
tures with  the  eyes  of  a  philosopher  or  a  man  of  literature.  Here  is  a  book 
which  comprises,  within  a  limited  compass,  the  period  of  four  thousand  years, 
and  advances  further  towards  the  most  distant  future,  by  embracing  the  origin 
and  destiny  of  man  and  the  universe — a  book  which,  with  the  continued  his- 
tory of  a  chosen  people,  intermingles,  in  its  narrations  and  prophecies,  the  re- 
volutions of  mighty  empires — a  book  which,  side  by  side  with  the  magnificent 
pictures  of  the  power  and  splendor  of  Eastern  monarchs,  describes,  in  simple 
colors,  the  plain  domestic  manners,  the  candor,  and  innocence  of  a  young 
nation — a  book  in  which  historians  relate,  sages  proclaim  their  maxims  of  wis- 
dom, apostles  preach,  and  doctors  instruct — a  book  in  which  prophets,  under 
the  influence  of  the  divine  Spirit,  thunder  against  the  errors  and  corruptions  of 
the  people,  and  announce  the  vengeance  of  the  Grod  of  Sinai,  or  pour  forth  in- 
consolable lamentations  on  the  captivity  of  their  brethren,  and  the  desolation 
and  solitude  of  their  country;  where  they  relate,  in  wonderful  and  sublime  lan- 
guage, the  magnificent  spectacles  which  are  presented  to  their  eyes;  where,  in 
moments  of  ecstasy,  they  see  pass  before  them  the  events  of  society  and  the 
catastrophes  of  nature,  although  veiled  in  mysterious  figures  and  visions  of  ob- 
scurity— a  book,  or  rather  a  collection  of  books,  where  are  to  be  found  all  sorts 
of  styles  and  all  varieties  of  narrative,  epic  majesty,  pastoral  simplicity,  lyric 
fire,  serious  instruction,  grave  historical  narrative,  and  lively  and  rapid  dramatic 
action ;  a  collection  of  books,  in  fine,  written  at  various  times  and  in  various 
languages,  in  various  countries,  and  under  the  most  peculiar  and  extraordinary 
circumstances.  Must  not  all  this  confuse  the  heads  of  men  who,  pufled  up  with 
their  own  conceit,  grope  through  these  pages  in  the  dark,  ignorant  of  climates, 
times,  laws,  customs,  and  manners  ?  They  will  be  puzzled  by  allusions,  sur- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  57 

prised  by  images,  deceived  by  expressions ;  they  will  hear  the  Greek  and  He- 
brew, which  was  written  in  those  remote  ages,  now  spoken  in  a  modern  idiom. 
What  effects  must  all  these  circumstances  produce  on  the  minds  of  readers  who 
believe  that  the  Bible  is  an  easy  book,  to  be  understood  without  difficulty  by 
all  ?  Persuaded  that  they  do  not  require  the  instructions  of  others,  they  must 
either  resolve  all  these  difficulties  by  their  own  reflections,  or  trust  to  that  indi- 
vidual inspiration  which  they  believe  will  not  be  wanting  to  explain  to  them 
the  loftiest  mysteries.  Who,  after  this,  can  be  astonished  that  Protestantism 
has  produced  so  many  absurd  visionaries  and  furious  fanatics  ?  (11) 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FANATICISM — ITS  DEFINITION. — FANATICISM  IN  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 

IT  would  be  unjust  to  charge  a  religion  with  falsehood,  merely  because  fanatics 
are  to  be  found  within  its  bosom.  This  would  be  to  reject  all,  because  none  are 
to  be  found  exempt  from  them.  A  religion,  then,  is  not  to  be  condemned 
because  it  has  them,  but  because  it  produces  them,  urges  them  on,  and  opens  a 
field  for  them.  If  we  observe  closely,  we  shall  find  at  the  bottom  of  the  human 
heart  an  abundant  source  of  fanaticism;  the  history  of  man  affords  us  many 
proofs  of  this  incontestable  truth.  Imagine  whatever  delusion  you  please, 
relate  the  most  extravagant  visions,  invent  the  most  absurd  system,  if  you  only 
take  care  to  give  to  all  a  religious  coloring,  you  may  be  sure  that  you  will  have 
enthusiastic  followers,  who  will  heartily  devote  themselves  to  the  propagation 
of  your  doctrines,  and  will  espouse  your  cause  blindly  and  ardently ;  in  other 
words,  you  will  have  under  your  standard  a  troop  of  fanatics. 

Philosophers  have  devoted  many  pages  to  declamation  against  fanaticism; 
they  have,  as  it  were,  assumed  the  mission  of  banishing  it  from  the  earth. 
They  have  tired  mankind  with  philosophical  lectures,  and  have  thundered 
against  the  monster  with  all  the  vigor  of  their  eloquence.  They  used  the  word, 
however,  in  so  wide  a  sense  as  to  include  all  kind  of  religion.  But,  if  they 
had  confined  themselves  to  attacking  real  fanaticism,  I  believe  they  would  have 
done  much  better  if  they  had  devoted  some  time  to  the  examination  of  this  mat- 
ter in  an  analytic  spirit,  and  had  treated  it;  after  so  doing,  maturely,  calmly, 
and  without  prejudice. 

Inasmuch  as  these  philosophers  were  aware  that  fanaticism  is  a  natural 
infirmity  of  the  human  mind,  they  could,  if  they  were  men  of  sense  and  wis- 
dom, have  had  little  hope  of  banishing  the  accursed  monster  from  the  world  by 
reasoning  and  eloquence ;  for  I  am  not  aware  that,  up  to  the  present  time,  phi- 
losophy has  remedied  any  of  the  important  evils  that  afflict  humanity.  Among 
the  numerous  errors  of  the  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth  century,  one  of  the 
principal  was  the  mania  for  types ;  there  was  formed  in  the  mind  a  type  of  the 
nature  of  man,  of  society,  in  a  word,  of  every  thing;  and  every  thing  that 
could  not  be  adjusted  to  this  type,  every  thing  that  could  not  be  moulded  into 
the  required  form,  was  so  subjected  to  the  fury  of  philosophers,  as  to  make  it 
certain,  at  least,  that  the  want  of  pliability  did  not  go  unpunished. 

But  do  I  mean  to  deny  the  existence  of  fanaticism  in  the  world  ?  There  is 
much  of  it.  Do  I  deny  that  it  is  an  evil  ?  It  is  a  very  great  one.  Can  it  be 
extirpated  ?  It  cannot.  How  can  its  extent  be  diminished,  its  force  weakened, 
and  its  violence  checked  ?  By  directing  man  wisely.  Can  this  be  done  by 
philosophy  ?  We  shall  presently  see.  What  is  the  origin  of  fanaticism  ?  We 
must  begin  by  defining  the  real  meaning  of  the  word.  By  fanaticism  is  meant, 
taking  the  word  in  its  widest  signification,  the  strong  excitement  of  a  mind 
powerfully  acted  on  by  a  false  or  exaggerated  opinion.  If  the  opinion  be  true, 

8 


58  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

if  it  be  confined  within  just  limits,  there  is  no  fanaticism ;  or,  if  there  be  any, 
it  is  only  with  respect  to  the  means  employed  in  defending  the  opinion.  But  in 
that  case  there  is  an  erroneous  judgment,  since  it  is  believed  that  the  truth  of 
the  opinion  authorizes  the  means ;  that  is  to  say,  there  is  already  error  or  exag- 
geration. If  a  true  opinion  be  sustained  by  legitimate  means,  if  the  occasion 
be  opportune,  whatever  may  be  the  excitement  or  effervescence  of  mind,  what- 
ever may  be  the  energy  of  the  efforts  and  the  sacrifices  made,  then  there  is 
enthusiasm  of  mind  and  heroism  of  action,  but  no  fanaticism.  Were  it  other- 
wise, the  heroes  of  all  times  and  countries  might  be  stigmatized  as  fanatics. 

Fanaticism,  in  this  general  sense,  extends  to  all  the  subjects  which  occupy 
the  human  mind;  thus  there  are  fanatics  in  religion,  in  politics,  even  in  science 
and  literature.  Nevertheless,  according  to  etymology  and  custom,  the  word  is 
properly  applied  to  religious  matters  only ;  therefore  the  word,  when  used  alone, 
means  fanaticism  in  religion,  whilst,  when  applied  to  other  things,  it  is  always 
accompanied  by  a  qualifying  epithet;  thus  we  say  political  fanatics,  literary 
fanatics,  &c. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  religious  matters  men  have  a  strong  tendency  to 
give  themselves  to  a  dominant  idea,  which  they  desire  to  communicate  to  all 
around  them,  and  propagate  everywhere.  They  sometimes  go  so  far  as  to  attempt 
this  by  the  most  violent  means.  The  same  fact  appears,  to  a  certain  extent,  in 
other  matters ;  but  it  acquires  in  religious  things  a  character  different  from  what 
it  assumes  elsewhere.  It  is  there  that  the  human  mind  acquires  increased  force, 
frightful  energy,  and  unbounded  expansion;  there  are  no  more  difficulties, 
obstacles,  or  fetters ;  material  interests  entirely  disappear ;  the  greatest  suffer- 
ings acquire  a  charm ;  torments  are  nothing ;  death  itself  is  a  seductive  illusion. 

This  phenomenon  varies  with  individuals,  with  ideas,  with  the  manners  of  the 
nation  in  whose  bosom  it  is  produced ;  but  at  bottom  it  is  always  the  same.  If 
we  examine  the  matter  thoroughly,  we  shall  find  that  the  violences  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  Mahomet,  and  the  extravagant  disciples  of  Fox,  have  a  common 
origin. 

It  is  with  this  passion  as  with  all  others ;  when  they  produce  great  evils,  it 
is  because  they  deviate  from  their  legitimate  objects,  or  because  they  strive  at 
those  objects  by  means  which  are  not  conformable  to  the  dictates  of  reason  and 
prudence.  Fanaticism,  then,  rightly  understood,  is  nothing  but  misguided  reli- 
gious feeling;  a  feeling  which  man  has  within  him  from  the  cradle  to  the  tomb, 
and  which  is  found  to  be  diffused  throughout  society  in  all  periods  of  its  exist- 
ence. Vain  have  been  the  efforts  made  up  to  this  time  to  render  men  irreligious; 
a  few  individuals  may  give  themselves  up  to  the  folly  of  complete  irreligion ;  but 
the  human  race  always  protests  against  those  who  endeavor  to  stifle  the  senti- 
ment of  religion.  Now  this  feeling  is  so  strong  and  active,  it  exercises  so 
unbounded  an  influence  on  man,  that  no  sooner  has  it  been  diverted  from  its 
legitimate  object,  and  quitted  the  right  path,  than  it  is  seen  to  produce  lament- 
able results ;  then  it  is  that  two  causes,  fertile  in  great  disasters,  are  found  in 
combination,  complete  blindness  of  the  understanding  and  irresistible  energy 
of  the  will. 

In  declaiming  against  fanaticism,  many  Protestants  and  philosophers  have 
thought  proper  to  throw  a  large  share  of  blame  on  the  Catholic  Church ;  cer- 
tainly they  ought  to  have  been  more  moderate  in  this  respect  if  their  philosophy 
had  been  good.  It  is  true  the  Church  cannot  boast  of  having  cured  all  the 
follies  of  man;  she  cannot  pretend  to  have  banished  fanaticism  so  completely 
as  not  to  have  some  fanatics  among  her  children ;  but  she  may  justly  boast  that 
no  religion  has  taken  more  effectual  means  of  curing  the  evil.  It  may,  more- 
over, be  affirmed,  that  she  has  taken  her  measures  so  well,  that  when  it  does 
make  its  appearance,  she  confines  it  within  such  limits  that  it  may  exist  for  a 
time,  but  cannot  produce  very  dangerous  results. 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  59 

Its  mental  errors  and  delirious  dreams,  which,  if  encouraged,  lead  men  to  the 
commission  of  the  greatest  extravagances  and  the  most  horrible  crimes,  are 
kept  under  control  when  the  mind  possesses  a  salutary  conviction  of  its  own 
weakness  and  a  respect  for  infallible  authority.  If  they  be  not  extinguished 
at  their  birth,  at  least  they  remain  in  a  state  of  isolation,  they  do  not  injure 
the  deposit  of  true  doctrine,  and  the  ties  which  unite  all  the  faithful  as  mem- 
bers of  the  same  body  are  not  broken.  With  respect  to  revelations,  visions, 
prophecies,  and  ecstasies,  as  long  as  they  preserve  a  private  character  and  do 
not  affect  the  truths  of  faith,  the  Church,  generally  speaking,  tolerates  them 
and  abstains  from  interference,  leaving  the  discussion  of  the  facts  to  criticism, 
and  allowing  the  faithful  an  entire  liberty  of  thinking  as  they  please;  but  if 
the  affair  assumes  a  more  important  aspect,  if  the  visionary  calls  in  question 
points  of  doctrine,  she  immediately  shows  her  vigilance.  Attentive  to  every 
voice  raised  against  the  instructions  of  her  Divine  Master,  she  fixes  an  observant 
eye  on  the  innovator.  She  examines  whether  he  be  a  man  deceived  in  matters 
of  doctrine  or  a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing;  she  raises  her  warning  voice,  she 
points  out  to  all  the  faithful  the  error  or  the  danger,  and  the  voice  of  the  Shep- 
herd recalls  the  wandering  sheep ;  but  if  he  refuse  to  listen  to  her,  and  prefer 
to  follow  his  own  caprices,  she  separates  him  from  the  flock,  and  declares  him 
to  resemble  the  wolf.  From  that  moment  all  those  who  are  sincerely  desirous 
of  continuing  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  can  no  more  be  infected  with  the 
error. 

Undoubtedly,  Protestants  will  reproach  Catholics  with  the  number  of  visiona- 
ries who  have  existed  in  the  Church ;  they  will  recall  the  revelations  and  visions 
of  a  great  number  of  saints  who  are  venerated  on  our  altars ;  they  will  accuse 
us  of  fanaticism, — a  fanaticism,  they  will  say,  which,  far  from  being  limited  in 
its  effects  to  a  narrow  circle,  has  been  able  to  produce  the  most  important  re- 
sults. "  Do  not  the  founders  of  religious  orders  alone,"  they  will  say,  "  afford 
us  a  spectacle  of  a  long  succession  of  fanatics,  who,  self-deluded,  exercised  upon 
others,  by  their  words  and  example,  the  greatest  fascination  that  was  ever  seen  ?" 

As  this  is  not  the  place  to  enlarge  upon  the  subject  of  religious  communities, 
which  I  propose  to  do  in  another  part  of  this  work,  I  shall  content  myself  with 
the  observation,  that  even  supposing  that  all  the  visions  and  revelations  of  our 
saints  and  the  heavenly  inspirations  with  which  the  founders  of  religious  orders 
believed  themselves  to  have  been  favored  were  delusions,  our  opponents  would 
not  be  in  any  way  justified  in  throwing  on  the  Church  the  reproach  of  fanati- 
cism. And,  first,  it  is  easy  to  see  that,  as  far  as  individual  visions  are  con- 
cerned, as  long  as  they  are  thus  limited,  there  may  be  delusion,  or,  if  you  will, 
fanaticism ;  but  this  fanaticism  will  not  be  injurious  to  any  one,  or  create  con- 
fusion in  society.  If  a  poor  woman  believe  herself  to  be  peculiarly  favoured 
by  Heaven,  if  she  fancy  that  she  hears  the  words  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  that 
she  converses  with  angels  who  bring  her  messages  from  God,  all  this  may  excite 
the  credulity  of  some  and  the  raillery  of  others,  but  certainly  it  will  not  cost 
society  a  drop  of  blood  or  a  tear.  As  to  the  founders  of  religious  orders,  in 
what  way  are  they  subject  to  the  charge  of  fanaticism  ?  Let  us  pass  in  silence 
the  profound  respect  which  their  virtues  deserve,  and  the  gratitude  which  hu- 
manity owes  them  for  the  inestimable  benefits  conferred  ;  let  us  suppose  that 
they  were  deceived  in  all  their  inspirations ;  we  may  certainly  call  this  delusion, 
but  not  fanaticism.  We  do  not  find  in  them  either  frenzy  or  violence ;  they 
are  men  diffident  in  themselves,  who,  when  they  believe  that  they  are  called  by 
Heaven  to  a  great  design,  never  commence  the  work  without  having  prostrated 
themselves  at  the  feet  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff;  they  submit  to  his  judgment 
the  rules  for  the  establishment  of  their  orders,  they  ask  his  instruction,  listen 
to  his  decision  with  docility,  and  do  nothing  without  having  obtained  his  per- 
mission. How,  then,  do  these  founders  of  orders  resemble  the  fanatics,  who, 


60  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

putting  themselves  at  the  head  of  a  furious  multitude,  kill,  destroy,  and  leave 
everywhere  behind  them  traces  of  blood  and  ruin  ?  We  see  in  the  founders  of 
religious  orders  men  who,  deeply  impressed  with  an  idea,  devote  themselves  to 
realize  it,  however  great  may  be  the  sacrifice.  Their  conduct  constantly  shows 
a  fixed  idea,  which  is  developed  according  to  a  preconcerted  plan,  and  is  always 
highly  social  and  religious  in  its  object :  above  all,  this  is  submitted  to  autho- 
rity, maturely  examined  and  corrected  by  the  counsels  of  prudence.  An  im- 
partial philosopher,  whatever  may  be  his  religious  opinions,  may  find  in  all  this 
more  or  less  illusion  and  prejudice,  or  prudence  and  address ;  but  he  cannot  find 
fanaticism,  for  there  is  nothing  there  which  resembles  it.  (12) 


CHAPTER  IX. 

INFIDELITY   AND   INDIFFERENCE   IN    EUROPE,    THE   FRUITS   OF   PRO- 
TESTANTISM. 

THE  fanaticism  of  sects,  which  is  excited,  kept  alive,  and  nourished  in  Eu- 
rope, by  the  private  judgment  of  Protestantism,  is  certainly  an  evil  of  the 
greatest  magnitude ;  yet  it  is  not  so  mischievous  or  alarming  as  the  infidelity 
and  religious  indifference  for  which  modern  society  is  indebted  to  the  pretended 
Reformation.  Brought  on  by  the  scandalous  extravagances  of  so  many  sects  of 
soidisant  Christians,  infidelity  and  religious  indifference,  which  have  their  root 
even  in  the  very  principle  of  Protestantism,  began  to  show  themselves  with 
alarming  symptoms  in  the  sixteenth  century;  they  have  acquired  with  time 
great  diffusion,  they  have  penetrated  all  the  branches  of  science  and  literature, 
have  produced  an  effect  on  languages,  and  have  endangered  all  the  conquests 
which  civilization  had  gained  during  so  many  ages. 

Even  during  the  sixteenth  century,  and  amid  the  hot  disputes  and  religious 
wars  which  Protestantism  had  enkindled,  infidelity  spread  in  an  alarming  man- 
ner ;  and  it  is  probable  that  it  was  even  more  common  than  it  appeared  to  be, 
as  it  was  not  easy  to  throw  off  the  mask  at  a  period  so  near  to  the  time  when 
religious  convictions  had  been  so  deeply  rooted.  It  is  very  likely  that  infidelity 
was  propagated  disguised  under  the  mantle  of  the  Reformation,  and  that  some- 
times enlisting  under  the  banner  of  one  sect  and  sometimes  of  another,  it 
labored  to  weaken  them  all,  in  order  to  set  up  its  own  throne  on  the  general 
ruin  of  faith. 

It  does  not  require  a  great  effort  of  logic  to  pass  from  Protestantism  to  Deism ; 
from  Deism  to  Atheism,  there  is  but  a  step ;  and  there  must  have  been,  at  the 
time  when  these  errors  were  broached,  a  large  number  of  persons  with  reason- 
ing powers  enough  to  carry  them  out  to  the  fullest  extent.  The  Christian  reli- 
gion, as  explained  by  Protestants,  is  only  a  kind  of  philosophic  system  more  or 
less  reasonable ;  as,  when  fully  examined,  it  has  no  divine  character.  How, 
then,  can  it  govern  a  reflecting  and  independent  mind  ?  Yes,  one  glance  at  the 
first  exhibitions  of  Protestantism  must  have  been  enough  to  incline  all  those 
to  religious  indifference  who,  naturally  disinclined  to  fanaticism,  had  lost  the 
anchor  of  the  Church's  authority.  When  we  consider  the  language  and  con- 
duct of  the  sectarian  leaders  of  that  time,  we  are  strongly  inclined  to  suspect 
that  they  laughed  at  all  Christian  faith ;  that  they  concealed  their  indifference 
or  their  Atheism  under  strange  doctrines  which  served  as  a  standard,  and  that 
they  propagated  their  writings  with  very  bad  faith,  while  they  disguised  their 
perfidious  intention  of  preserving  in  the  minds  of  their  partisans  sectarian 
fanaticism. 

Thus,  listening  to  the  dictates  of  good  sense,  the  father  of  the  famous  Mon- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY.  61 

taigne,  although  he  had  seen  as  yet  only  the  preludes  of  the  Reformation,  said, 
"  that  this  beginning  of  evil  would  easily  degenerate  into  execrable  Atheism." 
A  very  remarkable  testimony,  which  has  been  preserved  to  us  by  his  son  him- 
self, who  was  certainly  neither  weak  nor  hypocritical.  (Essais  de  Montaigne, 
liv.  ii.  chap.  12.)  When  this  man  pronounced  so  wise  a  judgment  on  the  real 
tendency  of  Protestantism,  did  he  imagine  that  his  own  son  would  confirm  the 
justness  of  his  prediction  ?  Everybody  knows  that  Montaigne  was  one  of  the 
first  skeptics  that  became  famous  in  Europe.  It  was  requisite,  at  that  time,  for 
men  to  be  cautious  in  declaring  themselves  Atheists  or  indifferentists,  among 
Protestants  themselves;  and  it  may  readily  be  imagined  that  all  unbelievers 
had  not  the  boldness  of  Gruet ;  yet  we  may  believe  the  celebrated  theologian 
of  Toledo,  Chacon,  who  said  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  third  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  "  that  the  heresy  of  the  Atheists,  of  those  who  believed  nothing,  had 
great  strength  in  France  and  in  other  countries." 

Religious  controversy  continued  to  occupy  the  attention  of  all  the  savans  of 
Europe,  and  during  this  time  the  gangrene  of  infidelity  made  great  progress. 
This  evil,  from  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  assumed  a  most  alarming 
aspect.  Who  is  not  dismayed  at  reading  the  profound  thoughts  of  Pascal  on 
religious  indifference?  and  who  has  not  felt,  in  reading  them,  the  emotion 
which  is  caused  in  the  soul  by  the  presence  of  a  dreadful  evil  ? 

Things  were  now  much  advanced,  and  unbelievers  were  not  far  from  being 
in  a  position,  to  take  their  rank  among  the  schools  who  disputed  for  the  upper 
hand  in  Europe.  With  more  or  less  of  disguise,  they  had  already  for  a  long 
time  shown  themselves  under  the  form  of  Socinianism ;  but  that  did  not  suffice, 
for  Socinianism  bore  at  least  the  name  of  a  religious  sect,  and  irreligion  began 
to  feel  itself  strong  enough  to  appear  under  its  own  name.  The  last  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century  presents  a  crisis  which  is  very  remarkable  with  respect  to 
religion ; — a  crisis  which  perhaps  has  not  been  well  examined,  although  it  exhi- 
bits some  very  remarkable  facts ;  I  allude  to  a  lassitude  of  religious  disputes, 
marked  by  two  tendencies  diametrically  opposed  to  each  other,  and  yet  very 
natural :  one  towards  Catholicity  and  the  other  towards  Atheism. 

Every  one  knows  how  much  disputing  there  had  been  up  to  this  time  on 
religion ;  religious  controversies  were  the  prevailing  taste,  and  it  may  be  said 
that  they  formed  the  principal  occupation  not  only  of  ecclesiastics,  both  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  but  even  of  the  well-educated  laity.  This  taste  penetrated  the 
palaces  of  kings  and  princes.  The  natural  result  of  so  many  controversies  was 
to  disclose  the  radical  error  of  Protestantism :  then  the  mind,  which  could  not 
remain  firm  on  such  slippery  ground,  was  obliged,  either  to  adopt  authority,  or 
abandon  itself  to  Atheism  or  complete  indifference.  These  tendencies  made 
themselves  very  perceptibly  felt ;  thus  it  was  that  at  the  very  time  when  Bayle 
thought  Europe  sufficiently  prepared  for  his  infidelity  and  skepticism,  there  was 
going  on  an  animated  and  serious  correspondence  for  the  reunion  of  the  German 
Protestants  with  the  Catholic  Church.  Men  of  education  are  acquainted  with 
the  discussions  which  took  place  between  the  Lutheran  Molanus,  abbot  of 
Lockum,  and  Christopher,  at  first  Bishop  of  Tyna,  and  afterwards  of  Newstad. 
The  correspondence  between  the  two  most  remarkable  men  at  that  time  in 
Europe  of  both  communions,  Bossuet  and  Leibnitz,  is  another  monument  of  the 
importance  of  these  negotiations.  The  happy  moment  was  not  yet  come; 
political  considerations,  which  ought  to  have  vanished  in  the  presence  of  such 
lofty  interests,  exercised  a  mischievous  influence  on  the  great  soul  of  Leibnitz, 
and  he  did  not  preserve,  throughout  the  progress  of  .the  discussions  and  nego- 
tiations, the  sincerity,  good  faith,  and  elevation  of  view,  which  he  had  evinced 
at  the  commencement.  The  negotiation  did  not  succeed,  but  the  mere  fact  of 
its  existence  shows  clearly  enough  the  void  which  was  felt  in  Protestantism; 
for  we  cannot  believe  that  the  two  most  celebrated  men  of  that  communion, 

P 


82  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

Molanus  and  Leibnitz,  would  have  advanced  so  far  in  so  important  a  negotiation, 
unless  they  had  observed  among  themselves  many  indications  of  a  disposition 
to  return  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  Add  to  this,  the  declaration  of  the 
Lutheran  university  of  Helmstad  in  favor  of  the  Catholic  religion,  and  the 
fresh  attempts  at  a  reunion  made  by  a  Protestant  prince,  who  addressed  him- 
self to  Pope  Clement  XL,  and  you  have  strong  reasons  for  believing  that  the 
Reformation  felt  itself  mortally  wounded.  If  God  had  been  willing  to  permit 
that  so  great  a  result  should  appear  to  have  been  effected  in  any  way  by  human 
means,  the  deep  convictions  prevalent  among  the  most  distinguished  Protestants 
might  perhaps  have  greatly  contributed  to  heal  the  wounds  which  had  been 
inflicted  upon  religious  unity  by  the  revolutionists  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

But  the  profound  wisdom  of  God  had  decided  otherwise.  In  allowing  men 
to  pursue  their  own  opposite  and  perverse  inclinations,  He  was  pleased  to  chas- 
tise them  by  means  of  their  own  pride.  The  tendency  towards  unity  was  no 
longer  dominant  in  the  next  century,  but  gave  place  to  a  philosophic  skepticism, 
indifferent  towards  all  other  religions,  but  the  deadly  enemy  of  the  Catholic. 
It  may  be  said  that  at  that  time  there  was  a  combination  of  the  most  fatal 
influences  to  hinder  the  tendency  towards  unity  from  attaining  its  object. 
Already  were  the  Protestant  sects  divided  and  subdivided  into  numberless  par- 
ties, and  although  Protestantism  was  thereby  weakened,  yet,  nevertheless,  it 
was  diffused  over  the  greater  part  of  Europe ;  the  germ  of  doubt  in  religious 
matters  had  inoculated  the  whole  of  European  society.  There  was  no  truth 
which  had  escaped  attack ;  no  error  or  extravagance  which  had  not  had  apostles 
and  proselytes;  and  it  was  much  to  be  feared  that  men  would  fall  into  that 
state  of  fatigue  and  discouragement  which  is  the  result  of  great  efforts  made 
without  success,  and  into  that  disgust  which  is  always  produced  by  endless  dis- 
putes and  great  scandals. 

To  complete  the  misfortune,  and  to  bring  to  a  climax  the  state  of  lassitude 
and  disgust,  there  was  another  evil,  which  produced  the  most  fatal  results. 
The  champions  of  Catholicity  contended,  with  boldness  and  success,  against  the 
religious  innovations  of  Protestants.  Languages,  history,  criticism,  philosophy, 
all  that  is  most  precious,  rich,  and  brilliant  in  human  knowledge,  had  been 
employed  in  the  noblest  way  in  this  important  struggle ;  and  the  great  men 
who  were  most  prominent  among  the  defenders  of  the  Church  seemed  to  con- 
sole her  for  the  sad  losses  which  she  had  sustained  by  the  troubles  of  another 
age.  But  while  she  embraced  in  her  arms  these  zealous  sons,  those  who  boasted 
the  most  of  being  called  her  children,  she  observed  in  some  of  them,  with  sur- 
prise and  dread,  an  attitude  of  disguised  hostility ;  and  in  their  thinly  veiled 
language  and  conduct  she  could  easily  perceive  that  they  meditated  giving  her 
a  fatal  blow.  Always  asserting  their  submission  and  their  obedience,  but  never 
submitting  or  obeying ;  continually  extolling  the  authority  and  divine  origin 
of  the  Church,  and  carefully  concealing  their  hatred  of  her  existing  laws  and 
institutions  under  cover  of  professed  zeal  for  the  re-establishment  of  ancient 
discipline ;  they  sapped  the  foundations  of  morality,  while  they  claimed  to  be 
its  earnest  advocates;  they  disguised  their  hypocrisy  and  pride  under  false 
humility  and  affected  modesty;  they  called  obstinacy  firmness,  and  wilful 
blindness  strength  of  mind.  This  rebellion  presented  an  aspect  more  dangerous 
than  any  heresy ;  their  honeyed  words,  studied  candor,  respect  for  antiquity, 
and  the  show  of  learning  and  knowledge,  would  have  contributed  to  blind  the 
best  informed,  if  the  innovators  had  not  been  distinguished  by  the  constant  and 
unfailing  characteristic  of  all  erroneous  sects,  viz.  hatred  of  authority. 

They  were  seen  from  time  to  time  struggling  against  the  declared  enemies 
of  the  Church,  defending,  with  great  display  of  learning,  the  truth  of  her  sacred 
dogmas,  citing,  with  respect  and  deference,  the  writings  of  the  holy  fathers,  and 
declaring  that  they  adhered  to  tradition,  and  had  a  profound  veneration  for  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  63 

decisions  of  councils  and  Popes.  They  particularly  prided  themselves  on  being 
called  Catholics,  however  much  their  language  and  conduct  were  inconsistent 
with  the  name.  Never  did  they  get  rid  of  the  marvellous  infatuation  with  which 
they  denied  their  existence  as  a  sect ;  and  thus  did  they  throw  in  the  way  of 
ill-informed  persons  the  unhappy  scandal  of  a  dogmatical  dispute,  going  on 
apparently  within  the  bosom  of  the  Church  herself.  The  Pope  declared  them 
heretics ;  all  true  Catholics  bowed  to  the  decision  of  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
from  all  parts  of  the  world  a  voice  was  unanimously  raised  to  pronounce 
anathema  against  all  who  did  not  listen  to  the  successor  of  St.  Peter;  but 
they  themselves,  denying  and  eluding  all,  persisted  in  considering  them- 
selves as  a  body  of  Catholics  oppressed  by  the  spirit  of  relaxation,  abuse,  and 
intrigue. 

This  scandal  gave  the  finishing  stroke  to  the  leading  of  men  astray,  and  the 
fatal  gangrene  which  was  infecting  European  society  soon  developed  itself  with 
frightful  rapidity.  The  religious  disputes,  the  multitude  and  variety  of  sects, 
the  animosity  which  they  showed  against  each  other,  all  contributed  to  disgust 
with  religion  itself  whoever  were  not  held  fast  by  the  anchor  of  authority.  To 
establish  indifference  as  a  system,  atheism  as  a  creed,  and  impiety  as  a  fashion, 
there  was  only  wanting  a  man  laborious  enough  to  collect,  unite,  and  present  in 
a  body  all  the  numerous  materials  which  were  scattered  in  a  multitude  of  works; 
a  man  who  knew  how  to  give  to  all  this  a  philosophical  complexion  suitable  to 
the  prevailing  taste,  and  who  could  give  to  sophistry  and  declamation  that  seduc- 
tive appearance,  that  deceptive  form  and  dazzling  show,  by  which  the  produc- 
tions of  genius  are  always  marked,  in  the  midst  even  of  their  wildest  vagaries. 
Such  a  man  appeared  in  the  person  of  Bayle.  The  noise  which  his  famous 
dictionary  made  in  the  world,  and  the  favor  which  it  enjoyed  from  the  begin- 
ning, show  how  well  the  author  had  taken  advantage  of  his  opportunity.  The 
dictionary  of  Bayle  is  one  of  those  books  which,  considered  apart  from  their 
scientific  and  literary  merit,  always  serve  to  denote  a  remarkable  epoch,  because 
they  present,  together  with  the  fruits  of  the  past,  the  clear  perception  of  a  long 
future.  The  author  of  such  a  work  is  not  distinguished  so  much  on  account  of 
his  own  merit,  as  because  he  has  known  how  to  become  the  representative  of 
ideas  previously  diffused  in  society,  but  floating  about  in  a  state  of  uncertainty; 
and  yet  his  name  recalls  a  vast  history,  of  which  he  is  the  personification.  The 
publication  of  Bayle's  work  may  be  regarded  as  the  solemn  inauguration  of  the 
chair  of  infidelity  in  Europe.  The  sophists  of  the  eighteenth  century  found  at 
hand  an  abundant  repository  of  facts  and  arguments ;  but  to  render  the  thing 
complete,  there  was  wanting  a  hatod  capable  of  retouching  the  old  paintings,  of 
restoring  their  faded  colors,  and  of  shedding  over  all  the  charms  of  imagination 
and  the  refinement  of  wit ;  there  was  wanting  a  guide  to  lead  mankind  by  a 
flowery  path  to  the  borders  of  the  abyss.  Scarcely  had  Bayle  descended  into 
the  tomb,  when  there  appeared  above  the  literary  horizon  a  young  man,  whose 
great  talents  were  equalled  by  his  malice  and  audacity ;  Voltaire. 

It  was  necessary  to  draw  the  reader's  attention  to  the  period  which  I  have 
just  described,  to  show  him  how  great  was  the  influence  exercised  by  Protest- 
antism in  producing  and  establishing  in  Europe  the  irreligion,  atheism,  and 
fatal  indifference  which  have  caused  so  many  evils  in  modern  society.  I  do  not 
mean  to  charge  all  Protestants  with  impiety ;  and  I  willingly  acknowledge  the 
sincerity  and  firmness  of  many  of  their  most  illustrious  men,  in  struggling 
against  the  progress  of  irreligion.  I  am  not  ignorant  that  men  sometimes 
adopt  a  principle  and  repudiate  its  consequences,  and  that  it  would,  therefore, 
be  very  unjust  to  class  them  with  those  who  openly  accept  those  consequences; 
but  on  the  other  hand,  however  painful  it  may  be  to  Protestants  to  avow  that 
their  system  leads  to  atheism,  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact  which  cannot  be  denied. 
All  that  they  can  claim  of  me  on  this  point  is,  not  to  criminate  their  intentions ; 


64  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

after  that,  they  cannot  complain  if,  guided  by  the  instructions  of  history  and 
philosophy,  I  develope  their  fundamental  principle  to  the  fullest  extent. 

It  would  be  useless  to  sketch,  even  in  the  most  rapid  manner,  what  has 
passed  in  Europe  since  the  appearance  of  Voltaire :  the  events  are  so  recent, 
and  have  been  so  often  discussed,  that  all  that  I  could  say  would  be  only  a  useless 
repetition.  I  shall  better  attain  my  object  by  offering  some  remarks  on  the 
actual  state  of  religion  in  Protestant  countries.  Amid  so  many  revolutions,  and 
when  so  many  heads  were  turned  j  when  all  the  foundations  of  society  were 
shaken,  and  the  strongest  institutions  were  torn  out  of  the  soil  in  which  they 
had  been  so  deeply  rooted ;  when  even  Catholic  truth  itself  could  not  have  been 
sustained  without  the  manifest  aid  of  the  arm  of  the  Most  High,  we  may  ima- 
gine the  fate  of  the  fragile  edifice  of  Protestantism,  exposed,  like  all  the  rest,  to 
so  many  and  such  violent  attacks.  No  one  is  ignorant  of  the  numberless  sects 
which  abound  in  Great  Britain,  of  the  deplorable  condition  of  faith  among  the 
Swiss  Protestants,  even  on  the  most  important  points.  That  there  might  be  no 
doubt  as  to  the  real  state  of  the  Protestant  religion  in  Germany,  that  is,  in  its 
native  country,  where  it  was  first  established  as  in  its  dearest  patrimony,  the 
Protestant  minister,  Baron  Starck,  has  taken  care  to  tell  us,  that  "  in  Germany 
there  is  not  one  single  point  of  Christian  faith  which  has  not  leen  openly  attacked 
by  the  Protestant  ministers  themselves."  The  real  state  of  Protestantism  appears 
to  me  to  be  truly  and  forcibly  depicted  by  a  curious  idea  of  J.  Heyer,  a  Pro- 
testant minister.  Heyer  published,  in  1818,  a  work  entitled  Coup  ct'oeil  sur  les 
Confessions  de  Foi;  not  knowing  how  to  get  out  of  the  difficulty  in  which  all 
Protestants  found  themselves  placed  when  they  had  to  choose  a  symbol,  he  pro- 
posed the  simple  expedient  of  getting  rid  of  all  symbols. 

The  only  way  that  Protestantism  has  of  preserving  itself,  is  to  violate  as  much 
as  possible  its  own  fundamental  principle,  by  withdrawing  the  right  of  private 
judgment,  inducing  the  people  to  remain  faithful  to  the  opinions  in  which  they 
have  been  educated,  and  carefully  concealing  from  them  the  inconsistency  into 
which  they  fall,  when  they  submit  to  the  authority  of  a  private  individual,  after 
having  rejected  the  authority  of  the  Catholic  church.  But  things  are  not  taking 
this  course ;  and  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  some  Protestants  to  follow  it,  Bible 
Societies,  working  with  a  zeal  worthy  of  a  better  cause,  in  promoting  among  all 
classes  the  private  interpretation  of  the  Bible,  would  suffice  to  keep  alive  always 
the  spirit  of  inquiry.  This  diffusion  of  the  Bible  operates  as  a  constant  appeal 
to  private  judgment,  which,  after  perhaps  causing  many  days  of  sorrow  and 
mourning  to  society,  will  eventually  destroy  the  remains  of  Protestantism.  All 
this  has  not  escaped  the  notice  of  its  disciples;  and  some  of  the  most  remark- 
able among  them  have  raised  their  voices  to  point  out  the  danger.  (13) 


CHAPTER  X. 

CAUSES   OF   THE   CONTINUANCE   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 

AFTER  having  clearly  shown  the  intrinsic  weakness  of  Protestantism,  it  is 
natural  to  ask  this  question :  If  it  be  so  feeble,  owing  to  the  radical  defects  of 
its  constitution,  why  has  it  not  by  this  time  completely  disappeared  ?  If  it  bear 
in  its  own  breast  the  seeds  of  death,  how  has  it  been  able  so  long  to  withstand 
such  powerful  adversaries,  as  Catholicity,  on  the  one  hand,  and  irreligion  or 
Atheism,  on  the  other  ?  In  order  to  resolve  this  question  satisfactorily,  it  is 
necessary  to  consider  Protestantism  in  two  points  of  view;  as  embodying  a 
fixed  creed,  and  as  expressing  a  number  of  sects,  who,  in  spite  of  their  numerous 
mutual  differences,  agree  in  calling  themselves  Christians,  and  preserve  a 
shadow  of  Christianity,  although  they  reject  the  authority  of  the  Church.  It 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  65 

is  necessary  to  consider  Protestantism  in  this  double  point  of  view,  since  its 
founders,  while  endeavoring  to  destroy  the  authority  and  dogmas  of  the  Roman 
Church,  were  compelled  to  form  a  system  of  doctrines  to  serve  as  a  symbol  for 
their  followers.  Considered  in  the  first  aspect,  it  has  almost  entirely  disap- 
peared j  we  should  rather  say  it  scarcely  ever  had  existence.  This  truth  is 
sufficiently  evident  from  what  I  have  said  of  the  variations  and  actual  condition 
of  Protestantism  in  the  various  countries  of  Europe ;  time  has  shown  how  much 
the  pretended  Reformers  were  deceived,  when  they  fancied  that  they  could  fix 
the  columns  of  Hercules  of  the  human  mind,  to  repeat  the  expression  of  Ma- 
dame de  Stael. 

Who  now  defends  the  doctrines  of  Luther  and  Calvin  ?  Who  respects  the 
limits  which  they  prescribed  ?  What  Protestant  Church  distinguishes  itself  by 
the  ardor  of  its  zeal  in  preserving  any  particular  dogmas  ?  What  Protestant 
now  holds  the  divine  mission  of  Luther,  or  believes  the  Pope  to  be  Antichrist  ? 
Who  watches  over  the  purity  of  doctrine,  and  points  out  errors  ?  Who  opposes 
the  torrent  of  sectarianism  ? 

Do  we  find,  in  their  writings,  or  in  their  discourses,  the  energetic  tones  of 
conviction,  or  the  zeal  of  truth  ?  In  fine,  what  a  wide  difference  do  we  find 
when  we  compare  the  Protestant  Church  with  the  Catholic !  Inquire  into  the 
faith  of  the  latter,  and  you  will  hear  from  the  mouth  of  Gregory  XVI.,  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter,  the  same  that  Luther  heard  from  Leo  X.  Compare  the 
doctrine  of  Leo  X.  with  that  of  his  predecessors,  you  will  always  find  it  the 
same  up  to  the  Apostles,  and  to  Jesus  Christ  himself.  If  you  attempt  to  assail 
.a  dogma,  if  you  try  to  attack  the  purity  of  morals,  the  voice  of  the  ancient 
Fathers  will  denounce  your  errors,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 
you  will  imagine  that  the  old  Leos  and  Gregories  are  risen  from  the  tomb.  If 
your  intentions  are  good,  you  will  find  indulgence ;  if  your  merits  are  great,  you 
will  be  treated  with  respect ;  if  you  occupy  an  elevated  position  in  the  world, 
you  will  have  attention  paid  to  you.  But  if  you  attempt  to  abuse  your  talents 
by  introducing  novelty  in  doctrine ;  if,  by  your  power,  you  aspire  to  demand  a 
modification  of  faith ;  and  if,  to  avoid  troubles  or  prevent  schism,  or  conciliate 
any  one,  you  ask  for  a  compromise  or  even  an  ambiguous  explanation;  the 
answer  of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter  will  be,  "  Never !  faith  is  a  sacred  deposit 
which  we  cannot  alter ;  truth  is  immutable ;  it  is  one :"  and  to  this  reply  of 
the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  with  a  word  will  banish  all  your  hopes,  will 
be  added  those  of  the  modern  Athanasiuses,  Gregories  of  Nazianzen,  Ambroses, 
Jeromes,  and  Augustins.  Always  the  same  firmness  in  the  same  faith,  the 
same  unchangeableness,  the  sanos  energy  in  preserving  the  sacred  deposit  intact, 
in  defending  it  against  the  attacks  of  error,  in  teaching  it  to  the  faithful  in  all 
its  purity,  and  in  transmitting  it  unaltered  to  future  generations.  Will  it  be 
said  that  this  is  obstinacy,  blindness,  and  fanaticism  ?  But,  eighteen  centuries 
gone  by,  the  revolutions  of  empires,  the  most  fearful  catastrophes,  an  infinite 
variety  of  ideas  and  manners,  the  most  severe  persecutions,  the  darkness  of 
ignorance,  the  conflicts  of  passion,  the  lights  of  knowledge, — none  of  these 
have  been  able  to  enlighten  this  blindness,  to  bend  this  obstinacy,  or  extinguish 
this  fanaticism.  Certainly  a  reflecting  Protestant,  one  of  those  who  know  how 
to  rise  above  the  prejudices  of  education,  when  fixing  his  eyes  on  this  picture, 
the  truth  of  which  he  cannot  but  acknowledge,  if  he  is  well  informed  on  the 
question,  will  feel  strong  doubts  arise  within  him  as  to  the  truth  of  the  instruc- 
tion he  has  received ;  he  will  at  least  feel  a  desire  of  examining  more  closely 
this  great  prodigy  which  the  Catholic  Church  presents  to  us.  But  to  return. 

We  see  the  Protestant  sects  melting  away  daily,  and  this  dissolution  must 
constantly  increase ;  nevertheless,  we  have  no  reason  to  be  astonished  that 
Protestantism,  inasmuch  as  it  consists  of  a  number  of  sects  who  preserve  the 
name  and  some  remains  of  Christianity,  does  not  wholly  disappear ;  for  how 


66  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

could  it  disappear  ?  Either  Protestant  nations  must  be  completely  swallowed 
up  by  irreligion  or  atheism,  or  they  must  give  up  Christianity  and  adopt  one 
of  the  religions  which  are  established  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  Now  both 
these  suppositions  are  impossible ;  therefore  this  false  form  of  Christianity  has 
been  and  will  be  preserved,  in  some  shape  or  other,  until  Protestants  return  to 
the  bosom  of  the  Church. 

Let  us  develope  these  ideas.  Why  cannot  Protestant  nations  be  completely 
swallowed  up  by  irreligion  and  atheism,  or  indifference  ?  Because  such  a  mis- 
fortune may  happen  to  an  individual,  but  not  to  a  nation.  By  means  of  false 
books,  erroneous  reasonings,  and  continual  efforts,  some  individuals  may  extin- 
guish the  lively  sentiments  of  their  hearts,  stifle  the  voice  of  conscience,  and 
trample  under  foot  the  dictates  of  common  sense ;  but  a  nation  cannot  do  so. 
A  people  always  preserves  a  large  fund  of  candor  and  docility,  which,  amid  the 
most  fatal  errors  and  even  the  most  atrocious  crimes,  compels  it  to  lend  an 
attentive  ear  to  the  inspirations  of  nature.  Whatever  may  be  the  corruption  of 
morals,  whatever  may  be  the  errors  of  opinion,  there  will  never  be  more  than  a 
small  number  of  men  found  capable  of  struggling  for  a  long  time  against  them- 
selves, in  the  attempt  to  eradicate  from  their  hearts  that  fruitful  germ  of  good 
feelings,  that  precious  seed  of  virtuous  thoughts,  with  which  the  beneficent 
hand  of  the  Creator  has  enriched  our  souls.  The  conflagration  of  the  passions, 
it  is  true,  produces  lamentable  prostration,  and  sometimes  terrible  explosions ; 
but  when  the  fire  is  extinguished,  man  returns  to  himself,  and  his  mind  be- 
comes again  accessible  to  the  voice  of  reason  and  virtue.  An  attentive  study 
of  society  proves  that  the  number  of  men  is  happily  very  small  who  are,  as  it 
were,  steeled  against  truth  and  virtue ;  who  reply  with  frivolous  sophistry  to 
the  admonitions  of  good  sense ;  who  oppose  with  cold  stoicism  the  sweetest  and 
most  generous  inspirations  of  nature,  and  venture  to  display,  as  an  illustration 
of  philosophy,  firmness,  and  elevation  of  mind,  the  ignorance,  obstinacy,  and 
barrenness  of  an  icy  heart.  The  generality  of  mankind,  more  simple,  more 
candid,  more  natural,  are  consequently  ill-suited  to  a  system  of  atheism,  or  in- 
difference. Such  a  system  may  take  possession  of  the  proud  mind  of  a  learned 
visionary ;  it  may  be  adopted,  as  a  convenient  opinion,  by  dissipated  youth ;  and 
in  times  of  agitation,  it  may  influence  a  few  fiery  spirits ;  but  it  will  never  be 
able  to  establish  itself  in  society  as  a  normal  condition. 

No,  by  no  means.  An  individual  may  be  irreligious,  but  families  and  society 
never  will.  Without  a  basis  on  which  the  social  edifice  must  rest ;  without  a 
great  creative  idea,  whence  will  flow  the  ideas  of  reason,  virtue,  justice,  obliga- 
tion, and  right,  which  are  as  necessary  to  the  existence  and  preservation  of 
society  as  blood  and  nourishment  are  to  the  life  of  the  individual,  society  would 
be  destroyed ;  without  the  sweet  ties  by  which  religious  ideas  unite  together  the 
members  of  a  family,  without  the  heavenly  harmony  which  they  infuse  into  all 
its  connections,  the  family  would  cease  to  exist,  or  at  least  would  be  only  a 
rude  and  transient  union,  resembling  the  intercourse  of  animals.  Grod  has 
happily  gifted  all  his  creatures  with  a  marvellous  instinct  of  self-preservation. 
Guided  by  that  instinct,  families  and  society  repudiate  with  indignation  those 
degrading  ideas  which,  blasting  by  their  fatal  breath  all  the  germs  of  life, 
breaking  all  ties,  upsetting  all  laws,  make  both  of  them  retrograde  towards  the 
most  abject  barbarism,  and  finish  by  scattering  their  members  like  dust  before 
the  wind. 

The  repeated  lessons  of  experience  ought  to  have  convinced  certain  philoso- 
phers that  these  ideas  and  feelings,  engraven  on  the  heart  of  man  by  the  finger 
of  the  Author  of  nature,  cannot  be  eradicated  by  declamation  or  sophistry.  If 
a  few  ephemeral  triumphs  have  occasionally  flattered  their  pride,  and  made  them 
conceive  false  hopes  of  the  result  of  their  efforts,  the  course  of  events  has  soon 
shown  them,  that  to  pride  themselves  on  these  triumphs  was  to  act  like  a  man 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  67 

who,  on  account  of  having  succeeded  in  infusing  unnatural  sentiments  into  the 
hearts  of  a  few  mothers,  would  flatter  himself  that  he  has  banished  maternal 
love  from  the  world.  Society  (I  do  not  mean  the  populace  or  the  commonalty) 
— society  will  be  religious,  even  at  the  risk  of  being  superstitious ;  if  it  does 
not  believe  in  reasonable  things,  it  will  in  extravagant  ones ;  and  if  it  have  not 
a  divine  religion,  it  will  have  a  human  one :  to  suppose  the  contrary,  is  to 
dream;  to  struggle  against  this  tendency,  is  to  struggle  against  an  eternal  law; 
to  attempt  to  restrain  it,  is  to  attempt  to  restrain  with  a  weak  arm  a  body 
launched  with  an  immense  force — the  arm  will  be  destroyed,  but  the  body  will 
continue  its  course.  Men  may  call  this  superstition,  fanaticism,  the  result  of 
error ;  but  to  talk  thus  can  only  serve  to  console  them  for  their  failure. 

Since,  then,  religion  is  a  real  necessity,  we  have  therein  an  explanation  of  the 
phenomenon  which  history  and  experience  present  to  us,  namely,  that  religion 
never  wholly  disappears,  and  that  when  changes  take  place,  the  two  rival  reli- 
gions, during  their  struggles,  more  or  less  protracted,  occupy  successively  the 
same  ground.  The  consequence  is,  that  Protestantism  cannot  entirely  disappear 
unless  another  religion  takes  its  place.  Now,  as  in  the  actual  state  of  civiliza- 
tion, no  religion  can  replace  it  but  the  Catholic,  it  is  evident  that  Protestant 
sects  will  continue  to  occupy,  with  more  or  less  variation,  the  countries  which 
they  have  gained. 

Indeed,  how  is  it  possible,  in  the  present  state  of  civilization  among  Protest- 
ant nations,  that  the  follies  of  the  Koran,  or  the  absurdities  of  idolatry,  should 
have  any  chance  of  success  among  them  ?  The  spirit  of  Christianity  circu- 
lates in  the  veins  of  modern  society ;  its  seal  is  set  upon  all  legislation ;  its 
light  is  shed  upon  all  branches  of  knowledge ;  its  phraseology  is  found  in  all 
languages ;  its  precepts  regulate  morals ;  habits  and  manners  have  assumed  its 
form ;  the  fine  arts  breathe  its  perfume,  and  all  the  monuments  of  genius  are 
full  of  its  inspirations.  Christianity,  in  a  word,  pervades  all  parts  of  that  great, 
varied,  and  fertile  civilization,  which  is  the  glory  of  modern  society.  How 
then,  is  it  possible  for  a  religion  entirely  to  disappear  which  possesses,  with  the 
most  venerable  antiquity,  so  many  claims  to  gratitude,  so  many  endearing  ties, 
and  so  many  glorious  recollections  ?  How  could  it  give  place,  among  Christian 
nations,  to  one  of  those  religions  which,  at  the  first  glance,  show  the  finger  of 
man,  and  indicate,  as  their  distinctive  mark,  degradation  and  debasement  ? 
Although  the  essential  principle  of  Protestantism  saps  the  foundations  of  the 
Christian  religion,  although  it  disfigures  its  beauty,  and  lowers  its  sublimity, 
yet  the  remains  which  it  preserves  of  Christianity,  its  idea  of  God,  and  its 
maxims  of  morality,  raise  it  far  above  all  the  systems  of  philosophy,  and  all 
the  other  religions  of  the  world. 

If,  then,  Protestantism  has  preserved  some  shadow  of  the  Christian  religion, 
it  was  because,  looking  at  the  condition  of  the  nations  who  took  part  in  the 
schism,  it  was  impossible  for  the  Christian  name  wholly  to  disappear;  and  not 
on  account  of  any  principle  of  life  contained  in  the  bosom  of  the  pretended 
Reformation.  On  the  other  hand,  consider  the  efforts  of  politicians,  the  natural 
attachment  of  ministers  to  their  own  interests,  the  illusions  of  pride  which  flat- 
ter men  with  the  freedom  they  will  enjoy  in  the  absence  of  all  authority,  the 
remains  of  old  prejudices,  the  power  of  education,  and  such  like  causes,  and  you 
will  find  a  complete  solution  of  the  question.  Then  you  will  no  longer  be  sur- 
prised that  Protestantism  continues  to  retain  possession  of  many  of  those  coun- 
tries where  it  unfortunately  became  deeply  rooted. 


68 
CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    POSITIVE    DOCTRINES    OF  PROTESTANTISM   REPUGNANT   TO   THE 
INSTINCT   OF   CIVILIZATION. 

THE  best  proof  of  the  extreme  weakness  of  Protestantism,  considered  as  a 
body  of  doctrine,  is  the  little  influence  which  its  positive  doctrines  have  exer- 
cised in  European  civilization.  I  call  its  positive  doctrines  those  which  it 
attempts  to  establish  as  its  own ;  and  I  distinguish  them  thus  from  its  other 
doctrines,  which  I  call  negative,  because  they  are  nothing  but  the  negation  of 
authority.  The  latter  found  favor  on  account  of  their  conformity  with  the 
inconstancy  and  changeableness  of  the  human  mind ;  but  the  others,  which  have 
not  the  same  means  of  success,  have  all  disappeared  with  their  authors,  and  are 
now  plunged  in  oblivion.  The  only  part  of  Christianity  which  has  been  pre- 
served among  Protestants,  is  that  which  was  necessary  to  prevent  European 
civilization  from  losing  among  them  its  nature  and  character ;  and  this  is  the 
reason  why  the  doctrines  which  had  too  direct  a  tendency  to  alter  the  nature 
of  this  civilization  have  been  repudiated,  we  should  rather  say,  despised  by  it. 

There  is  a  circumstance  here  well  worthy  of  attention,  and  which  has  not 
perhaps  been  noticed,  viz.  the  fate  of  the  doctrine  held  by  the  first  reformers 
with  respect  to  free-will.  It  is  well  known  that  one  of  the  first  and  most  im- 
portant errors  of  Luther  and  Calvin  consisted  in  denying  free-will.  We  find 
this  fatal  doctrine  professed  in  the  works  which  they  have  left  us.  Does  it  not 
seem  that  this  doctrine  ought  to  have  preserved  its  credit  among  the  Protestants, 
and  that  they  ought  to  have  fiercely  maintained  it,  since  such  is  commonly  the 
case  with  errors  which  serve  as  a  nucleus  in  the  formation  of  a  sect  ?  It  seems, 
also,  that  Protestantism  being  widely  spread,  and  deeply  rooted  in  several 
countries  of  Europe,  this  fatalist  doctrine  ought  to  have  exercised  a  strong  influ- 
ence on  the  legislation  of  Protestant  nations.  Wonderful  as  it  is,  such  has  not 
been  the  case ;  European  moralists  have  despised  it ;  legislation  has  not  adopted 
it  as  a  basis ;  civilization  has  not  allowed  itself  to  be  directed  by  a  principle 
which  sapped  all  the  foundations  of  morality,  and  which,  if  once  applied  to 
morals  and  laws,  would  have  substituted  for  European  civilization  and  dignity 
the  barbarism  and  debasement  of  Mahometanism. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  fatal  doctrine  has  perverted  some  individuals ;  it 
has  been  adopted  by  sects  more  or  less  numerous ;  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
it  has  affected  the  morality  of  some  nations.  But  it  is  also  certain,  that,  in  the 
generality  of  the  great  human  family,  governments,  tribunals,  administration, 
legislation,  science,  and  morals,  have  not  listened  to  this  horrible  doctrine  of 
Luther, — a  doctrine  which  strips  man  of  his  free  will,  which  makes  God  the 
author  of  sin,  which  charges  the  Creator  with  the  responsibility  of  all  the 
crimes  of  His  creatures,  and  represents  Him  as  a  tyrant,  by  affirming  that  His 
precepts  are  impossible ;  a  doctrine  which  monstrously  confounds  the  ideas  of 
good  and  evil,  and  removes  all  stimulus  to  good  deeds,  by  teaching  that  faith 
is  sufficient  for  salvation,  and  that  all  the  good  works  of  the  just  are  only  sins. 

Public  opinion,  good  sense,  and  morality  here  side  with  Catholicity.  Those 
even  who  in  theory  embrace  these  fatal  religious  doctrines,  usually  reject  them 
in  practice ;  this  is  because  Catholic  instruction  on  these  important  points  has 
made  so  deep  an  impression  on  them ;  because  so  strong  an  instinct  of  civiliza- 
tion has  been  communicated  to  European  society  by  the  Catholic  religion. 
Thus  the  Church,  by  repudiating  the  destructive  errors  taught  by  Protestantism, 
preserved  society  from  being  debased  by  these  fatalist  doctrines.  The  Church 
formed  a  barrier  against  the  despotism  which  is  enthroned  wherever  the  sense 
of  dignity  is  lost;  she  was  a  fence  against  the  demoralization  which  always 
spreads  whenever  men  think  themselves  bound  by  blind  necessity,  as  by  an 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  69 

iron  chain ;  she  also  freed  the  human  mind  from  the  state  of  abjection  into 
which  it  falls  whenever  it  thinks  itself  deprived  of  the  government  of  its  own 
conduct,  and  of  the  power  of  influencing  the  course  of  events.  In  condemning 
those  errors  of  Luther,  which  were  the  bond  of  Protestantism  at  its  birth,  the 
Pope  raised  the  alarm  against  an  irruption  of  barbarism  into  the  order  of  ideas ; 
he  saved  morality,  laws,  public  order,  and  society;  the  Vatican,  by  securing 
the  noble  sentiment  of  liberty  in  the  sanctuary  of  conscience,  preserved  the 
dignity  of  man ;  by  struggling  against  Protestant  ideas,  by  defending  the  sacred 
deposit  confided  to  it  by  its  Divine  Master,  the  Roman  See  became  the  tutelary 
divinity  of  future  civilization. 

Reflect  on  these  great  truths,  understand  them  thoroughly,  you  who  speak 
of  religious  disputes  with  cold  indifference,  with  apparent  mockery  and  pity,  as 
if  they  were  only  scholastic  puerilities.  Nations  do  not  live  on  bread  alone; 
they  live  also  on  ideas,  on  maxims,  which,  converted  into  spiritual  aliment,  give 
them  greatness,  strength,  and  energy,  or,  on  the  contrary,  weaken  them,  reduce 
them,  and  condemn  them  to  stupidity.  Look  over  the  face  of  the  globe,  examine 
the  periods  of  human  history,  compare  times  with  times,  and  nations  with 
nations,  and  you  will  see  that  the  Church,  by  giving  so  much  importance  to  the 
preservation  of  these  transcendent  truths,  by  accepting  no  compromise  on  this 
point,  has  understood  and  realized  better  than  any  other  teacher,  the  elevated 
and  salutary  maxim,  that  truth  ought  to  reign  in  the  world  \  that  on  the  order 
of  ideas  depends  the  order  of  events,  and  that  when  these  great  problems  are 
called  in  question,  the  destinies  of  humanity  are  involved. 

Let  us  recapitulate  what  we  have  said ;  the  essential  principle  of  Protestantism 
is  one  of  destruction ;  this  is  the  cause  of  its  incessant  variations,  of  its  dissolu- 
tion and  annihilation.  As  a  particular  religion  it  no  longer  exists,  for  it  has  no 
peculiar  faith,  no  positive  character,  no  government,  nothing  that  is  essential  to 
form  an  existence ;  Protestantism  is  only  a  negative.  If  there  is  any  thing  to 
be  found  in  it  of  a  positive  nature,  it  is  nothing  more  than  vestiges  and  ruins ; 
all  is  without  force,  without  action,  without  the  spirit  of  life.  It  cannot  show 
an  edifice  raised  by  its  own  hands;  it  cannot,  like  Catholicity,  stand  in  the 
midst  of  its  vast  works  and  say,  "  These  are  mine."  Protestantism  can  only  sit 
down  on  a  heap  of  ruins,  and  say  with  truth,  "  I  have  made  this  pile." 

As  long  as  sectarian  fanaticism  lasted,  as  long  as  this  flame,  enkindled  by 
furious  declamation,  was  kept  alive  by  unhappy  circumstances,  Protestantism 
showed  a  certain  degree  of  force,  which,  although  it  was  not  the  sign  of  vigor- 
ous life,  at  least  indicated  the  convulsive  energy  of  delirium.  But  that  period 
has  passed,  the  action  of  times  has  dispersed  the  elements  that  fed  the  flame, 
and  none  of  the  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  give  to  the  Reformation  the 
character  of  a  work  of  Grod,  have  been  able  to  conceal  the  fact  that  it  was  the 
work  of  human  passions.  Let  us  not  be  deceived  by  the  efforts  which  are  now 
being  made ;  what  is  acting  under  our  eyes  is  not  living  Protestantism,  it  is  the 
operation  of  false  philosophy,  perhaps  of  policy,  sometimes  of  sordid  interest 
disguised  under  the  name  of  policy.  Every  one  knows  now  powerful  Protest- 
antism was  in  exciting  disturbances  and  causing  disunion.  It  is  on  this  account 
that  evil-minded  men  search  in  the  bed  of  this  exhausted  torrent  for  some 
remains  of  its  impure  waters,  and  knowing  them  to  contain  a  deadly  poison, 
present  them  to  the  unsuspecting  in  a  golden  cup. 

But  it  is  in  vain  for  weak  man  to  struggle  against  the  arm  of  the  Almighty, 
God  will  not  abandon  His  work.  Notwithstanding  all  his  attempts  to  deface 
the  work  of  Grod,  man  cannot  blot  out  the  eternal  characters  which  distinguish 
truth  from  error.  Truth  in  itself  is  strong  and  robust :  as  it  is  the  ensemble 
of  the  relations  which  unite  things  together,  it  is  strongly  connected  with  them, 
and  cannot  be  separated  either  by  the  efforts  of  man  or  by  the  revolution  of 
time.  Error,  on  the  contrary,  the  lying  image  of  the  great  ties  which  bind  to- 


70  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

gether  the  compact  mass  of  the  universe,  stretches  over  its  usurped  domain  like 
those  dead  branches  of  the  forest  which,  devoid  of  sap,  afford  neither  freshness 
nor  verdure,  and  only  serve  to  impede  the  advance  of  the  traveller. 

Confiding  men,  do  not  allow  yourselves  to  be  seduced  by  brilliant  appear- 
ances, pompous  discourse,  or  false  activity.  Truth  is  open,  modest,  without 
suspicion,  because  it  is  pure  and  strong ;  error  is  hypocritical  and  ostentatious, 
because  it  is  false  and  weak.  Truth  resembles  a  woman  of  real  beauty,  who, 
conscious  of  her  charms,  despises  the  affectation  of  ornament;  error,  on  the 
contrary,  paints  and  ornaments  herself,  because  she  is  ugly,  without  expression, 
without  grace,  without  dignity.  Perhaps  you  may  be  pleased  with  its  laborious 
activity.  Know,  then,  that  it  has  no  strength  but  when  it  is  the  rallying  cry  of 
a  faction ;  then,  indeed,  it  is  rapid  in  action  and  fertile  in  violent  measures.  It 
is  like  the  meteor  which  explodes  and  vanishes,  leaving  behind  it  nothing  but 
darkness,  death,  and  destruction ;  truth,  on  the  contrary,  like  the  sun,  sends 
forth  its  bright  and  steady  beams,  fertilizes  with  its  genial  warmth,  and  sheds  on 
every  side  life,  joy,  and  beauty. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   EFFECTS   WHICH   THE   INTRODUCTION   OF   PROTESTANTISM   INTO 
SPAIN   WOULD   HAVE    PRODUCED. 

IN  order  to  judge  of  the  real  effect  which  the  introduction  of  Protestant 
doctrines  would  have  had  in  Spain,  we  shall  do  well,  in  the  first  place,  to  take  a 
survey  of  the  present  state  of  religion  in  Europe.  In  spite  of  the  confusion  of 
ideas  which  is  one  of  the  prevailing  characteristics  of  the  age,  it  is  undeniable 
that  the  spirit  of  infidelity  and  irreligion  has  lost  much  of  its  strength,  and  that 
where  it  still  exists  it  has  merged  into  indifference,  instead  of  preserving  its 
systematic  form  of  the  last  century.  With  the  lapse  of  time  declamation 
ceases ;  men  grow  tired  of  continually  repeating  the  same  insulting  language : 
their  minds  resist  the  intolerance  and  bad  faith  of  sects ;  systems  betray  their 
emptiness,  opinions  their  erroneousness,  judgments  their  precipitation,  and  rea- 
sonings their  want  of  exactitude.  Time  shows  their  counterfeit  intentions,  their 
deceptive  statements,  the  littleness  of  their  ideas,  and  the  mischievousness  of 
their  projects;  truth  begins  to  recover  its  empire,  things  regain  their  real  names, 
and,  thanks  to  the  new  direction  of  the  public  mind,  that  which  before  was  con- 
sidered innocent  and  generous  is  now  looked  upon  as  criminal  and  vile.  The 
deceitful  masks  are  taken  off,  and  falsehood  is  discovered  surrounded  by  the  dis- 
credit which  ought  always  to  have  accompanied  it. 

Irreligious  ideas,  like  all  those  which  are  prevalent  in  an  advanced  state  of 
society,  would  not,  and  could  not  be  confined  to  mere  speculation ;  they  invaded 
the  domain  of  practice,  and  labored  to  gain  the  upper  hand  in  all  branches  of 
administration  and  politics.  But  the  revolution  which  they  produced  in  society 
became  fatal  to  themselves ;  for  there  is  nothing  which  better  exposes  the  faults 
and  errors  of  a  system,  and  undeceives  men  on  the  subject,  than  the  touchstone 
of  experience.  There  is  in  our  minds  a  certain  power  of  viewing  an  object 
under  a  variety  of  aspects,  and  an  unfortunate  aptitude  for  supporting  the  most 
extravagant  proposition  by  a  multitude  of  sophisms.  In  mere  disputation,  it  is 
difficult  for  the  most  reasoning  minds  to  keep  clear  of  the  snares  of  sophistry. 
But  when  we  come  to  experience,  it  is  otherwise ;  the  mind  is  silent,  and  facts 
speak ;  and  if  the  experience  has  been  on  a  large  scale,  and  applied  to  objects 
of  great  interest  and  importance,  it  is  difficult  for  the  most  specious  arguments 
to  counteract  the  convincing  eloquence  of  the  result.  Hence  it  is  that  a  man 
of  much  experience  obtains  an  instinct  so  sure  and  delicate,  that  when  a  system 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY.  71 

is  but  explained  he  can  point  out  all  its  inconveniences.  Inexperience,  pre- 
sumptuous and  prejudiced,  appeals  to  argument  in  support  of  its  doctrines;  but 
good  sense,  that  precious  and  inestimable  quality,  shakes  its  head,  shrugs  its 
shoulders,  and  with  a  tranquil  smile  leaves  its  prediction  to  be  tested  by  time. 

It  is  not  necessary  now  to  insist  on  the  practical  results  of  those  doctrines  of 
•which  infidelity  was  the  motto ;  we  have  said  enough  on  that  subject.  Sumce 
it  to  say,  that  those  same  men  who  seem  to  belong  to  the  last  century  by  their 
principles,  interests,  recollections,  or  for  other  reasons,  have  been  obliged  to 
modify  their  doctrines,  to  limit  their  principles,  to  palliate  their  propositions,  to 
cool  the  warmth  and  passion  of  their  invectives;  and  when  they  wish  to  give  a 
mark  of  their  esteem  and  veneration  for  those  writers  who  were  the  delight  of 
their  youth,  they  are  compelled  to  declare  "  that  those  men  were  great  philoso- 
phers, but  philosophers  of  the  cabinet;"  as  if  in  reality  what  they  call  the 
knowledge  of  the  cabinet  was  not  the  most  dangerous  ignorance. 

It  is  certain  that  these  attempts  have  had  the  effect  of  throwing  discredit  on 
irreligion  as  a  system.  If  people  do  not  regard  it  with  horror,  at  least  they 
look  upon  it  with  mistrust.  Irreligion  has  labored  in  all  the  branches  of  science, 
in  the  vain  hope  that  the  heavens  would  cease  to  relate  the  glories  of  God,  that 
the  earth  would  disown  Him  who  laid  its  foundations,  and  that  all  nature  would 
give  testimony  against  the  Lord  who  gave  it  existence  and  life.  These  same 
labors  have  banished  the  scandalous  division  which  had  begun  between  religion 
and  science ;  so  that  the  ancient  accents  of  the  man  of  Hus  have  again  resounded, 
without  dishonor  to  science,  in  the  mouths  of  men  in  the  nineteenth  century ; 
and  what  shall  we  say  of  the  triumphs  of  religion  in  all  that  is  noble,  tender, 
and  sublime  on  earth  ?  How  grand  are  the  operations  of  Providence  displayed 
therein  !  Admirable  dispensation  !  The  mysterious  hand  which  governs  the 
universe  seems  to  hold  in  reserve  for  every  great  crisis  of  society  an  extraordi- 
nary man.  At  the  proper  moment  this  man  presents  himself;  he  advances, 
himself  ignorant  whither  he  is  going,  but  he  advances  with  a  firm  step  towards 
the  accomplishment  of  the  high  mission  for  which  Providence  has  destined 
him. 

Atheism  was  bathing  France  in  a  sea  of  tears  and  blood ;  an  unknown  man 
silently  traverses  the  ocean.  While  the  violence  of  the  tempest  rends  the  sails 
of  his  vessel,  he  listens  attentively  to  the  hurricane — he  is  lost  in  the  contem- 
plation of  the  majesty  of  the  heavens.  Wandering  in  the  solitudes  of  America, 
he  asks  of  the  wonders  of  creation  the  name  of  their  Author;  the  thunder  on 
the  confines  of  the  desert,  the  low  murmuring  of  the  forests,  and  the  beauties 
of  nature  answer  him  with  canticles  of  love  and  harmony.  The  view  of  a  soli- 
tary cross  reveals  to  him  mysterious  secrets ;  the  traces  of  an  unknown  mis- 
sionary awaken  important  recollections  which  connect  the  new  world  with  the 
old;  a  monument  in  ruins,  the  hut  of  a  savage,  excite  in  his  mind  thoughts 
which  penetrate  to  the  foundations  of  society  and  to  the  heart  of  man.  Intoxi- 
cated with  these  spectacles,  his  mind  full  of  sublime  conceptions,  and  his  heart 
inundated  with  the  charms  of  so  much  beauty,  this  man  returns  to  his  native 
soil.  What  does  he  find  there  ?  The  bloody  traces  of  Atheism ;  the  ruins  and 
ashes  of  ancient  temples  devoured  by  the  flames  or  destroyed  by  violence ;  the 
remains  of  a  multitude  of  innocent  victims,  buried  in  the  graves  which  for- 
merly afforded  an  asylum  to  persecuted  Christians.  He  observes,  however,  that 
something  is  in  agitation;  he  sees  that  religion  is  about  to  redescend  upon 
France,  like  consolation  upon  the  unfortunate,  or  the  breath  of  life  upon  a 
corpse.  From  that  moment  he  hears  on  all  sides  a  concert  of  celestial  har- 
mony ;  the  inspirations  of  meditation  and  solitude  revive  and  ferment  in  his 
great  soul ;  transported  out  of  himself,  and  ravished  into  ecstasy,  he  sings  with 
a  tongue  of  fire  the  glories  of  religion,  he  reveals  the  delicacy  and  beauty  of  the 
relations  between  religion  and  nature,  and  in  surpassing  language  he  points  out 


72  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

to  astonished  men  the  mysterious  golden  chain  which  connects  the  heavens  and 
the  earth.  That  man  was  Chateaubriand. 

It  must,  however,  be  confessed,  that  the  confusion  which  has  been  intro- 
duced into  ideas  cannot  be  corrected  in  a  short  time,  and  that  it  is  not  easy  to 
eradicate  the  deep  traces  of  the  ravages  of  irreligion.  Men's  minds,  it  is  true, 
are  tired  of  the  irreligious  system;  society,  which  had  lost  its  balance,  is 
generally  ill  at  ease ;  the  family  feels  its  ties  relaxed,  and  individuals  sigh  after 
a  ray  of  light,  a  drop  of  hope  and  consolation.  But  where  shall  the  world  find 
the  remedy  which  is  wanting  ?  Will  it  follow  the  best  road — the  only  road  ? 
Will  it  re-enter  the  fold  of  the  Catholic  Church  ?  Alas  !  God  alone  knows  the 
secrets  of  the  future ;  He  alone  has  clearly  unfolded  before  His  eyes  the  great 
events  which  are  no  doubt  awaiting  humanity.  He  alone  knows  what  will  be 
the  result  of  that  activity,  of  that  energy,  which  again  urges  men  to  the  exami- 
nation of  great  political  and  religious  questions ;  and  He  alone  knows  what,  to 
future  generations,  will  be  the  result  of  the  triumphs  obtained  by  religion,  in 
the  fine  arts,  in  literature,  in  science,  in  politics,  in  all  the  operations  carried  on 
by  the  human  mind. 

As  to  us,  carried  away  as  we  are  by  the  rapid  and  precipitate  course  of  revo- 
lution, hardly  have  we  time  to  cast  a  fleeting  glance  upon  the  chaos  in  which 
our  country  is  involved.  What  can  we  confidently  predict  ?  All  that  we  can 
be  sure  of  is,  that  we  are  in  an  age  of  disquietude,  of  agitation,  of  transition ; 
that  the  multiplied  examples  and  warnings  of  so  many  disappointed  expecta- 
tions, the  fruits  of  fearful  revolutions  and  unheard-of  catastrophes,  have  every- 
where thrown  discredit  upon  irreligious  and  disorganizing  doctrines,  without 
having  established  the  legitimate  empire  of  true  religion.  Hearts  sick  of  so 
many  misfortunes  are  willingly  open  to  hope ;  but  minds  are  in  a  state  of  great 
uncertainty  as  to  the  future :  perhaps  they  even  anticipate  a  new  series  of 
calamities.  Owing  to  revolutions,  to  the  efforts  of  industry,  to  the  activity  and 
extension  of  commerce,  to  the  progress  and  prodigious  diffusion  of  printing,  to 
scientific  discoveries,  to  the  ease,  rapidity,  and  universality  of  communication, 
to  the  taste  for  travelling,  to  the  dissolving  action  of  Protestantism,  of  incre- 
dulity, and  skepticism,  the  human  mind  certainly  now  presents  one  of  the  most 
singular  phases  of  its  history.  Reason,  imagination,  and  the  heart  are  in  a  state 
of  agitation,  of  movement,  and  of  extraordinary  development,  and  show  us  at 
the  same  time  the  most  singular  contrasts,  the  most  ridiculous  extravagances, 
and  the  most  absurd  eontradictions.  Observe  the  sciences,  and  you  will  no 
longer  find  those  lengthened  labors,  that  indefatigable  patience,  that  calm  and 
tranquil  progress,  which  characterized  these  studies  at  other  epochs ;  but  you 
will  find  there  a  spirit  of  observation,  and  a  tendency  to  place  questions  in  that 
transcendental  point  of  view  where  may  be  discovered  the  relations  subsisting 
between  them,  the  ties  by  which  they  are  connected,  and  the  way  in  which  they 
throw  light  upon  each  other.  Questions  of  religion,  of  politics,  of  legislation, 
of  morals,  of  government,  are  all  mingled,  stand  prominently  forward,  and  give 
to  the  horizon  of  science  a  grandeur  and  immensity  which  it  did  not  previously 
possess.  This  progress,  this  confusion,  this  chaos,  if  you  like  to  call  it  so,  is  a 
fact  which  must  be  taken  into  account  in  studying  the  spirit  of  the  age,  in 
examining  the  religious  condition  of  the  time ;  for  it  is  not  the  work  of  a  single 
man,  or  the  effect  of  accident ;  it  is  the  result  of  a  multitude  of  causes,  the  fruit 
of  a  great  number  of  facts ;  it  is  an  expression  of  the  present  state  of  intelli- 
gence ]  a  symptom  of  strength  and  disease,  an  announcement  of  change  and  of 
transition,  perhaps  a  sign  of  consolation,  perhaps  a  presage  of  misfortune.  And 
who  has  not  observed  the  fertility  of  imagination  and  unbounded  reach  of 
thought  in  that  literature,  so  various,  so  irregular,  and  so  vague,  but  at  the 
same  time  so  rich  in  fine  images,  in  delicate  feeling,  and  in  bold  and  generous 
thought  ?  You  may  talk  as  much  as  you  please  of  the  debasement  of  science, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  73 


of  the  falling  off  in  study.  You  may  speak  in  a  tone  of  derision  of  the 
of  the  age,  and  turn  with  regret  to  ages  more  studious  and  more  learned;  there 
will  be  some  exaggeration,  truth  and  error,  in  all  this,  as  there  always  is  in 
declamation  of  this  kind ;  but  whatever  may  be  the  degree  of  utility  belonging 
to  the  present  labors  of  the  human  mind,  never,  perhaps,  was  there  a  time  when 
it  displayed  more  activity  and  energy,  never  was  it  agitated  by  a  movement  so 
general,  so  lively,  so  various,  and  never,  perhaps,  did  it  desire,  with  a  more 
excusable  curiosity  and  impatience,  to  raise  a  part  of  the  veil  which  covers  the 
boundless  future.  What  will  be  able  to  govern  elements  so  powerful  and  so 
opposite  ?  What  can  calm  this  tempestuous  sea  ?  What  will  give  the  union, 
the  connection,  the  consistency  necessary  to  form,  out  of  these  repulsive  and 
discordant  elements,  a  whole  compact  and  capable  of  resisting  the  action  of 
time  ?  Will  this  be  done  by  Protestantism,  with  its  fundamental  principle 
which  establishes  and  diffuses  and  sanctions  the  dissolving  principle  of  private 
interpretation  in  matters  of  religion,  and  realizes  this  unhappy  notion  by  circu- 
lating among  all  classes  of  society  copies  of  the  Bible  ? 

Nations  numerous,  proud  of  their  power,  vain  of  their  knowledge,  rendered 
dissipated  by  pleasure,  refined  by  luxury,  continually  exposed  to  the  powerful 
influence  of  the  press,  and  possessing  means  of  communication  which  would 
have  appeared  fabulous  to  their  ancestors ;  nations  in  whom  all  the  violent  pas- 
sions have  an  object,  all  intrigues  an  existence,  all  corruptions  a  veil,  all  crimes 
a  title,  all  errors  an  advocate,  all  interests  a  support ;  nations  which,  warned 
and  deceived,  still  vacillate  in  a  state  of  dreadful  uncertainty  between  truth  and 
falsehood;  sometimes  looking  at  the  torch  of  truth  as  if  they  meant  to  be 
guided  by  its  light,  and  then  again  seduced  by  an  ignis  fatuus ;  sometimes 
making  an  effort  to  rule  the  storm,  and  then  abandoning  themselves  to  its  vio- 
lence ;  modern  nations  show  us  a  picture  as  extraordinary  as  it  is  interesting, 
where  hopes,  fears,  prognostics,  and  conjectures  have  free  scope,  and  nobody 
can  pretend  to  predict  with  accuracy,  and  the  wise  man  must  await  in  silence 
the  denouement  marked  out  in  the  secret  decrees  of  Grod,  where  alone  are  clearly 
written  the  events  of  all  time,  and  the  future  destinies  of  men. 

But  it  may  be  easily  understood  that  Protestantism,  on  account  of  its  essen- 
tially dissolving  nature,  is  incapable  of  producing  any  thing  in  morals  or  reli- 
gion to  increase  the  happiness  of  nations,  for  it  is  impossible  for  this  happiness 
to  exist  as  long  as  men's  minds  are  at  war  on  the  most  important  questions 
which  can  occupy  them. 

When  the  observer,  amid  this  chaos  and  obscurity,  seeks  for  a  ray  of  light 
to  illuminate  the  world — for  a  powerful  principle  capable  of  putting  an  end  to 
so  much  confusion  and  anarchy,  and  of  bringing  back  men's  minds  to  the  path 
of  truth,  Catholicity  immediately  presents  herself  to  him,  as  the  only  source  of 
all  these  benefits.  When  we  consider  with  what  eclat  and  with  what  power 
Catholicity  maintains  herself  against  all  the  unprecedented  attempts  which  are 
made  to  destroy  her,  our  hearts  are  filled  with  hope  and  consolation ;  and  we 
feel  inclined  to  hail  this  divine  religion,  and  to  congratulate  her  on  the  new 
triumph  which  she  is  about  to  achieve  on  earth. 

There  was  a  time  when  Europe,  inundated  by  a  torrent  of  barbarians,  saw  at 
once  overwhelmed  all  the  monuments  of  ancient  civilization  and  refinement. 
Legislators  and  their  laws,  the  empire  and  its  power  and  splendor,  philosophers 
and  the  sciences,  the  arts  and  their  chef-d' oeuvres,  all  disappeared ;  and  those 
immense  regions,  where  had  flourished  all  the  civilization  and  refinement  that 
had  been  gained  during  so  many  ages,  were  suddenly  plunged  into  ignorance 
and  barbarism.  Nevertheless,  the  spark  of  light  which  had  appeared  to  the 
world  in  Palestine,  continued  to  shine  amid  the  chaos  :  in  vain  did  whirlwinds 
threaten  to  extinguish  it;  kept  alive  by  the  breath  of  the  Eternal,  it  continued 
to  shine.  Ages  rolled  away,  and  it  appeared  with  greater  brilliancy;  and 
10  G 


74  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

when,  perchance,  the  nations  only  expected  a  beam  of  light  to  guide  them  in 
the  darkness,  they  found  a  resplendent  sun,  everywhere  diffusing  life  and  light : 
and  who  shall  say  that  there  is  not  reserved  for  her  in  the  secrets  of  the  Eter- 
nal, another  triumph  more  difficult,  but  not  less  useful,  not  less  brilliant  ?  If 
in  other  times  that  religion  instructed  ignorance,  civilized  barbarism,  polished 
rudeness,  softened  ferocity,  and  preserved  society  from  being  always  the  prey 
of  the  fiercest  brutality  and  the  most  degrading  stupidity,  will  it  be  less  glorious 
for  her  to  correct  ideas,  to  harmonize  and  refine  feelings,  to  establish  the  eternal 
principles  of  society,  to  curb  the  passions,  to  remove  animosities,  to  remove  ex- 
cesses, to  govern  all  minds  and  hearts  ?  How  honorable  will  it  be  to  her,  if, 
while  regulating  all  things,  and  unceasingly  stimulating  all  kinds  of  knowledge 
and  improvement,  she  can  inspire  with  a  proper  spirit  of  moderation  that  society 
which  so  many  elements,  devoid  of  central  attraction,  threaten  every  moment 
with  dissolution  and  death  ! 

It  is  not  given  to  man  to  penetrate  the  future ;  but  in  the  same  way  as  the 
physical  world  would  be  broken  up  by  a  terrible  catastrophe,  if  it  were  deprived 
for  a  moment  of  the  fundamental  principle  which  gives  unity,  order,  and  con- 
cert to  the  various  movements  of  the  system ;  in  the  same  way,  if  society,  full 
as  it  is  of  motion,  of  communication,  and  life,  were  hot  placed  under  the  direc- 
tion of  a  constant  and  universal  regulating  principle,  we  could  not  fix  our  eyes 
on  the  lot  of  future  generations  without  the  greatest  alarm. 

There  is,  however,  a  fact  which  is  consoling  in  the  highest  degree,  viz.  the 
wonderful  progress  which  Catholicity  has  made  in  different  countries.  It  is 
gaining  strength  in  France  and  Belgium :  the  obstinacy  with  which  it  is  com- 
bated in  the  north  of  Europe  shows  how  much  it  is  feared.  In  England  its 
progress  has  been  recently  so  great  that  it  would  not  be  credited  without  the 
most  irresistible  evidence ;  and  in  the  foreign  missions  it  has  shown  an  extent 
of  enterprise  and  fruitfulness,  worthy  of  the  time  of  its  greatest  ascendency  and 
power. 

When  other  nations  tend  towards  unity,  shall  we  commit  the  gross  mistake 
of  adopting  schism  ?  at  a  time  when  other  nations  would  be  happy  to  find  within 
their  bosoms  a  vital  principle  capable  of  restoring  the  ppwer  which  incredulity 
has  destroyed,  shall  Spain,  which  preserves  Catholicity,  and  alone  possesses  it 
full  and  complete,  allow  the  germ  of  death  to  be  introduced  into  her  bosom, 
thereby  rendering  impossible  the  cure  of  her  evils,  or  rather  entailing  on  her- 
self complete  and  certain  ruin  ?  Amid  the  moral  regeneration  towards  which 
nations  are  advancing,  seeking  to  quit  the  painful  position  in  which  they  have 
been  placed  by  irreligious  doctrines,  is  it  possible  to  overlook  the  immense  ad- 
vantage which  Spain  still  preserves  over  most  of  them  ?  Spain  is  one  of  those 
least  affected  by  the  gangrene  of  irreligion ;  she  still  preserves  religious  unity, 
that  inestimable  inheritance  of  a  long  line  of  ages.  Is  it  possible  to  overlook 
the  advantage  of  that  unity  if  properly  made  use  of,  that  unity  which  is  mixed 
up  with  all  our  glories,  which  awakens  such  noble  recollections,  and  which  may 
be  made  so  wonderful  an  instrument  in  the  regeneration  of  social  order  ? 

If  I  am  asked  my  opinion  of  the  nearness  of  the  danger,  and  if  I  think  the 
present  attempts  of  Protestants  have  any  probability  of  success,  I  must  draw  a 
distinction  in  my  reply.  Protestantism  is  extremely  weak,  both  on  account  of 
its  own  nature,  and  of  its  age  and  decaying  condition.  In  endeavoring  to  intro- 
duce itself  into  Spain,  it  will  have  to  contend  with  an  adversary  full  of  life  and 
strength,  and  deeply  rooted  in  the  soil.  This  is  the  reason  why  I  think  that 
its  direct  action  is  not  to  be  feared ;  and  yet,  if  it  should  succeed  in  establishing 
itself  in  any  part  of  our  country,  however  limited  may  be  its  domain,  it  is  sure 
to  produce  fearful  results.  It  is  evident  that  we  shall  then  have  in  the  midst 
of  us  a  new  apple  of  discord,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  foresee  that  collisions  will 
frequently  arise.  Protestantism  in  Spain,  besides  its  intrinsic  weakness,  will 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  75 

labor  under  the  disadvantage  of  not  finding  its  natural  aliment.  Hence  it  will 
be  obliged  to  take  advantage  of  any  support  that  is  offered ;  it  will  immediately 
become  the  point  of  reunion  for  the  discontented ;  and  although  failing  in  its 
intended  object,  it  will  succeed  in  becoming  the  nucleus  of  new  parties  and  the 
banner  of  factions.  Scandal,  strife,  demoralization,  troubles,  and  perhaps  catas- 
trophes,— such  will  be  the  immediate  and  infallible  results  of  the  introduction 
of  Protestantism  among  us.  On  this  point  I  appeal  to  the  candid  opinion  of 
every  man  who  is  well  acquainted  with  Spain.  But  this  is  not  all :  the  ques- 
tion is  enlarged,  and  acquires  an  incalculable  importance,  if  we  consider  it  with 
reference  to  foreign  politics.  What  a  lever  will  be  afforded  to  foreigners  for  all 
kinds  of  attempts  in  our  unhappy  country  !  How  gladly  will  those,  who  are 
perhaps  on  the  look-out  for  such  an  aid,  avail  themselves  of  it ! 

There  is  in  Europe  a  nation  remarkable  for  her  immense  power,  and  worthy 
of  respect  on  account  of  the  great  progress  which  she  has  made  in  the  arts  and 
sciences ;  a  nation  that  holds  in  her  hands  powerful  means  of  action  in  all  parts 
of  the  world,  and  knows  how  to  use  them  with  wonderful  discretion  and  saga- 
city. As  that  nation  has  taken  the  lead  in  modern  times  in  passing  through 
all  the  phases  of  political  and  religious  revolution,  and  has  seen,  during  fearful 
convulsions,  the  passions  in  all  their  nakedness,  and  crime  in  all  its  forms,  she 
is  better  acquainted  than  all  others  with  their  causes. 

Not  misled  by  the  vain  names  under  which,  at  such  periods,  the  lowest  pas- 
sions and  the  most  sordid  interests  disguise  themselves,  she  is  too  much  on  her 
guard  to  allow  the  troubles  which  have  inundated  other  countries  with  tears 
and  blood,  to  be  easily  excited  within  herself.  Her  internal  peace  is  not  dis- 
turbed by  the  agitation  and  heat  of  disputes ;  although  she  may  expect  to  have 
to  encounter,  sooner  or  later,  difficulties  and  embarrassments,  she  enjoys,  in  the 
mean  time,  the  tranquillity  which  is  secured  to  her  by  her  constitution,  her 
manners,  her  riches, — and,  above  all,  by  the  ocean  which  surrounds  her.  Placed 
in  so  advantageous  a  position,  that  nation  watches  the  progress  of  others,  for  the 
purpose  of  attaching  them  to  her  car  by  golden  chains,  if  they  are  simple  enough 
to  listen  to  her  flattery ;  at  least  she  attempts  to  hinder  their  advance,  when  a 
noble  independence  is  about  to  free  them  from  her  influence.  Always  attentive 
to  her  own  aggrandizement,  by  means  of  commerce  and  the  arts,  and  by  a  policy 
eminently  mercantile,  she  hides  her  self-interest  under  all  sorts  of  disguises ', 
and  although  religion  and  politics,  where  she  has  to  do  with  another  people,  are 
quite  indifferent  to  her,  she  knows  how  to  make  an  adroit  use  of  these  powerful 
arms,  to  make  friends,  to  defeat  her  enemies,  and  to  enclose  all  within  the  net 
of  commerce,  which  she  is  alwaysNextending  in  all  quarters  of  the  world.  Her 
sagacity  must  necessarily  have  perceived  how  much  progress  she  will  have 
made  in  adding  Spain  to  the  number  of  her  colonies,  when  she  has  persuaded 
the  Spanish  people  to  fraternize  with  her  in  religion ;  not  so  much  on  account 
of  the  sympathy  which  such  a  fraternization  would  establish  between  them,  as 
because  she  would  find  therein  a  sure  method  of  stripping  the  Spanish  people 
of  that  peculiar  character  and  grave  appearance  which  distinguishes  them  from 
all  others,  by  depriving  them  of  the  only  national  and  regenerative  idea  which 
remains  to  them  after  so  many  convulsions ;  from  that  moment,  in  truth,  Spain, 
that  proud  nation,  would  be  rendered  accessible  to  all  kinds  of  foreign  impres- 
sions, docile  and  pliable  in  bending  to  all  opinions,  and  subject  to  the  interests 
of  her  astute  protectors.  Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  there  is  no  other  nation 
that  conceives  her  plans  with  so  much  foresight,  prepares  them  with  so  much 
prudence,  executes  them  with  so  much  ability  and  perseverance.  As  she  has 
remained  since  her  great  revolutions,  that  is,  since  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  in  a  settled  condition,  and  entirely  free  from  the  convulsions  under- 
gone since  that  time  by  other  European  nations,  she  has  been  able  to  follow  a 
regular  political  system,  both  internal  and  external;  and  her  politicians  have 


76  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

been  formed  to  the  perfect  science  of  government,  by  constantly  inheriting  the 
experience  and  views  of  their  predecessors.  Her  statesmen  well  know  how  im- 
portant it  is  to  be  prepared  beforehand  for  every  event.  They  deeply  study 
what  may  aid  or  impede  them  in  other  nations.  They  go  out  of  the  sphere  of 
politics :  they  penetrate  to  the  heart  of  every  nation  over  which  they  propose 
to  extend  their  influence :  they  examine  what  are  the  conditions  of  its  exist- 
ence; what  is  its  vital  principle;  what  are  the  causes  of  the  strength  and 
energy  of  every  people. 

During  the  autumn  of  1805,  Pitt  gave  a  dinner  in  the  country  to  some  of  his 
friends.  While  thus  engaged,  a  despatch  was  brought  to  him  announcing  the 
surrender  of  Mack  at  Ulm,  with  40,000  men,  and  the  march  of  Napoleon  on 
Vienna.  Pitt  communicated  the  fatal  news  to  his  friends,  who  cried  out,  "  All 
is  lost;  there  is  no  longer  any  resource  against  him/'  "There  is  one  still 
left,"  replied  the  minister,  "  if  I  can  excite  a  national  war  in  Europe ;  and  that 
war  must  begin  in  Spain."  "  Yes,  gentlemen,"  he  added,  "  Spain  will  be  the 
first  country  to  commence  the  patriotic  war  which  shall  give  liberty  to  Europe." 
Such  was  the  importance  attributed  by  this  profound  statesman  to  a  national 
idea ;  he  expected  from  it  what  the  strength  of  all  the  governments  could  not 
effect,  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  and  the  liberation  of  Europe.  But  it  not  un- 
commonly happens  that  the  march  of  events  is  such,  that  these  same  national 
ideas,  which  one  time  were  the  powerful  auxiliaries  of  ambitious  cabinets,  be- 
come, at  another,  the  greatest  obstacles;  and  then,  instead  of  encouraging,  it 
becomes  their  interest  to  extinguish  them.  As  the  nature  of  this  work  will  not 
allow  me  to  enter  into  the  details  of  politics,  I  must  content  myself  with  appeal- 
ing to  the  judgment  of  those  who  have  observed  the  line  of  conduct  pursued  by 
England  during  our  war  and  revolution,  since  the  death  of  Ferdinand  VII.  If 
we  consider  what  the  interests  of  that  powerful  nation  require  for  the  future,  we 
may  conjecture  the  part  which  she  will  take. 

The  means  of  saving  a  nation,  by  delivering  it  from  interested  protectors, 
and  of  securing  her  real  independence,  are  to  be  found  in  great  and  generous 
ideas,  deeply  rooted  in  the  people ;  in  feelings  engraved  on  their  hearts  by  the 
action  of  time,  fay  the  influence  of  powerful  institutions,  by  ancient  manners 
and  customs ;  in  fine,  in  that  unity  of  religious  thought,  which  makes  a  whole 
people  as  one  man.  Then  the  past  is  united  with  the  present,  the  present  is 
connected  with  the  future ;  then  arises  in  the  mind  that  enthusiasm  which  is 
the  source  of  great  deeds ;  then  are  found  disinterestedness,  energy,  and  con- 
stancy; because  ideas  are  fixed  and  elevated,  because  hearts  are  great  and 
generous. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  during  one  of  the  convulsions  which  disturb  our 
unhappy  country,  men  may  arise  amongst  us  blind  enough  to  attempt  to  intro- 
duce the  Protestant  religion  into  Spain.  We  have  had  warnings  enough  to 
alarm  us ;  we  have  not  forgotten  events  which  showed  plainly  enough  how  far 
some  would  sometimes  have  gone,  if  the  great  majority  of  the  nation  had  not 
restrained  them  by  their  disapprobation.  We  do  not  dread  the  outrages  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII. ;  but  what  we  do  fear  is,  that  advantage  may  be  taken 
of  a  violent  rupture  with  the  Holy  See,  of  the  obstinacy  and  ambition  of  some 
ecclesiastics,  of  the  pretext  of  establishing  toleration  in  our  country,  or  some 
other  pretext,  to  attempt  to  introduce  amongst  us,  in  some  shape  or  other,  the 
doctrines  of  Protestantism.  We  certainly  have  no  need  of  importing  toleration 
from  abroad ;  it  already  exists  amongst  us  so  fully,  that  no  one  is  afraid  of  be- 
ing disturbed  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions.  What  would  be  thus  intro- 
duced and  established  in  Spain,  would  be  a  new  system  of  religion,  provided 
with  every  thing  necessary  for  gaining  the  upper  hand ;  and  for  weakening,  and, 
if  possible,  destroying  Catholicity.  Then  would  resound  in  our  ears,  with  a 
force  constantly  increasing,  the  fierce  declamation  which  we  have  heard  for 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY.  77 

several  years ;  the  vain  threatenings  of  a  party  who  are  delirious,  because  they 
are  on  the  point  of  expiring.  The  aversion  with  which  the  nation  regards 
the  pretended  Reformation,  we  have  no  doubt,  would  be  looked  upon  as  rebel- 
lion ;  the  pastorals  of  bishops  would  be  treated  as  insidious  persuasions,  and 
the  fervent  zeal  of  our  priests  as  sedition ;  the  unanimity  of  Catholics  to  pre- 
serve themselves  from  contagion  would  be  denounced  as  a  diabolical  conspiracy, 
devised  by  intolerance  and  party  spirit,  and  executed  by  ignorance  and  fanati- 
cism. Amid  the  efforts  of  the  one  party,  and  the  resistance  of  the  other,  we 
should  see  enacted,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  the  scenes  of  times  gone  by;  and 
although  the  spirit  of  moderation,  which  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  this 
age,  would  not  allow  the  perpetration  of  excesses  which  have  stained  the  annals 
of  other  nations,  they  would  not  be  without  imitators.  We  must  not  forget 
that,  with  respect  to  religion  in  Spain,  we  cannot  calculate  on  the  coldness  and 
indifference  which  other  nations  would  now  display  on  a  similar  occasion.  With 
the  latter,  religious  feelings  have  lost  much  of  their  force,  but  in  Spain  they 
are  still  deep,  lively,  and  energetic ;  and  if  they  were  to  come  into  open  and 
avowed  opposition  to  each  other,  the  shock  would  be  violent  and  general.  Al- 
though we  have  witnessed  lamentable  scandals,  and  even  fearful  catastrophes  in 
religious  matters,  yet,  up  to  this  time,  perverse  intentions  have  been  always 
concealed  by  a  mask,  more  or  less  transparent^  Sometimes  the  attack  was 
made  against  a  person  charged  with  political  machinations ;  sometimes  against 
certain  classes  of  citizens,  who  were  accused  of  imaginary  crimes.  If,  at  times, 
the  revolution  exceeded  its  bounds,  it  was  said  that  it  was  impossible  to  restrain 
it,  and  thus  the  vexations,  the  insults,  the  outrages  heaped  upon  all  that  was 
most  sacred  upon  earth,  were  only  the  inevitable  results,  and  the  work  of  a  mob 
that  nothing  could  restrain.  There  has  always  been  more  or  less  of  disguise; 
but  if  the  dogmas  of  Catholicity  were  attacked  deliberately,  and  with  sang 
froid ;  if  the  most  important  points  of  discipline  were  trodden  under  foot;  if 
the  most  august  mysteries  were  turned  into  ridicule,  and  the  most  holy  ceremo- 
nies treated  with  public  contempt ;  if  church  were  raised  against  church,  and 
pulpit  against  pulpit,  what  would  be  the  result  ?  It  is  certain  that  minds  would 
be  very  much  exasperated ;  and  if,  as  might  be  feared,  alarming  explosions  did 
not  ensue,  at  least  religious  controversy  would  assume  a  character  so  violent 
that  we  should  believe  ourselves  transferred  to  the  sixteenth  century. 

It  is  a  common  thing  among  us  for  the  principles  which  prevail  in  politics  to 
be  entirely  opposed  to  those  which  rule  in  society;  it  may  then  easily  happen 
that  a  religious  principle,  rejected  by  society,  may  find  support  among  influen- 
tial statesmen.  We  should  then^see  reproduced,  under  more  important  circum- 
stances, a  phenomenon  which  we  have  witnessed  for  so  many  years,  viz.  govern- 
ments attempting  to  alter  the  course  of  society  by  force.  This  is  one  of  the 
principal  differences  between  our  revolution  and  those  of  other  countries ;  it  is, 
at  the  same  time,  a  key  which  explains  the  greatest  anomalies.  Everywhere 
else  revolutionary  ideas  took  possession  of  society,  and  afterwards  extended 
themselves  to  the  sphere  of  politics ;  with  us  they  first  ruled  in  the  political 
sphere,  an'd  afterwards  strove  to  descend  into  the  social  sphere ;  society  was  far 
from  being  prepared  for  such  innovations ;  this  was  the  cause  of  shocks  so  vio- 
lent and  so  frequent.  It  is  on  account  of  this  want  of  harmony  that  the  govern- 
ment of  Spain  exercises  so  little  influence  over  the  people ;  I  mean  by  influence, 
that  moral  ascendency  which  does  not  require  to  be  accompanied  by  the  idea  of 
force.  There  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  an  evil,  since  it  tends  to  weaken  that 
authority  which  is  indispensably  necessary  for  all  societies.  But  on  more  than 
one  occasion  it  has  been  a  great  benefit.  It  is  no  slight  advantage  that  in  pre- 
sence of  a  senseless  and  inconstant  government  there  is  found  a  society  full  of 
calmness  and  wisdom,  and  that  that  society  pursues  its  quiet  and  majestic 
march,  while  the  government  is  carried  away  by  rashness.  We  may  expect 

e  2 


78  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

much  from  the  right  instinct  of  the  Spanish  nation,  from  her  proverbial  gravity, 
which  so  many  misfortunes  have  only  augmented,  and  from  that  fact,  which 
teaches  her  so  well  how  to  discern  the  true  path  to  happiness,  by  rendering  her 
deaf  to  the  insidious  suggestions  of  those  who  seek  to  lead  her  astray.  Al- 
though for  so  many  years,  owing  to  a  fatal  combination  of  circumstances,  and  a 
want  of  harmony  between  the  social  and  political  order,  Spain  has  not  been 
able  to  obtain  a  government  which  understands  her  feelings  and  instincts,  fol- 
lows her  inclinations,  and  promotes  her  prosperity,  we  still  cherish  the  hope  that 
the  day  will  come  when  from  her  own  bosom,  so  fertile  in  future  life,  will  come 
forth  the  harmony  which  she  seeks,  and  the  equilibrium  which  she  has  lost. 
In  the  mean  time,  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  all  men  who  have  a 
Spanish  heart  in  their  breasts,  and  who  do  not  wish  to  see  the  vitals  of  their 
country  torn  to  pieces,  should  unite  and  act  in  concert  to  preserve  her  from  the 
genius  of  evil.  Their  unanimity  will  prevent  the  seeds  of  perpetual  discord 
from  being  scattered  upon  our  soil,  will  ward  off  this  additional  calamity,  and 
will  preserve  from  destruction  those  precious  germs,  whence  may  arise,  with 
renovated  vigor,  our  civilization,  which  has  been  so  much  injured  by  disastrous 
events. 

The  soul  is  overwhelmed  with  painful  apprehensions  at  the  thought  that  a  day 
may  come  when  religious  unity  will  be  banished  from  among  us  \  that  unity 
which  is  identified  with  our  habits,  our  customs,  our  manners,  our  laws ;  which 
guarded  the  cradle  of  our  monarchy  in  the  cavern  of  Covadonga,  and  which 
was  the  emblem  on  our  standard  during  a  struggle  of  eight  centuries  against 
the  formidable  crescent ;  that  unity  which  developed  and  illustrated  our  civili- 
zation in  times  of  the  greatest  difficulty;  that  unity  which  followed  our  terrible 
tercios,  when  they  imposed  silence  upon  Europe ;  which  led  our  sailors  when 
they  discovered  the  new  world,  and  guided  them  when  they  for  the  first  time 
made  the  circuit  of  the  globe ;  that  unity  which  sustains  our  soldiers  in  their 
most  heroic  exploits,  and  which,  at  a  recent  period,  gave  the  climax  to  their 
many  glorious  deeds  in  the  downfall  of  Napoleon.  You  who  condemn  so  rashly 
the  work  of  ages ;  you  who  offer  so  many  insults  to  the  Spanish  nation,  and 
who  treat  as  barbarism  and  ignorance  the  regulating  principle  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, do  you  know  what  it  is  you  insult  ?  Do  you  know  what  inspired  the 
genius  of  Gonzalva,  of  Ferdinando  Cortez,  of  the  conqueror  of  Lepanto  ?  Do 
not  the  shades  of  Garcilazo,  of  Herrara,  of  Ercilla,  of  Fray  Luis  de  Leon,  of 
Cervantes,  of  Lope  de  Vega,  inspire  you  with  any  respect  ?  Can  you  venture 
to  break  the  tie  which  connects  us  with  them,  to  make  us  the  unworthy  poste- 
rity of  these  great  men  ?  Do  you  wish  to  place  an  impassable  barrier  between 
their  faith  and  ours,  between  their  manners  and  ours,  to  make  us  destroy  all  our 
traditions,  and  to  forget  our  most  inspiring  recollections  ?  Do  you  wish  to  pre- 
serve the  great  and  august  monuments  of  our  ancestors'  piety  among  us  only  as 
a  severe  and  eloquent  reproach  ?  Will  you  consent  to  see  dried  up  the  most 
abundant  fountains  to  which  we  can  have  recourse  to  revive  literature,  to 
strengthen  science,  to  reorganize  legislation,  to  re-establish  the  spirit  of  nation- 
ality, to  restore  our  glory,  and  replace  this  nation  in  the  high  position  which 
her  virtues  merit,  by  restoring  to  her  the  peace  and  happiness  which  she  seeks 
with  so  much  anxiety,  and  which  her  heart  requires  ? 


79 
CHAPTER  XIII. 

CATHOLICITY  AND   PROTESTANTISM   IN   RELATION   TO   SOCIAL    PROGRESS. 
PRELIMINARY   COUP   D'OEIL. 

AFTER  having  placed  Catholicity  and  Protestantism  in  contrast,  in  a  religious 
point  of  view,  in  the  picture  which  I  have  just  drawn ;  after  having  shown  the 
superiority  of  the  one  over  the  other,  not  only  in  certainty,  but  also  in  all  that 
regards  the  instincts,  the  feelings,  the  ideas,  the  characteristics  of  the  human 
mind,  it  seems  to  me  proper  to  approach  another  question,  certainly  not  less 
important,  but  much  less  understood,  and  in  the  examination  of  which  we  shall 
have  to  contend  against  strong  antipathies,  and  to  dissipate  many  prejudices  and 
errors.  Amid  the  difficulties  by  which  the  question  that  I  am  about  to  under- 
take is  surrounded,  I  am  supported  by  a  strong  hope  that  the  interest  of  the 
subject,  and  its  analogy  with  the  scientific  taste  of  the  age,  will  invite  a  perusal; 
and  that  I  shall  thereby  avoid  the  danger  which  commonly  threatens  those  who 
write  in  favor  of  the  Catkolic  religion,  that  of  being  judged  without  being 
heard.  The  question  may  be  stated  thus  :  "  When  we  compare  Catholicity  and 
Protestantism,  which  do  we  find  the  most  favorable  to  real  liberty,  to  the  real 
progress  of  nations,  to  the  cause  of  civilization  ?"  Liberty !  This  is  one  of 
those  words  which  are  as  generally  employed  as  they  are  little  understood; 
words  which,  because  they  contain  a  certain  vague  idea,  easily  perceived,  pre- 
sent the  deceptive  appearance  of  perfect  clearness,  while,  on  account  of  the 
multitude  and  variety  of  objects  to  which  they  apply,  they  are  susceptible  of  a 
variety  of  meanings,  and,  consequently,  are  extremely  difficult  to  comprehend. 
Who  can  reckon  the  number  of  applications  made  of  the  word  liberty  ?  There 
is  always  found  in  this  word  a  certain  radical  idea,  but  the  modifications  and 
graduations  to  which  the  idea  is  subject  are  infinite.  The  air  circulates  with 
liberty ;  we  move  the  soil  around  the  plant,  to  enable  it  to  grow  and  increase 
with  liberty ;  we  clean  out  the  bed  of  a  stream  to  allow  it  to  flow  with  liberty ; 
when  we  set  free  a  fish  in  a  net,  or  a  bird  in  a  cage,  we  give  them  their  liberty ; 
we  treat  a  friend  with  freedom;  we  have  free  methods,  free  thoughts,  free 
expressions,  free  successions,  free  will,  free  actions;  a  prisoner  has  no  liberty; 
nor  have  boys,  girls,  or  married  people ;  a  man  behaves  with  greater  freedom  in 
a  foreign  country ;  soldiers  are  not  free ;  there  are  men  free  from  conscription, 
from  contributions ;  we  have  free  votes,  free  acknowledgments,  free  interpreta- 
tion, free  evidence ;  freedom  of  commerce,  of  instruction,  of  the  press,  of  con- 
science; civil  freedom,  and  political  freedom;  we  have  freedom  just,  unjust, 
rational,  irrational,  moderate,  excessive,  limited,  licentious,  seasonable,  unsea- 
sonable. But  I  need  not  pursue  the  endless  enumeration.  It  seemed  to  me 
necessary  to  dwell  upon  it  for  a  moment,  even  at  the  risk  of  fatiguing  the 
reader;  perhaps  the  remembrance  of  all  this  may  serve  to  engrave  deeply  on 
our  minds  the  truth,  that  when,  in  conversation,  in  writing,  in  public  discus- 
sions, in  laws,  this  word  is  so  frequently  employed  as  applied  to  objects  of  the 
highest  importance,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  maturely  the  number  and  nature 
of  the  ideas  which  it  embraces  in  the  particular  case,  the  meaning  that  the  sub- 
ject needs,  the  modifications  which  the  circumstances  require,  and  the  precaution 
demanded  in  the  case. 

Whatever  may  be  the  acceptation  in  which  the  word  liberty  is  taken,  it  is 
apparent  that  it  always  implies  the  absence  of  a  cause  restraining  the  exercise 
of  a  power.  Hence  it  follows  that,  in  order  to  fix  in  each  case  the  real  meaning 
of  the  word,  it  is  indispensable  to  pay  attention  to  the  circumstances  as  well  as 
to  the  nature  of  the  power,  the  exercise  of  which  is  to  be  prevented  or  limited, 
without  losing  sight  of  the  various  objects  to  which  it  applies,  the  conditions 
of  its  exercise,  as  also  the  character,  power,  and  extent  of  the  means  which  are 


80  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

employed  to  restrain  it.  To  explain  this  matter,  let  it  be  proposed  to  form  a 
judgment  on  the  proposition,  a  Man  ought  to  enjoy  liberty  of  thought." 

It  is  here  affirmed  that  freedom  of  thought  in  man  ought  not  to  be  restrained ; 
but  do  you  speak  of  physical  force  exercised  directly  on  thought  itself?  In 
that  case  the  proposition  is  entirely  vain ;  for  as  such  an  application  of  force  is 
impossible,  it  is  useless  to  say  that  it  ought  not  to  be  employed.  Do  you  mean 
to  say  that  it  is  not  allowable  to  restrain  the  expression  of  thought ;  that  is  to 
say,  that  the  liberty  of  manifesting  thought  ought  not  to  be  hindered  or 
restrained  ?  You  have,  then,  made  a  great  step,  you  have  placed  the  question 
on  a  different  footing.  Or  if  you  do  not  mean  to  say  that  every  man,  at  all 
times,  in  all  places,  and  on  all  subjects,  has  a  right  to  give  utterance  to  all  that 
comes  into  his  head,  and  that  in  any  way  he  may  think  proper,  you  must  then 
specify  the  things,  the  persons,  the  places,  the  times,  the  subjects,  the  condi- 
tions ;  in  short,  you  must  note  a  variety  of  circumstances,  you  must  prohibit 
altogether  in  some  cases,  limit  in  others,  bind  in  some,  loosen  in  others;  in 
fine,  make  so  many  restrictions,  that  you  will  make  little  progress  in  establish- 
ing your  general  principle  of  freedom  of  thought,  "which  at  first  appeared  so 
simple  and  so  clear.  Even  in  the  sanctuary  of  thought,  where  human  sight 
does  not  extend,  and  which  is  open  to  the  eye  of  God  alone,  what  means  the 
liberty  of  thought  ?  Is  it  owing  to  chance  that  laws  are  imposed  on  thought  to 
which  it  is  obliged  to  submit  under  pain  of  losing  itself  in  chaos?  Can  it 
despise  the  rules  of  sound  reason  ?  Can  it  refuse  to  listen  to  the  counsels  of 
good  sense  ?  Can  it  forget  that  its  object  is  truth  ?  Can  it  disregard  the 
eternal  principles  of  morality?  Thus  we  find,  in  examining  the  meaning  of 
the  word  liberty,  even  as  applied  to  what  is  certainly  freer  than  any  thing  else 
in  man,  viz.  thought — we  find  such  a  number  and  variety  of  meanings  that  we 
are  forced  to  make  many  distinctions,  and  necessity  compels  us  to  limit  the 
general  proposition,  if  we  wish  to  avoid  saying  any  thing  in  opposition  to  the 
dictates  of  reason  and  good  sense,  the  eternal  laws  of  morality,  the  interests 
of  individuals,  and  the  peace  and  preservation  of  society.  And  what  may  not 
be  said  of  so  many  claims  of  liberty  which  are  constantly  propounded  in  lan- 
guage intentionally  vague  and  equivocal  ? 

I  avail  myself  of  these  examples  to  prevent  a  confusion  of  ideas;  for  in 
defending  the  cause  of  Catholicity,  I  have  no  need  of  pleading  for  oppression, 
or  of  applauding  tyranny,  or  of  approving  the  conduct  of  those  who  have  trod- 
den under  foot  men's  most  sacred  rights.  Yes,  I  say,  sacred;  for  after  the 
august  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  has  been  preached,  man  is  sacred  in  the  eyes  of 
other  men  on  account  of  his  origin  and  divine  destiny,  on  account  of  the  image 
of  God  which  is  reflected  in  him,  and  because  he  has  been  redeemed  with  inef- 
fable goodness  and  love  by  the  Son  of  the  Eternal.  This  divine  religion 
declares  the  rights  of  man  to  be  sacred ;  for  its  august  Founder  threatens  with 
eternal  punishment  not  only  those  who  kill  a  man,  those  who  mutilate  or  rob 
him,  but  even  those  who  offend  him  in  words :  "  He  who  shall  say  to  his 
brother,  Thou  fool,  shall  be  in  danger  of  hell-fire."  (Matt.  v.  22.)  Thus 
speaks  our  divine  Lord. 

Our  hearts  swell  with  generous  indignation,  when  we  hear  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ  reproached  with  a  tendency  towards  oppression.  It  is  true  that, 
if  you  confound  the  spirit  of  real  liberty  with  that  of  demagogues,  you  will  not 
find  it  in  Catholicity ;  but,  if  you  avoid  a  monstrous  misnomer,  if  you  give  to 
the  word  liberty  its  reasonable,  just,  useful,  and  beneficial  signification,  then  the 
Catholic  religion  may  fearlessly  claim  the  gratitude  of  the  human  race,  for  she 
has  civilized  the  nations  who  embraced  her,  and  civilization  is  true  liberty. 

It  is  a  fact  now  generally  acknowledged,  and  openly  confessed,  that  Chris- 
tianity has  exercised  a  very  important  and  salutary  influence  on  the  develop- 
ment of  European  civilization;  if  this  fact  has  not  yet  had  given  to  it  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  81 

importance  which  it  deserves,  it  is  because  it  has  not  been  sufficiently  appreciated. 
With  respect  to  civilization,  a  distinction  is  sometimes  made  between  the 
influence  of  Christianity  and  that  of  Catholicity ;  its  merits  are  lavished  on  the 
former,  and  stinted  to  the  latter,  by  those  who  forget  that,  with  respect  to 
European  civilization,  Catholicity  can  always  claim  the  principal  share;  and, 
for  many  centuries,  an  exclusive  one;  since,  during  a  very  long  period,  she 
worked  alone  at  the  great  work.  People  have  not  been  willing  to  see  that, 
when  Protestantism  appeared  in  Europe,  the  work  was  bordering  on  completion; 
with  an  injustice  and  ingratitude  which  I  cannot  describe,  they  have  reproached 
Catholicity  with  the  spirit  of  barbarism,  ignorance,  and  oppression,  while  they 
were  making  an  ostentatious  display  of  the  rich  civilization,  knowledge,  and 
liberty,  for  which  they  were  principally  indebted  to  her. 

If  they  did  not  wish  to  fathom  the  intimate  connection  between  Catholicity 
and  European  civilization,  if  they  had  not  the  patience  necessary  for  the  long 
investigations  into  which  this  examination  would  lead  them,  at  least  it  would 
have  been  proper  to  take  a  glance  at  the  condition  of  countries  where  the 
Catholic  religion  has  not  exerted  all  her  influence  during  centuries  of  trouble, 
and  compare  them  with  those  in  which  she  has  been  predominant.  The  East 
and  the  West,  both  subject  to  great  revolutions,  both  professing  Christianity, 
but  in  such  a  way  that  the  Catholic  principle  was  weak  and  vacillating  in  the 
East,  while  it  was  energetic  and  deeply  rooted  in  the  West;  these,  we  say, 
would  have  afforded  two  very  good  points  of  comparison  to  estimate  the  value 
of  Christianity  without  Catholicity,  when  the  civilization  and  the  existence  of 
nations  were  at  stake.  In  the  West,  the  revolutions  were  multiplied  and  fear- 
ful ;  the  chaos  was  at  its  height ;  and,  nevertheless,  out  of  chaos  came  light  and 
life.  Neither  the  barbarism  of  the  nations  who  inundated  those  countries,  and 
established  themselves  there,  nor  the  furious  assaults  of  Islamism,  even  in  the 
days  of  its  greatest  power  and  enthusiasm,  could  succeed  in  destroying  the 
germs  of  a  rich  and  fertile  civilization.  In  the  East,  on  the  contrary,  all  tended 
to  old  age  and  decay;  nothing  revived;  and,  under  the  blows  of  the  power 
which  was  ineffectual  against  us,  all  was  shaken  to  pieces.  The  spiritual  power 
of  Rome,  and  its  influence  on  temporal  affairs,  have  certainly  borne  fruits  very 
different  from  those  produced,  under  the  same  circumstances,  by  its  violent 
opponents. 

If  Europe  were  destined  one  day  again  to  undergo  a  general  and  fearful  revo- 
lution, either  by  a  universal  spread  of  revolutionary  ideas  or  by  a  violent  inva- 
sion of  social  and  proprietary  rights  by  pauperism ;  if  the  colossus  of  the  North, 
seated  on  its  throne  amid  eternal  snows,  with  knowledge  in  its  head,  and  blind 
force  in  its  hands,  possessing  at  once  the  means  of  civilization,  and  unceasingly 
turning  towards  the  East,  the  South,  and  the  West  that  covetous  and  crafty  look 
which  in  history  is  the  characteristic  march  of  all  invading  empires ;  if,  availing 
itself  of  a  favorable  moment,  it  were  to  make  an  attempt  on  the  independence 
of  Europe,  then  we  should  perhaps  have  a  proof  of  the  value  of  the  Catholic 
principle  in  a  great  extremity ;  then  we  should  feel  the  power  of  the  unity 
which  is  proclaimed  and  supported  by  Catholicity,  and  while  calling  to  mind  the 
middle  ages,  we  should  come  to  acknowledge  one  of  the  causes  of  the  weakness 
of  the  East  and  the  strength  of  the  West.  Then  would  be  remembered  a  fact, 
which,  though  but  of  yesterday,  is  falling  into  oblivion,  viz.  that  the  nation 
whose  heroic  courage  broke  the  power  of  Napoleon  was  proverbially  Catholic; 
and  who  knows  whether,  in  the  attempts  made  in  Russia  against  Catholicity, 
attempts  which  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ  has  deplored  in  such  touching  lan- 
guage— who  knows  whether  there  be  not  the  secret  influence  of  a  presentiment, 
perhaps  even  a  foresight  of  the  necessity  of  weakening  that  sublime  power, 
which  has  been  in  all  ages,  when  the  cause  of  humanity  was  in  question,  the 
centre  of  great  attempts  ?  But  let  us  return. 


82  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that,  since  the  sixteenth  century,  European  civilization 
has  shown  life  and  brilliancy ;  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  attribute  this  phenomenon 
to  Protestantism.  In  order  to  examine  the  extent  and  influence  of  a  fact,  we 
ought  not  to  be  content  with  the  events  which  have  followed  it ;  it  is  also  neces- 
sary to  consider  whether  these  events  were  already  prepared ;  whether  they  are 
any  thing  more  than  the  necessary  result  of  anterior  facts ;  and  we  must  take 
care  not  to  reason  in  a  way  which  is  justly  declared  to  be  sophistical  by  logi- 
cians, post  hoc,  ergo  propter  hoc  :  after  that,  therefore  on  account  of  it.  Without 
Protestantism,  and  before  it,  European  civilization  was  already  very  much  ad- 
vanced, thanks  to  the  labors  and  influence  of  the  Catholic  religion ;  the  great- 
ness and  splendor  which  it  subsequently  displayed  were  not  owing  to  it,  but 
arose  in  spite  of  it. 

Erroneous  ideas  on  this  matter  have  arisen  from  the  fact,  that  Christianity 
has  not  been  deeply  studied ;  and  that,  without  entering  into  a  serious  examina- 
tion of  Church  history,  men  have  too  often  contented  themselves  with  taking  a 
superficial  view  of  the  principles  of  brotherhood  which  she  has  so  much  recom- 
mended. In  order  fully  to  understand  an  institution,  it  is  not  enough  to  remain 
satisfied  with  its  leading  ideas ;  it  is  necessary  to  follow  all  its  steps,  see  how  it 
realizes  its  ideas,  and  how  it  triumphs  over  the  obstacles  that  oppose  it.  "VVe 
shall  never  form  a  complete  idea  of  an  historical  fact,  unless  we  carefully  study 
its  history.  Now  the  study  of  Church  history  in  its  relations  with  civilization, 
is  still  incomplete.  It  is  not  that  ecclesiastical  history  has  not  been  profoundly 
studied ;  but  it  may  be  said  that  since  the  spirit  of  social  analysis  has  been 
developed,  that  history  has  not  yet  been  made  the  subject  of  those  admirable 
labors  which  have  thrown  so  much  light  upon  it  in  a  critical  and  dogmatical 
point  of  view. 

Another  impediment  to  the  complete  comprehension  of  this  matter  is,  that  an 
exaggerated  importance  is  given  to  the  intentions  of  men,  and  the  great  march 
of  events  is  too  much  neglected.  The  greatness  of  events  is  measured,  and  their 
nature  judged  of,  by  the  immediate  means  which  produces  them,  and  the  objects 
of  the  men  whose  actions  are  treated  of;  this  is  a  very  important  error.  The 
eye  ought  to  range  over  a  wider  field  j  we  ought  to  observe  the  successive  de- 
velopment of  ideas,  the  influence  which  they  have  exercised  on  events,  the  insti- 
tutions which  have  sprung  from  them ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  see  all  these  things 
as  they  are  in  themselves,  that  is,  on  a  large  scale,  without  stopping  to  consider 
particular  and  isolated  facts.  It  is  an  important  truth,  which  ought  to  be  deeply 
engraven  on  the  mind,  that  when  one  of  those  great  facts  which  change  the  lot 
of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  human  race  is  developed,  it  is  rarely  understood 
by  those  who  take  part  in  it,  and  figure  as  the  principal  actors.  The  march  of 
humanity  is  a  grand  drama ;  the  parts  are  played  by  persons  who  pass  by  and 
disappear:  man  is  very  little^  God  alone  is  great.  Neither  the  actors  who 
figured  on  the  scene  in  the  ancient  empires  of  the  East,  nor  Alexander  invading 
Asia  and  reducing  numberless  nations  into  servitude,  nor  the  Romans  subju- 
gating the  world,  nor  the  barbarians  overturning  the  empire  and  breaking  it  in 
pieces,  nor  the  Mussulmen  ruling  Asia  and  Africa  and  menacing  the  independ- 
ence of  Europe,  knew,  or  could  know,  that  they  were  the  instruments  in  the 
great  designs  whereof  we  admire  the  execution. 

I  mean  to  show  from  this,  that  when  we  have  to  do  with  Christian  civiliza- 
tion, when  we  collect  and  analyze  the  facts  which  distinguish  its  march,  it  is 
not  necessary,  or  even  often  proper,  to  suppose  that  the  men  who  have  contri- 
buted to  it  in  the  most  remarkable  manner  understood,  to  the  full  extent,  the 
results  of  their  own  efforts.  It  is  glory  enough  for  a  man  to  be  pointed  out  as 
the  chosen  instrument  of  Providence,  without  the  necessity  of  attributing  to  him 
great  ability  or  lofty  ambition.  It  is  enough  to  observe  that  a  ray  of  light  has 
descended  from  heaven  and  illumined  his  brow;  it  is  of  little  importance 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  83 

whether  he  foresaw  that  this  ray,  by  reflection,  was  destined  to  shed  a  brilliant 
light  on  future  generations.  Little  men  are  commonly  smaller  than  they  think 
themselves,  but  great  men  are  often  greater  than  they  imagine ;  if  they  do  not 
know  all  their  grandeur,  it  is  because  they  are  ignorant  that  they  are  the  instru- 
ments of  the  high  designs  of  Providence.  Another  observation  which  we  ought 
always  to  have  present  in  the  study  of  these  great  events  is,  that  we  should  not 
expect  to  find  there  a  system,  the  connection  and  harmony  of  which  are  apparent 
at  the  first  coup  d'ceil.  We  must  expect  to  see  some  irregularities  and  objects 
of  an  unpleasant  aspect ;  it  is  necessary  to  guard  against  the  childish  impatience 
of  anticipating  the  time ;  it  is  indispensable  to  abandon  that  desire  which  we 
always  have,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  and  which  always  urges  us  to  seek 
every  thing  in  conformity  with  our  own  ideas,  and  to  see  every  thing  advance 
in  the  way  most  pleasing  to  us. 

Do  you  not  see  nature  herself  so  varied,  so  rich,  so  grand,  lavish  her  trea- 
sures in  disorder,  hide  her  inestimable  precious  stones  and  her  most  valuable 
veins  of  metal  in  masses  of  earth  ?  See.  how  she  presents  huge  chains  of  moun- 
tains, inaccessible  rocks,  and  fearful  precipices,  in  contrast  with  her  wide  and 
smiling  plains.  Do  you  not  observe  this  apparent  disorder,  this  prodigality,  in 
the  midst  of  which  numberless  agents  work,  in  secret  concert,  to  produce  the 
admirable  whole  which  enchants  our  eyes  and  ravishes  the  lover  of  nature  ?  So 
with  society ;  the  facts  are  dispersed,  scattered  here  and  there,  frequently  offer- 
ing no  appearance  of  order  or  concert ;  events  succeed  each  other,  act  on  each 
other,  without  the  design  being  discovered;  men  unite,  separate,  co-operate, 
and  contend,  and  nevertheless  time,  that  indispensable  agent  in  the  production 
of  great  works,  goes  on,  and  all  is  accomplished  according  to  the  destinies  marked 
out  in  the  secrets  of  the  Eternal. 

This  is  the  march  of  humanity ;  this  is  the  rule  for  the  philosophic  study  of 
history ;  this  is  the  way  to  comprehend  the  influence  of  those  productive  ideas, 
of  those  powerful  institutions,  which  from  time  to  time  appear  among  men  to 
change  the  face  of  the  earth.  When  in  a  study  of  this  kind  we  discover  acting 
at  the  bottom  of  things  a  productive  idea,  a  powerful  institution,  the  mind,  far 
from  being  frightened  at  meeting  with  some  irregularities,  is  inspired,  on  the 
contrary,  with  fresh  courage }  for  it  is  a  sure  sign  that  the  idea  is  full  of  truth, 
that  the  institution  is  fraught  with  life,  when  we  see  them  pass  through  the 
chaos  of  ages,  and  come  safe  out  of  the  frightful  ordeals.  Of  what  importance 
is  it  that  certain  men  were  not  influenced  by  the  idea,  that  they  did  not  answer 
the  object  of  the  institution,  if  the  latter  has  survived  its  revolutions,  and  the 
former  has  not  been  swallowed  Tip  in  the  stormy  sea  of  the  passions  ?  To  men- 
tion the  weaknesses,  the  miseries,  the  faults,  the  crimes  of  men,  is  to  make  the 
most  eloquent  apology  for  the  idea  and  the  institution. 

In  viewing  men  in  this  way,  we  do  not  take  them  out  of  their  proper  places, 
and  we  do  not  require  from  them  more  than  is  reasonable.  We  see  them 
enclosed  in  the  deep  bed  of  the  great  torrent  of  events,  and  we  do  not  attribute 
to  their  intellects,  or  to  their  will,  any  thing  that  exceeds  the  sphere  appointed 
for  them ;  we  do  not,  however,  fail  to  appreciate  in  a  proper  manner  the  nature 
and  the  greatness  of  the  works  in  which  they  take  part,  but  we  avoid  giving  to 
them  an  exaggerated  importance,  by  honoring  them  with  eulogiums  which  they 
do  not  deserve,  or' reproaching  them  unjustly.  Times  and  circumstances  are  not 
monstrously  confounded ;  the  observer  sees  with  calmness  and  sang  froid  the 
events  which  pass  before  his  eyes ;  he  speaks  not  of  the  empire  of  Charlemagne 
as  he  'would  of  that  of  Napoleon,  and  is  not  hurried  into  bitter  invectives  against 
Gregory  VII.  because  he  did  not  adopt  the  same  line  of  political  conduct  as 
Gregory  XVI. 

Observe  that  I  do  not  ask  from  the  philosophical  historian  an  impassive  indif- 
ference to  good  and  evil,  to  justice  and  injustice ;  I  do  not  claim  indulgence  for 


84  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

vice,  nor  would  I  refuse  to  virtue  its  eulogy.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  that 
school  of  historic  fatalism,  which  would  bring  back  to  the  world  the  destiny  of 
the  ancients ;  a  school  which,  if  it  acquired  influence,  would  corrupt  the  best 
part  of  history,  and  stifle  the  most  generous  emotions.  I  see  in  the  march  of 
society  a  plan,  a  harmony,  but  not  a  blind  necessity ;  I  do  not  believe  that 
events  are  mingled  up  together  indiscriminately  in  the  dark  urn  of  destiny,  nor 
that  fatalism  holds  the  world  enclosed  in  an  iron  circle.  But  I  see  a  wonderful 
chain  stretching  over  the  course  of  centuries,  a  chain  which  does  not  fetter  the 
movements  of  individuals  or  of  nations,  and  which  accommodates  itself  to  the 
ebb  and  flow  which  are  required  by  the  nature  of  things ;  at  its  touch  great 
thoughts  arise  in  the  minds  of  men  :  this  golden  chain  is  suspended  by  the  hand 
of  the  Eternal,  it  is  the  work  of  infinite  intelligence  and  ineffable  love. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

DID    THERE   EXIST   AT   THE   EPOCH   WHEN   CHRISTIANITY  APPEARED    ANY 
OTHER   PRINCIPLE   OF   REGENERATION? 

IN  what  condition  did  Christianity  find  the  world  ?  This  is  a  question  which 
ought  to  fix  all  our  attention,  if  we  wish  to  appreciate  correctly  the  blessings 
conferred  by  that  divine  religion  on  individuals  and  on  society,  if  we  are  desirous 
of  knowing  the  real  character  of  Christian  civilization.  Certainly  at  the  time 
when  Christianity  appeared,  society  presented  a  dark  picture.  Covered  with 
fine  appearances,  but  infected  to  the  heart  with  a  mortal  malady,  it  presented  an 
image  of  the  most  repugnant  corruption,  veiled  by  a  brilliant  garb  of  ostenta- 
tion and  opulence.  Morality  was  without  reality,  manners  without  modesty, 
the  passions  without  restraint,  laws  without  authority,  and  religion  without  God. 
Ideas  were  at  the  mercy  of  prejudices,  of  religious  fanaticism,  and  philosophical 
subtilties.  Man  was  a  profound  mystery  to  himself;  he  did  not  know  how  to 
estimate  his  own  dignity,  for  he  reduced  it  to  the  level  of  brutes ;  and  when  he 
attempted  to  exaggerate  its  importance,  he  did  not  know  how  to  confine  it  within 
the  limits  marked  out  by  reason  and  nature  :  and  it  is  well  worthy  of  observa- 
tion, that  while  a  great  part  of  the  human  race  groaned  in  the  most  abject 
servitude,  heroes,  and  even  the  most  abominable  monsters,  were  elevated  to  the 
rank  of  gods. 

Such  elements  must,  sooner  or  later,  have  produced  social  dissolution.  Even 
if  the  violent  irruption  of  the  barbarians  had  not  taken  place,  society  must 
have  been  overturned  sooner  or  later,  for  it  did  not  possess  a  fertile  idea,  a 
consoling  thought,  or  a  beam  of  hope,  to  preserve  it  from  ruin. 

Idolatry  had  lost  its  strength ;  it  was  an  expedient  exhausted  by  time  and 
by  the  gross  abuse  which  the  passions  had  made  of  it.  Its  fragile  tissue  once 
exposed  to  the  dissolving  influence  of  philosophical  observation,  idolatry  was 
entirely  disgraced ;  and  if  the  rooted  force  of  habit  still  exercised  a  mechanical 
influence  on  the  minds  of  men,  that  influence  was  neither  capable  of  re-esta- 
blishing harmony  in  society,  nor  of  producing  that  fiery  enthusiasm  which 
inspires  great  actions — enthusiasm  which  in  virgin  hearts  may  be  excited  by 
superstition  the  most  irrational  and  absurd.  To  judge  of  them  by  the  relaxa- 
tion of  morals,  by  the  enervated  weakness  of  character,  by  the  effeminate 
luxury,  by  the  complete  abandonment  to  the  most  repulsive  amusements  and 
the  most  shameful  pleasures,  it  is  clear  that  religious  ideas  no  longer  possessed 
the  majesty  of  the  heroic  age ;  no  longer  efficacious,  they  only  exerted  on  men's 
minds  a  feeble  influence,  while  they  served  in  a  lamentable  manner  as  instru- 
ments of  dissolution.  Now  it  was  impossible  for  it  to  be  otherwise  :  nations 
who  had  obtained  the  high  degree  of  cultivation  of  the  Greeks  aiid  Romans ; 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  85 

nations  who  had  heard  their  great  sages  dispute  on  the  grand  questions  of 
divinity  and  man,  could  not  continue  in  the  state  of  simplicity  which  was 
necessary  to  believe  with  good  faith  the  intolerable  absurdities  of  which  Pagan- 
ism is  full;  and  whatever  may  have  been  the  disposition  of  mind  among  the 
ignorant  portion  of  the  people,  assuredly  those  who  were  raised  above  the  com- 
mon standard  did  not  believe  them — those  who  listened  to  philosophers  as 
enlightened  as  Cicero,  and  who  daily  enjoyed  the  malicious  railleries  of  their 
satirical  poets. 

If  religion  was  impotent,  was  there  not  another  means,  viz.  knowledge? 
Before  we  examine  what  was  to  be  hoped  from  this,  it  is  necessary  to  observe, 
that  knowledge  never  founded  a  society,  nor  was  it  ever  able  to  restore  one  that 
had  lost  its  balance.  In  looking  over  the  history  of  ancient  times,  we  find  at 
the  head  of  some  nations  eminent  men  who,  thanks  to  the  magic  influence  which 
they  exercised  over  others,  dictated  laws,  corrected  abuses,  rectified  ideas, 
reformed  morals,  and  established  a  government  on  wise  principles ;  thus  securing, 
in  a  more  or  less  satisfactory  manner,  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  those  who 
were  confided  to  their  care.  But  we  should  be  much  mistaken  if  we  imagined 
that  these  men  proceeded  according  to  what  we  call  scientific  combinations. 
Generally  simple  and  rude,  they  acted  according  to  the  impulses  of  their  gene- 
rous hearts,  only  guided  by  the  wisdom  and  good  sense  of  the  father  of  a  family 
in  the  management  of  his  domestic  affairs :  never  did  these  men  adopt  for  their 
rule  the  wretched  subtilties  which  we  call  theories,  the  crude  mass  of  ideas 
which  we  disguise  under  the  pompous  name  of  science.  Were  the  most  dis- 
tinguished days  of  Greece  those  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  ?  The  proud  Romans, 
who  conquered  the  world,  certainly  had  not  the  extent  and  variety  of  knowledge 
of  the  Augustan  age ;  and  yet  who  would  exchange  the  times  or  the  men  ? 

Modern  times  also  can  show  important  evidences  of  the  sterility  of  science 
in  creating  social  institutions ;  which  is  the  more  evident  as  the  practical  effects 
of  the  natural  sciences  are  the  more  visible.  It  seems  that  in  the  latter  sciences 
man  has  a  power  which  he  has  not  in  the  former;  although,  when  the  matter 
is  fully  examined,  the  difference  does  not  appear  so  great  as  at  the  first  view. 

Let  us  briefly  compare  their  respective  results. 

When  man  seeks  to  apply  the  knowledge  which  he  has  acquired  of  the  great 
laws  of  nature,  he  finds  himself  compelled  to  pay  respect  to  her ;  as,  whatever 
might  be  his  wishes,  his  weak  arm  could  not  cause  any  great  bouleversement,  he 
is  obliged  to  make  his  attempts  limited  in  extent,  and  the  desire  of  success 
induces  him  to  act  in  conformity  with  the  laws  which  govern  the  bodies  he  has 
to  do  with.  It  is  quite  otherwise  with  the  application  made  of  the  social 
sciences.  There  man  is  able  to  act  directly  and  immediately  on  society  itself, 
on. its  eternal  foundations;  he  does  not  consider  himself  necessarily  bound  to 
make  his  attempts  on  a  small  scale,  or  to  respect  the  eternal  laws  of  society; 
he  is  able,  on  the  contrary,  to  imagine  those  laws  as  he  pleases,  indulge  in  as 
many  subtilties  as  he  thinks  proper,  and  bring  about  disasters  which  humanity 
laments.  Let  us  remember  the  extravagances  which  have  found  favor,  with 
respect  to  nature,  in  the  schools  of  philosophy,  ancient  and  modern,  and  we 
shall  see  what  would  have  become  of  the  admirable  machine  of  the  universe, 
if  philosophers  had  had  full  power  over  it.  Descartes  said,  "  Give  me  matter 
and  motion,  and  I  will  form  a  world  !"  He  could  not  derange  an  atom  in  the 
system  of  the  universe.  Rousseau,  in  his  turn,  dreamed  of  placing  society  on 
a  new  basis,  and  he  upset  the  social  state.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  science, 
properly  so  called,  has  little  power  in  the  organization  of  society :  this  ought  to 
be  remembered  in  modern  times,  when  it  boasts  so  much  of  its  pretended  fer- 
tility. It  attributes  to  its  own  labors  what  is  the  fruit  of  the  lapse  of  ages,  of 
the  instinctive  law  of  nations,  and  sometimes  of  the  inspirations  of  genius; 
now  neither  this  instinct  of  nations  nor  genius  at  all  resembles  science. 

H 


86  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

But  without  pushing  any  further  these  general  considerations,  which  are, 
nevertheless,  very  useful  in  leading  us  to  a  knowledge  of  man,  what  could  be 
hoped  from  the  false  light  of  science  which  was  preserved  in  the  ruins  of  the 
ancient  schools  at  the  time  we  are  speaking  of?  However  limited  the  know- 
ledge of  the  ancient  philosophers,  even  the  most  distinguished,  may  have  been 
on  these  subjects,  we  must  allow  that  the  names  of  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aris- 
totle command  some  degree  of  respect,  and  that  amid  their  errors  and  mistakes 
they  give  us  thoughts  which  are  really  worthy  of  their  lofty  genius.  But  when 
Christianity  appeared,  the  germs  of  knowledge  planted  by  them  had  been  de- 
stroyed ;  dreams  had  taken  the  place  of  high  and  fruitful  thoughts,  the  love  of 
disputation  had  replaced  that  of  wisdom,  sophistry  and  subtilties  had  been  sub- 
stituted for  mature  judgment  and  severe  reasoning.  The  ancient  schools  had 
been  upset,  others  as  sterile  as  they  were  strange  had  been  formed  out  of  their 
ruins ;  on  all  sides  there  appeared  a  swarm  of  sophists  like  the  impure  insects 
which  announce  the  corruption  of  a  dead  body.  The  Church  has  preserved  for 
us  a  very  valuable  means  of  judging  of  the  science  of  that  time,  in  the  history 
of  the  early  heresies.  Without  speaking  of  what  therein  deserves  all  our  in- 
dignation, as,  for  example,  their  profound  immorality,  can  we  find  any  thing 
more  empty,  absurd,  or  pitiable  ?  (14) 

The  Koman  legislation,  so  praiseworthy  for  its  justice  and  equity,  its  wisdom 
and  prudence,  and  much  as  it  deserves  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  pre- 
cious ornaments  of  ancient  civilization,  was  yet  incapable  of  preventing  the 
dissolution  with  which  society  was  threatened.  Never  did  it  owe  its  safety  to 
jurisconsults;  so  great  a  work  is  beyond  the  sphere  of  action  of  jurisprudence. 
Let  us  suppose  the  laws  as  perfect  as  possible,  jurisprudence  carried  to  the 
highest  point,  jurisconsults  animated  by  the  purest  feelings  and  guided  by  the 
most  honest  intentions,  what  would  all  this  avail  if  the  heart  of  society  is  cor- 
rupt, if  moral  principles  have  lost  their  force,  if  manners  are  in  continual  oppo- 
sition with  laws?  Let  us  consider  the  picture  of  Roman  manners  such  as  their 
own  historians  have  painted  them ;  we  shall  not  find  even  a  reflection  of  the 
equity,  justice,  and  good  sense  which  made  the  Roman  laws  deserve  the  glo- 
rious name  of  written  reason. 

To  give  a  proof  of  impartiality,  I  purposely  omit  the  blemishes  from  which 
the  Roman  law  was  certainly  not  exempt,  for  I  do  not  desire  to  be  accused  of 
wishing  to  lower  every  thing  which  is  not  the  work  of  Christianity.  Yet  I 
must  not  pass  over  in  silence  the  important  fact,  that  it  is  by  no  means  true 
that  Christianity  had  no  share  in  perfecting  the  jurisprudence  of  Rome ;  I  do 
not  mean  merely  during  the  period  of  the  Christian  emperors,  which  does  not 
admit  of  a  doubt,  but  even  at  a  prior 'period.  It  is  certain  that  some  time  be- 
fore the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ  the  number  of  the  Roman  laws  was  very  con- 
siderable, and  that  their  study  and  arrangement  already  occupied  the  attention 
of  many  of  the  most  illustrious  men.  We  know  from  Suetonius  (In  Caesar. 
c.  44)  that  Julius  Caesar  had  undertaken  the  extremely  useful  task  of  con- 
densing into  a  small  number  of  books  those  which  were  the  most  select  and 
necessary  among  the  immense  collection  of  laws ;  a  similar  idea  occurred  to 
Cicero,  who  wrote  a  book  on  the  methodical  digest  of  the  civil  law  (de  jure 
civili  in  arte  redigendo),  as  Aulus  Gellius  attests.  (Noct.  Att.  lib.  i.  c.  22.) 
According  to  Tacitus,  this  work  also  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Emperor 
Augustus.  Certainly  these  projects  show  that  legislation  was  not  in  its  infancy; 
but  it  is  not  the  less  true  that  the  Roman  law,  as  we  possess  it,  is  in  great  part 
the  product  of  later  ages.  Many  of  the  most  famous  jurists,  whose  opinions 
form  a  considerable  part  of  the  law,  lived  long  after  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ. 
As  to  the  constitutions  of  the  emperors,  their  very  names  remind  us  of  the 
time  when  they  were  digested. 

These  facts  being  established,  I  shall  observe  that  it  does  not  follow  that  be- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  87 

cause  the  emperors  and  jurists  were  pagans,  the  Christian  ideas  had  no  influence 
on  their  works.  The  number  of  Christians  was  immense  in  all  places ;  the 
cruelty  alone  with  which  they  had  been  persecuted,  the  heroic  courage  which 
they  had  displayed  in  the  face  of  torments  and  death,  must  have  drawn  upon 
them  the  attention  of  the  whole  world ;  and  it  is  impossible  that  this  should 
not  have  excited,  among  men  of  reflection,  curiosity  enough  to  examine  what 
this  new  religion  taught  its  proselytes.  The  reading  of  the  apologies  for  Chris- 
tianity already  written  in  the  first  ages  with  so  much  force  of  reasoning  and 
eloquence,  the  works  of  various  kinds  published  by  the  early  Fathers,  the  ho- 
milies of  Bishops  to  their  people,  contain  so  much  wisdom,  breathe  such  a  love 
for  truth  and  justice,  and  proclaim  so  loudly  the  eternal  principles  of  morality, 
that  it  was  impossible  for  their  influence  not  to  be  felt  even  by  those  who  con- 
demned the  religion  of  Christ.  When  doctrines  having  for  their  object  the 
greatest  questions  which  affect  man  are  spread  everywhere,  propagated  with  fer- 
vent zeal,  received  with  love  by  a  considerable  number  of  disciples,  and  main- 
tained by  the  talent  and  knowledge  of  illustrious  men,  these  doctrines  make  a 
profound  impression  in  all  directions,  and  affect  even  those  who  warmly  combat 
them.  Their  influence  in  this  case  is  imperceptible,  but  it  is  not  the  less  true 
and  real.  They  act  like  the  exhalations  which  impregnate  the  atmosphere;  with 
the  air  we  inhale  sometimes  death,  and  sometimes  a  salutary  odor  which  purifies 
and  strengthens  us. 

Such  must  necessarily  have  been  the  case  with  a  doctrine  which  was  preached 
in  so  extraordinary  a  manner,  propagated  with  so  much  rapidity,  and  the  truth 
of  which,  sealed  by  torrents  of  blood,  was  defended  by  writers  such  as  Justin, 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  Irenaeus,  and  Tertullian.  The  profound  wisdom,  the 
ravishing  beauty  of  these  doctrines,  explained  by  the  Christian  doctors,  must 
have  called  attention  to  the  sources  whence  they  flowed;  it  was  natural  that 
curiosity  thus  excited  should  put  the  holy  Scriptures  into  the  hands  of  many 
philosophers  and  jurists.  Would  it  be  strange  if  Epictetus  had  imbibed  some 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  if  the  oracles  of  jurispru- 
dence had  imperceptibly  received  the  inspiration  of  a  religion  whose  power, 
spreading  in  a  wonderful  manner,  took  possession  of  all  ranks  of  society? 
Burning  zeal  for  truth  and  justice,  the  spirit  of  brotherhood,  grand  ideas  of  the 
dignity  of  man,  the  continued  themes  of  Christian  instruction,  could  not  remain 
confined  among  the  children  of  the  Church.  More  or  less  rapidly  they  pene- 
trated all  classes ;  and  when,  by  the  conversion  of  Constantine,  they  acquired 
political  influence  and  imperial  authority,  it  was  only  the  repetition  of  an  ordi- 
nary phenomenon ;  when  a  system  has  become  very  powerful  in  the  social  order, 
it  ends  by  exerting  an  empire,  or  at  least  an  influence,  in  the  political. 

I  leave  these  observations  to  the  judgment  of  thinking  men  with  perfect  con- 
fidence ;  I  am  sure  that  if  they  do  not  adopt  them,  at  least  they  will  not  consider 
them  unworthy  of  reflection.  We  live  at  a  time  fruitful  in  great  events,  and 
when  important  revolutions  have  taken  place ;  therefore  we  are  better  able  to 
understand  the  immense  effects  of  indirect  and  slow  influences,  the  powerful 
ascendency  of  ideas,  and  the  irresistible  force  with  which  doctrines  work  their 
way. 

To  this  want  of  vital  principles  capable  of  regenerating  society,  to  all  those 
elements  of  dissolution  which  society  contained  within  itself,  was  joined  another 
evil  of  no  slight  importance, — the  vice  of  its  political  organization.  The  world 
being  under  the  yoke  of  Rome,  hundreds  of  nations  differing  in  manners  and 
customs  were  heaped  together  in  confusion,  like  spoils  on  the  field  of  battle,  and 
constrained  to  form  a  factitious  body,  like  trophies  placed  upon  a  spear.  The 
unity  of  the  government  being  violent,  could  not  be  advantageous ;  and  more- 
over, as  it  was  despotic,  from  the  emperor  down  to  the  lowest  pro-consul,  it  will 
be  seen  that  it  could  not  produce  any  other  result  than  the  debasement  and 


88  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

degradation  of  nations,  and  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  display  that  ele- 
vation and  energy  of  character  which  are  the  precious  fruit  of  a  feeling  of  self- 
dignity  and  love  for  national  independence.  If  Home  had  preserved  her  ancient 
manners,  if  she  had  retained  in  her  bosom  warriors  as  celebrated  for  the  sim- 
plicity and  austerity  of  their  lives  as  for  the  renown  of  their  victories,  some  of 
the  qualities  of  the  conquerors  might  have  been  communicated  to  the  conquered, 
as  a  young  and  robust  heart  reanimates  with  its  vigor  a  body  attenuated  by  dis- 
ease. Unfortunately  such  was  not  the  case.  The  Fabiuses,  the  Camilluses,  the 
Scipios,  would  not  have  acknowledged  their  unworthy  posterity;  Rome,  the 
mistress  of  the  world,  like  a  slave,  was  trodden  under  the  feet  of  monsters  who 
mounted  to  the  throne  by  perjury  and  violence,  stained  their  sceptres  with  cor- 
ruption and  cruelty,  and  fell  by  the  hands  of  assassins.  The  authority  of  the 
Senate  and  people  had  disappeared  ;  only  vain  imitations  of  them  were  left, 
vestigia  morientis  libertatis,  as  Tacitus  calls  them,  vestiges  of  expiring  liberty; 
and  this  royal  people,  who  formerly  disposed  of  kingdoms,  consulships,  legions, 
and  all,  then  thought  only  of  two  things,  food  and  games, 

"  Qni  dabat  olim 

Impcrium,  fasces,  legiones,  omnia,  nunc  se 
Continet,  atque  duas  tantum  res  anxius  optat, 
Panem  et  Circenses." — JUVENAL,  Satire  x. 

At  length,  in  the  plenitude  of  time  Christianity  appeared ;  and  without  an- 
nouncing any  change  in  political  forms,  without  intermeddling  in  the  temporal 
and  earthly,  it  brought  to  mankind  a  twofold  salvation,  by  calling  them  to  the 
path  of  eternal  felicity,  but  at  the  same  time  bountifully  supplying  them  with 
the  only  means  of  preservation  from  social  dissolution,  the  germ  of  a  regenera- 
tion slow  and  pacific,  but  grand,  immense,  and  lasting,  and  secure  from  the 
revolutions  of  ages ;  and  this  preservative  against  social  dissolution,  this  germ 
of  invaluable  improvements,  was  a  pure  and  lofty  doctrine,  diffused  among  all 
mankind,  without  exception  of  age,  sex,  and  condition,  as  the  rain  which  falls 
like  a  mild  dew  on  an  arid  and  thirsty  soil.  No  religion  has  ever  equalled 
Christianity  in  knowledge  of  the  hidden  means  of  influencing  man;  none  has 
ever,  when  doing  so,  paid  so  high  a  compliment  to  his  dignity ;  and  Christianity 
has  always  adopted  the  principle,  that  the  first  step  in  gaining  possession  of  the 
whole  man  is  that  of  gaining  his  mind ;  and  that  it  is  necessary,  in  order  either 
to  destroy  evil  or  to  effect  good,  to  adopt  intellectual  means :  thereby  it  has 
given  a  mortal  blow  to  the  systems  of  violence  which  prevailed  before  its  exist- 
ence; it  has  proclaimed  the  wholesome  truth,  that  in  influencing  men,  the 
weakest  and  most  unworthy  method  is  force ;  a  fruitful  and  beneficial  truth, 
which  opened  to  humanity  a  new  and  happy  future.  Only  since  the  Christian 
era  do  we  find  the  lessons  of  the  sublimest  philosophy  taught  to  all  classes  of 
the  people,  at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  The  loftiest  truths  relating  to  G-od 
and  man,  the  rules  of  the  purest  morality,  are  not  communicated  to  a  chosen 
number  of  disciples  in  hidden  and  mysterious  instructions ;  the  philosophy  of 
Christianity  has  been  bolder ;  it  has  ventured  to  reveal  to  man  the  whole  naked 
truth,  and  that  in  public,  with  a  loud  voice,  and  that  generous  boldness  which 
is  the  inseparable  companion  of  the  truth.  "That  which  I  tell  you  in  the  dark, 
speak  ye  in  the  light ;  and  that  which  you  hear  in  the  ear,  preach  ye  upon  the 
housetop/'  (Matt.  x.  27.) 

As  soon  as  Christianity  and  Paganism  met  face  to  face,  the  superiority  of  the 
former  was  rendered  palpable,  not  only  by  its  doctrines  themselves,  but  by  the 
manner  in  which  it  propagated  them.  It  might  easily  be  imagined  that  a  reli- 
gion so  wise  and  pure  in  its  teachings,  and  which,  in  propagating  them,  addressed 
itself  directly  to  the  mind  and  heart,  must  quickly  drive  from  its  usurped  domi- 
nion the  religion  of  imposture  and  falsehood.  And,  indeed,  what  did  Paganism 
do  for  the  good  of  man  ?  What  moral  truths  did  it  teach  ?  How  did  it  check 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  89 

the  corruption  of  manners?  "As  to  morals/'  says  St.  Augustine,  "why  have 
not  the  gods  chosen  to  take  care  of  those  of  their  adorers,  and  prevent  their 
irregularities  ?  As  to  the  true  God,  it  is  with  justice  that  He  has  neglected 
those  who  did  not  serve  Him.  But  whence  comes  it  that  those  gods,  the  pro- 
hibition of  whose  worship  is  complained  of  by  ungrateful  men,  have  not  esta- 
blished laws  to  lead  their  adorers  to  virtue  ?  Was  it  not  reasonable  that,  as 
men  undertook  their  mysteries  and  sacrifices,  the  gods,  on  their  side,  should 
undertake  to  regulate  the  manners  and  actions  of  men  ?  It  is  replied,  that  no 
one  is  wicked  but  because  he  wishes  to  be  so.  Who  doubts  this  ?  but  the  gods 
ought  not  on  that  account  to  conceal  from  their  worshippers  precepts  that  might 
serve  to  make  them  practise  virtue.  They  were,  on  the  contrary,  under  the 
obligation  of  publishing  those  precepts  aloud,  of  admonishing  and  rebuking 
sinners  by  their  prophets ;  of  publicly  threatening  punishment  to  those  who 
did  evil,  and  promising  rewards  to  those  who  did  well.  Was  there  ever  heard, 
in  the  temples  of  the  gods,  a  loud  and  generous  voice  teaching  any  thing  of  the 
kind?"  (De  Civit.  lib.  ii.  c.  4.)  The  holy  doctor  afterwards  paints- a  dark  pic- 
ture of  the  infamies  and  abominations  which  were  committed  in  the  spectacles 
and  sacred  games  celebrated  in  honor  of  the  gods— games  and  shows  at  which 
he  had  himself  assisted  in  his  youth ;  he  continues  thus :  "  Thence  it  comes 
that  these  divinities  have  taken  no  care  to  regulate  the  morals  of  the  cities  and 
nations  who  adore  them,  or  to  avert  by  their  threats  those  dreadful  evils  which 
injure  not  only  fields  and  vineyards,  houses  and  properties,  or  the  body  which 
is  subject  to  the  mind,  but  the  mind  itself,  the  directress  of  the  body,  which 
was  drenched  with  their  iniquities.  Or  if  it  be  pretended  that  they  did  make 
such  menaces,  let  them  be  shown  and  proved  to  us.  But  let  there  not  be  alleged 
a  few  secret  words  whispered  in  the  ears  of  a  small  number  of  persons,  and 
which,  with  a  great  deal  of  mystery,  were  to  teach  virtue.  It  is  necessary  to 
point  out,  to  name  the  places  consecrated  to  the  assemblies — not  those  in  which 
were  celebrated  games  with  lascivious  words  and  gestures ;  not  those  feasts  called 
fuites,  and  which  were  solemnized  with  the  most  unbridled  license ;  but  the 
assemblies  where  the  people  were  instructed  in  the  precepts  of  the  gods  for  the 
repression  of  avarice,  moderating  ambition,  restraining  immodesty  j  those  where 
these  unfortunate  beings  learn  what  Perseus  desires  them  to  know,  when  he 
says,  in  severe  language,  '  Learn,  0  unhappy  mortals,  the  reason  of  things, 
what  we  are,  why  we  come  into  the  world,  what  we  dught  to  do,  how  miserable 
is  the  term  of  our  career,  what  bounds  we  ought  to  prescribe  to  ourselves  in  the 
pursuit  of  riches,  what  use  we  ought  to  make  of  them,  what  we  owe  to  our 
neighbor,  in  fine,  the  obligation^  we  owe  to  the  rank  we  occupy  among  men/ 
Let  them  tell  us  in  what  places  they  have  been  accustomed  to  instruct  the 
people  in  these  things  by  order  of  the  gods ;  let  them  show  us  these  places,  as 
we  show  them  churches  built  for  this  purpose  wherever  the  Christian  religion 
has  been  established."  (De  Civit.  lib.  ii.  c.  6.)  This  divine  religion  was  too 
deeply  acquainted  with  the  heart  of  man  ever  to  forget  the  weakness  and  incon- 
stancy which  characterize  it ;  and  hence  it  has  ever  been  her  invariable  rule  of 
conduct  unceasingly  to  inculcate  to  him,  with  untiring  patience,  the  salutary 
truths  on  which  his  temporal  well-being  and  eternal  happiness  depend.  Man 
easily  forgets  moral  truths  when  he  is  not  constantly  reminded  of  them ;  or  if 
they  remain  in  his  mind,  they  are  there  like  sterile  seeds,  and  do  not  fertilize 
his  heart.  It  is  good  and  highly  salutary  for  parents  constantly  to  communi- 
cate this  instruction  to  their  children,  and  that  it  should  be  made  the  principal 
object  of  private  education ;  but  it  is  necessary,  moreover,  that  there  should  be 
a  public  ministry,  never  losing  sight  of  it,  diffusing  it  among  all  classes  and 
ages,  repairing  the  negligences  of  families,  and  reviving  recollections  and  im- 
pressions which  the  passions  and  time  constantly  efface. 

This  system  of  constant  preaching  and  instruction,  practised  at  all  times  and 
12  H  2 


90  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

in  all  places  by  the  Catholic  Church,  is  so  important  for  the  enlightenment  and 
morality  of  nations,  that  it  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  great  good,  that  the  first 
Protestants,  in  spite  of  their  desire  to  destroy  all  the  practices  of  the  Church, 
have  nevertheless  preserved  that  of  preaching.  We  need  not  be  insensible  on 
this  account  to  the  evils  produced  at  certain  times  by  the  declamation  of  some 
factious  or  fanatical  ministers ;  but  as  unity  had  been  broken,  as  the  people  had 
been  precipitated  into  the  perilous  paths  of  schism,  we  say  that  it  must  have 
been  extremely  useful  for  the  preservation  of  the  most  important  notions  with 
respect  to  God  and  man  and  the  fundamental  maxims  of  morality,  that  such 
truths  should  be  frequently  explained  to  the  people  by  men  who  had  long  studied 
them  in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  No  doubt  the  mortal  blow  given  to  the  hierarchy 
by  the  Protestant  system,  and  the  degradation  of  the  priesthood  which  was  the 
consequence,  have  deprived  its  preachers  of  the  sacred  characteristics  of  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  no  doubt  it  is  a  great  obstacle  to  the  efficacy  of  their  preachers, 
that  they  cannot  present  themselves  as  the  anointed  of  the  Lord,  and  that  they 
are  only,  as  an  able  writer  has  said,  men  clothed  in  black,  who  mount  the  pulpit 
every  Sunday  to  speak  reasonable  things  ;  but  at  least  the  people  continue  to 
hear  some  fragments  of  the  excellent  moral  discourses  contained  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  they  have  often  before  their  eyes  the  edifying  examples  spread  over 
the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and,  what  is  still  more  precious,  they  are  reminded 
frequently  of  the  events  in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ, — of  that  admirable  life,  the 
model  of  all  perfection,  which,  even  when  considered  in  a  human  point  of  view, 
is  acknowledged  by  all  to  be  the  purest  sanctity  par  excellence,  the  noblest  code 
of  morality  that  was  ever  seen,  the  realization  of  the  finest  beau  ideal  that  phi- 
losophy in  its  loftiest  thoughts  has  ever  conceived  under  human  form,  and  which 
poetry  has  ever  imagined  in  its  most  brilliant  dreams.  This  we  say  is  useful 
and  higMy  salutary ;  for  it  will  always  be  salutary  for  nations  to  be  nourished 
with  the  wholesome  food  of  moral  truths,  and  to  be  excited  to  virtue  by  such 
sublime  examples. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

DIFFICULTIES    WHICH    CHRISTIANITY     HAD    TO    OVERCOME   IN    THE    WORK     OF 

SOCIAL     REGENERATION. — OF    SLAVERY. COULD     IT    BE    DESTROYED    WITH 

MORE   PROMPTNESS    THAN    IT   WAS   BY    CHRISTIANITY? 

ALTHOUGH  the  Church  attached  the  greatest  importance  to  the  propagation 
of  truth,  although  she  was  convinced  that  to  destroy  the  shapeless  mass  of  im- 
morality and  degradation  that  met  her  sight,  her  first  care  should  be  to  expose 
error  to  the  dissolving  fire  of  true  doctrines,  she  did  not  confine  herself  to  this; 
but,  descending  to  real  life,  and  following  a  system  full  of  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence, she  acted  in  such  a  manner  as  to  enable  humanity  to  taste  the  precious 
fruit  which  the  doctrines  of  Jesus  Christ  produce  even  in  temporal  things.  The 
Church  was  not  only  a  great  and  fruitful  school ;  she  was  also  a  regenerative  asso- 
ciation; she  did  not  diffuse  her  general  doctrines  by  throwing  them  abroad  at 
hazard,  merely  hoping  that  they  would  fructify  with  time }  she  developed  them 
in  all  their  relations,  applied  them  to  all  subjects,  inoculated  laws  and  manners 
with  them,  and  realized  them  in  institutions  which  afforded  silent  but  eloquent 
instructions  to  future  generations.  Nowhere  was  the  dignity  of  man  acknow- 
ledged, slavery  reigned  everywhere;  degraded  woman  was  dishonored  by  the 
corruption  of  manners,  and  debased  by  the  tyranny  of  man.  The  feelings  of 
humanity  were  trodden  under  foot,  infants  were  abandoned,  the  sick  and  aged 
were  neglected,  barbarity  and  cruelty  were  carried  to  the  highest  pitch  of  atro- 
city in  the  prevailing  laws  of  war ;  in  fine,  on  the  summit  of  the  social  edifice 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  91 

was  seen  an  odious  tyranny,  sustained  by  military  force,  and  looking  down  with 
an  eye  of  contempt  on  the  unfortunate  nations  that  lay  in  fetters  at  its  feet. 

In  such  a  state  of  things  it  certainly  was  no  slight  task  to  remove  error,  to 
reform  and  improve  manners,  abolish  slavery,  correct  the  vices  of  legislation, 
impose  a  check  on  power,  and  make  it  harmonize  with  the  public  interest,  give 
new  life  to  individuals,  and  reorganize  family  and  society ;  and  yet  nothing  less 
than  this  was  done  by  the  Church.  Let  us  begin  with  slavery.  This  is  a  mat- 
ter which  is  the  more  to  be  fathomed,  as  it  is  a  question  eminently  calculated 
to  excite  our  curiosity  and  affect  our  hearts.  What  abolished  slavery  among 
Christian  nations  ?  Was  it  Christianity  ?  Was  it  Christianity  alone,  by  its 
lofty  ideas  on  human  dignity,  by  its  maxims  and  its  spirit  of  fraternity  and 
charity,  and  also  by  its  prudent,  gentle,  and  beneficent  conduct  ?  I  trust  I  shall 
prove  that  it  was.  No  one  now  ventures  to  doubt  that  the  Church  exercised  a 
powerful  influence  on  the  abolition  of  slavery ;  this  is  a  truth  too  clear  and  evi- 
dent to  be  questioned.  M.  G-uizot  acknowledges  the  successful  efforts  with 
which  the  Church  labored  to  improve  the  social  condition.  He  says  :  "  No  one 
doubts  that  she  struggled  obstinately  against  the  great  vices  of  the  social  state ; 
for  example,  against  slavery."  But,  in  the  next  line,  and  as  if  he  were  reluct- 
ant to  establish  without  any  restriction  a  fact  which  must  necessarily  excite  in 
favor  of  the  Catholic  Church  the  sympathies  of  all  humanity,  he  adds :  "  It 
has  been  often  repeated  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  modern  world  was 
entirely  due  to  Christianity.  I  believe  that  this  is  saying  too  much ;  slavery 
existed  for  a  long  time  in  the  bosom  of  Christian  society  without  exciting  aston- 
ishment or  much  opposition."  M.  Gruizot  is  much  mistaken  if  he  expects  to 
prove  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  was  not  due  exclusively  to  Christianity,  by 
the  mere  representation  that  slavery  existed  for  a  long  time  amid  Christian 
society.  To  proceed  logically,  he  must  first  see  whether  the  sudden  •  abolition 
of  it  was  possible,  if  the  spirit  of  peace  and  order  which  animates  the  Church 
could  allow  her  rashly  to  enter  on  an  enterprise  which,  without  gaining  the  de- 
sired object,  might  have  convulsed  the  world.  The  number  of  slaves  was  im- 
mense '}  slavery  was  deeply  rooted  in  laws,  manners,  ideas,  and  interests,  indi- 
vidual and  social ;  a  fatal  system,  no  doubt,  but  the  eradication  of  which  all  at 
once  it  would  have  been  rash  to  attempt,  as  its  roots  had  penetrated  deeply  and 
spread  widely  in  the  bowels  of  the  land. 

In  a  census  of  Athens  there  were  reckoned  20,000  citizens  and  40,000  slaves ; 
in  the  Peloponnesian  war  no  less  than  20,000  passed  over  to  the  enemy.  This 
we  learn  from  Thucydides.  The  same  author  tells  us,  that  at  Chio  the  number 
of  slaves  was  very  considerable,  ^nd  that  their  defection,  when  they  passed  over 
to  the  Athenians,  reduced  their  masters  to  great  extremities.  In  general,  the 
number  of  slaves  was  so  very  great  everywhere  that  the  public  safety  was  often 
compromised  thereby.  Therefore  it  was  necessary  to  take  precautions  to  prevent 
their  acting  in  concert.  "It  is  necessary,"  says  Plato  (Dial.  6,  de  Leg.}, 
"  that  slaves  should  not  be  of  the  same  country,  and  that  they  should  differ  as 
much  as  possible  in  manners  and  desires ;  for  experience  has  many  times  shown, 
in  the  frequent  defections  which  have  been  witnessed,  among  the  Messenians, 
and  in  other  cities  that  had  a  great  number  of  slaves  of  the  same  language,  that 
great  evils  commonly  result  from  it."  Aristotle  in  his  Government  (b.  i.  c.  5) 
gives  various  rules  as  to  the  manner  in  which  slaves  ought  to  be  treated ;  it  is 
remarkable  that  he  is  of  the  same  opinion  as  Plato,  for  he  says  :  "  That  there 
should  not  be  many  slaves  of  the  same  country."  He  tells  us  in  his  Politics 
(b.  ii.  c.  7),  "  That  the  Thessalians  were  reduced  to  great  embarrassments  on 
account  of  the  number  of  their  Penestes,  a  sort  of  slaves ;  the  same  thing  hap- 
pened to  the  Spartans  on  account  of  the  Helotes.  The  Penestes  have  often 
rebelled  in  Thessaly;  and  the  Spartans,  during  their  reverses,  have  been  me- 
naced by  the  plots  of  the  Helotes."  This  was  a  difficulty  which  required  the 


92  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

serious  attention  of  politicians.  They  did  not  know  how  to  prevent  the  incon- 
veniences induced  by  this  immense  multitude  of  slaves.  Aristotle  laments  the 
difficulty  there  was  in  finding  the  best  way  of  treating  them  •  and  we  see  that 
it  was  the  subject  of  grave  cares;  I  will  transcribe  his  own  words:  "In  truth," 
he  says,  "  the  manner  in  which  this  class  of  men  ought  to  be  treated  is  a  thing 
difficult  and  full  of  embarrassment ;  for  if  they  are  treated  mildly,  they  become 
insolent,  and  wish  to  become  equal  to  their  masters ;  if  they  are  treated  harshly, 
they  conceive  hatred,  and  conspire." 

At  Rome,  the  multitude  of  slaves  was  such  that  when,  at  a  certain  period,  it 
was  proposed  to  give  them  a  distinctive  dress,  the  Senate  opposed  the  measure, 
fearing  that  if  they  knew  their  own  numbers  the  public  safety  would  be  endan- 
gered ;  and  certainly  this  precaution  was  not  vain,  for  already,  a  long  time  be- 
fore, the  slaves  had  caused  great  commotions  in  Italy.  Plato,  in  support  of  the  ad- 
vice which  I  have  just  quoted,  states,  "  That  the  slaves  had  frequently  devastated 
Italy  with  piracy  and  robbery."  In  more  recent  times  Spartacus,  at  the  head 
of  an  army  of  slaves,  was  the  terror  of  that  country  for  some  time,  and  engaged 
the  best  generals  of  Rome.  The  number  of  slaves  had  reached  such  an  excess, 
that  many  masters  reckoned  them  by  hundreds.  When  the  Prefect  of  Rome, 
Pedanius  Secundus,  was  assassinated,  four  hundred  slaves  who  belonged  to  him 
were  put  to  death.  (Tac.  Ann.  b.  xiv.)  Pudentila,  the  wife  of  Apulcius,  had 
so  many  that  she  gave  four  hundred  to  her  son.  They  became  a  matter  of 
pomp,  and  the  Romans  vied  with  each  other  in  their  number.  When  asked 
this  question,  quod  pascit  servos,  how  many  slaves  does  he  keep,  according  to 
the  expression  of  Juvenal  (Sat.  3,  v.  140),  they  wished  to  be  able  to  show  a 
great  number.  The  thing  had  reached  such  a  pass  that,  according  to  Pliny,  the 
cortege  of  a  family  resembled  an  army. 

It  was  not  only  in  Greece  and  Italy  that  this  abundance  of  slaves  was  found ; 
at  Tyre  they  arose  against  their  masters,  and,  by  their  immense  numbers,  they 
were  able  to  massacre  them  all.  If  we  turn  our  eyes  towards  barbarous  nations, 
without  speaking  of  some  the  best  known,  we  learn  from  Herodotus  that  the 
Scythians,  on  their  return  from  Media,  found  their  slaves  in  rebellion,  and  were 
compelled  to  abandon  their  country  to  them.  Caesar  in  his  Commentaries  (de 
Eello  Gall.  lib.  vi.)  bears  witness  to  the  multitude  of  slaves  in  Gaul.  As  their 
number  was  everywhere  so  considerable,  it  is  clear  that  it  was  quite  impossible 
to  preach  freedom  to  them  without  setting  the  world  on  fire.  Unhappily  we 
have,  in  modern  times,  the  means  of  forming  a  comparison  which,  although  on 
an  infinitely  smaller  scale,  will  answer  our  purpose.  In  a  colony  where  black 
slaves  abound,  who  would  venture  to  set  them  at  liberty  all  at  once  ?  Now  how 
much  are  the  difficulties  increased,  what  colossal  dimensions  does  not  the  dan- 
ger assume,  when  you  have  to  do,  not  with  a  colony,  but  with  the  world  ?  Their 
intellectual  and  moral  condition  rendered  them  incapable  of  turning  such  an 
advantage  to  their  own  benefit  and  that  of  society ;  in  their  debasement,  urged 
on  by  the  hatred  and  the  desire  of  vengeance  which  ill-treatment  had  excited  in 
their  minds,  they  would  have  repeated,  on  a  large  scale,  the  bloody  scenes 
with  which  they  had  already,  in  former  times,  stained  the  pages  of  history ;  and 
what  would  then  have  happened  ?  Society,  thus  endangered,  would  have  been 
put  on  its  guard  against  principles  favoring  liberty ;  henceforth  it  would  have 
regarded  them  with  prejudice  and  suspicion,  and  the  chains  of  servitude,  instead 
of  being  loosened,  would  have  been  the  more  firmly  riveted.  Out  of  this  im- 
mense mass  of  rude,  savage  men,  set  at  liberty  without  preparation,  it  was 
impossible  for  social  organization  to  arise  \  for  social  organization  is  not  the 
creation  of  a  moment,  especially  with  such  elements  as  these ;  and  in  this  case, 
since  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  choose  between  slavery  and  the  annihila- 
tion of  social  order,  the  instinct  of  preservation,  which  animates  society  as  well 
as  all  beings,  would  undoubtedly  have  brought  about  the  continuation  of  slavery 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  93 

where  it  still  existed,  and  its  re-establishment  where  it  had  been  destroyed. 
Those  who  complain  that  Christianity  did  not  accomplish  the  work  of  abolishing 
slavery  with  sufficient  promptitude,  should  remember  that,  even  supposing  a 
sudden  or  very  rapid  emancipation  possible,  and  to  say  nothing  of  the  bloody 
revolutions  which  would  necessarily  have  been  the  result,  the  mere  force  of 
circumstances,  by  the  insurmountable  difficulties  which  it  would  have  raised, 
would  have  rendered  such  a  measure  absolutely  useless.  Let  us  lay  aside  all 
social  and  political  considerations,  and  apply  ourselves  to  the  economical  question. 
First,  it  was  necessary  to  change  all  the  relations  of  property.  The  slaves 
played  a  principal  part  therein  ;  they  cultivated  the  land,  and  worked  as  me- 
chanics ;  in  a  word,  among  them  was  distributed  all  that  is  called  labor ;  and 
this  distribution  being  made  on  the  supposition  of  slavery,  to  take  away  this 
would  have  made  a  disruption,  the  ultimate  consequences  of  which  could  not 
be  estimated.  I  will  suppose  that  violent  spoliations  had  taken  place,  that  a 
repartition  or  equalization  of  property  had  been  attempted,  that  lands  had  been 
distributed  to  the  emancipated,  and  that  the  richest  proprietors  had  been  com- 
pelled to  hold  the  pickaxe  and  the  plough  ;  I  will  suppose  all  these  absurdities 
and  mad  dreams  to  be  realized,  and  I  say  that  this  would  have  been  no  remedy ; 
for  we  must  not  forget  that  the  production  of  the  means  of  subsistence  must  be 
in  proportion  to  the  wants  of  those  they  are  intended  to  support,  and  that  this 
proportion  would  have  been  destroyed  by  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The  pro- 
duction was  regulated,  not  exactly  according  to  the  number  of  the  individuals 
who  then  existed,  but  on  the  supposition  that  the  majority  were  slaves;  now  we 
know  that  the  wants  of  a  freeman  are  greater  than  those  of  a  slave. 

If  at  the  present  time,  after  eighteen  centuries,  when  ideas  have  been  cor- 
rected, manners  softened,  laws  ameliorated;  when  nations  and  governments 
have  been  taught  by  experience ;  when  so  many  public  establishments  for  the 
relief  of  indigence  have  been  founded ;  when  so  many  systems  have  been  tried 
for  the  division  of  labor ;  when  riches  are  distributed  in  a  more  equitable  man- 
ner ;  if  it  is  still  so  difficult  to  prevent  a  great  number  of  men  from  becoming 
the  victims  of  dreadful  misery,  if  that  is  the  terrible  evil,  which,  like  a  fatal 
nightmare,  torments  society,  and  threatens  its  future,  what  would  have  been  the 
effect  of  a  universal  emancipation,  at  the  beginning  of  Christianity,  at  a  time 
when  slaves  were  not  considered  by  the  law  as  persons,  but  as  things ;  when 
their  conjugal  union  was  not  looked  upon  as  a  marriage ;  when  their  children 
were  property,  and  subject  to  the  same  rules  as  the  progeny  of  animals ;  when, 
in  fine,  the  unhappy  slave  was  ill-treated,  tormented,  sold,  or.  put  to  death, 
according  to  the  caprices  of  his  master  ?  Is  it  not  evident  that  the  cure  of  such 
evils  was  the  work  of  ages  ?  Do  not  humanity  and  political  and  social  economy 
unanimously  tell  us  this  ?  If  mad  attempts  had  been  made,  the  slaves  them- 
selves would  have  been  the  first  to  protest  against  them;  they  would  have 
adhered  to  a  servitude  which  at  least  secured  to  them  food  and  shelter;  they 
would  have  rejected  a  liberty  which  was  inconsistent  even  with  their  existence. 
Such  is  the  order  of  nature :  man,  above  all,  requires  wherewith  to  live ;  and 
the  means  of  subsistence  being  wanting,  liberty  itself  would  cease  to  please 
him.  It  is  not  necessary  to  allude  to  the  individual  examples  of  this,  which 
we  have  in  abundance ;  entire  nations  have  given  signal  proofs  of  this  truth. 
When  misery  is  excessive,  it  is  difficult  for  it  not  to  bring  with  it  degradation, 
stifle  the  most  generous  sentiments,  and  take  away  the  magic  of  the  words  inde- 
pendence and  liberty.  "The  common  people,"  says  Caesar,  speaking  of  the 
Gauls  (lib.  vi.  de  Bella  Gall.),  "  are  almost  on  a  level  with  slaves ;  of  themselves 
they  venture  nothing ;  their  voice  is  of  no  avail.  There  are  many  of  that 
class,  who,  loaded  with  debts  and  tributes,  or  oppressed  by  the  powerful,  give 
themselves  up  into  servitude  to  the  nobles,  who  exercise  over  those  who  have 
thus  delivered  themselves  up  the  same  rights  as  over  slaves."  Examples  of  the 


94  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

same  kind  are  not  wanting  in  modern  times ;  we  know  that  in  China  there  is  a 
great  number  of  slaves  whose  servitude  is  owing  entirely  to  the  incapacity  of 
themselves  or  their  fathers  to  provide  for  their  own  subsistence. 

These  observations,  which  are  supported  by  facts  that  no  one  can  deny,  evi- 
dently show  that  Christianity  has  displayed  profound  wisdom  in  proceeding  with 
so  much  caution  in  the  abolition  of  slavery. 

It  did  all  that  was  possible  in  favor  of  human  liberty ;  if  it  did  not  advance 
more  rapidly  in  the  work,  it  was  because  it  could  not  do  so  without  compromit- 
ting  the  undertaking — without  creating  serious  obstacles  to  the  desired  emanci- 
pation. Such  is  the  result  at  which  we  arrive  when  we  have  thoroughly 
examined  the  charges  made  against  some  proceedings  of  the  Church.  We  look 
into  them  by  the  light  of  reason,  we  compare  them  with  the  facts,  and  in  the 
end  we  are  convinced  that  the  conduct  blamed  is  perfectly  in  accordance  with 
the  dictates  of  the  highest  wisdom  and  the  counsels  of  the  soundest  prudence. 
What,  then,  does  M.  Guizot  mean,  when,  after  having  allowed  that  Christianity 
labored  with  earnestness  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  he  accuses  it  of  having 
consented  for  a  long  time  to  its  continuance  ?  Is  it  logical  thence  to  infer  that 
it  is  not  true  that  this  immense  benefit  is  due  exclusively  to  Christianity  ?  That 
slavery  endured  for  a  long  time  in  presence  of  the  Church  is  true ;  but  it  was 
always  declining,  and  it  only  lasted  as  long  as  was  necessary  to  realize  the 
benefit  without  violence — without  a  shock — without  compromitting  its  univer- 
sality and  its  continuation.  Moreover,  we  ought  to  subtract  from  the  time  of 
its  continuance  many  ages,  during  which  the  Church  was  often  proscribed, 
always  regarded  with  aversion,  and  totally  unable  to  exert  a  direct  influence  on 
the  social  organization.  We  ought  also,  .to  a  great  extent,  to  make  exception  of 
later  times,  as  the  Church  had  only  begun  to  exert  a  direct  and  public  influence, 
when  the  irruption  of  the  northern  barbarians  took  place,  which,  together  with 
the  corruption  which  infected  the  empire  and  spread  in  a  frightful  manner,  pro- 
duced such  a  perturbation,  such  a  confused  mass  of  languages,  customs,  man- 
ners, and  laws,  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  make  the  regulating  power 
produce  salutary  fruits.  If,  in  later  times,  it  has  been  difficult  to  destroy 
feudality ;  if  there  remain  to  this  day,  after  ages  of  struggles,  the  remnants  of 
that  constitution;  if  the  slave-trade,  although  limited  to  certain  countries  and 
circumstances,  still  merits  the  universal  reprobation  which  is  raised  throughout 
the  world  against  its  infamy ;  how  can  we  venture  to  express  our  astonishment 
— how  can  we  venture  to  make  it  a  reproach  against  the  Church,  that  slavery 
continued  some  ages  after  she  had  proclaimed  men's  fraternity  with  each  other, 
and  their  equality  before  God  ? 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

IDEAS   AND   MANNERS   OF   ANTIQUITY   WITH   RESPECT   TO    SLAVERY. — THE 
CHURCH   BEGINS   BY   IMPROVING    THE   CONDITION    OP    SLAVES. 

HAPPILY  the  Catholic  Church  was  wiser  than  philosophers ;  she  knew  how 
to  confer  on  humanity  the  benefit  of  emancipation,  without  injustice  or  revolu- 
tion. She  knew  how  to  regenerate  society,  but  not  in  rivers  of  blood.  Let  us 
see  what  was  her  conduct  with  respect  to  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Much  has 
been  already  said  of  the  spirit  of  love  and  fraternity  which  animates  Chris- 
tianity, and  that  is  sufficient  to  show  that  its  influence  in  this  work  must  have 
been  great.  But  perhaps  sufficient  care  has  not  been  taken  in  seeking  the  posi- 
tive and  practical  means  which  the  Church  employed  for  this  end.  In  the  dark- 
ness of  ages,  in  circumstances  so  complicated  or  various,  will  it  be  possible  to 
discover  any  traces  of  the  path  pursued  by  the  Catholic  Church  in  accomplish- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  95 

ing  the  destruction  of  that  slavery  under  which  a  large  portion  of  the  human 
race  groaned  ?  Will  it  be  possible  to  do  any  thing  more  than  praise  her  Chris- 
tian charity  ?  Will  it  be  possible  to  point  out  a  plan,  a  system,  and  to  prove 
the  existence  and  development  of  it,  not  by  referring  to  a  few  expressions,  to 
elevated  thoughts,  generous  sentiments,  and  the  isolated  actions  of  a  few  illus- 
trious men,  but  by  exhibiting  positive  facts,  and  historical  documents,  which 
show  what  were  the  esprit  de  corps  and  tendency  of  the  Church  ?  I  believe 
that  this  may  be  done,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  I  shall  be  able  to  do  it,  by 
availing  myself  of  what  is  most  convincing  and  decisive  in  the  matter,  viz.  the 
monuments  of  ecclesiastical  legislation. 

In  the  first  place,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  remember  what  I  have  already  pointed 
out,  viz.  that  when  we  have  to  do  with  the  conduct,  designs,  and  tendencies  of 
the  Church,  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  to  suppose  that  these  designs  were  con- 
ceived in  their  fullest  extent  by  the  mind  of  any  individual  in  particular,  nor 
that  the  merit  and  all  the  prudence  of  that  conduct  was  understood  by  those 
who  took  part  in  it.  It  is  not  even  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  first  Christians 
understood  all  the  force  of  the  tendencies  of  Christianity  with  respect  to  the 
abolition  of  slavery.  What  requires  to  be  shown  is,  that  the  result  has  been 
obtained  by  the  doctrines  and  conduct  of  the  Church,  as  with  Catholics,  (al- 
though they  know  how  to  esteem  at  their  just  value  the  merit  and  greatness  of 
each  man,)  individuals,  when  the  Church  is  concerned,  disappear.  Their 
thoughts  and  will  are  nothing ;  the  spirit  which  animates,  vivifies,  and  directs 
the  Church,  is  not  the  spirit  of  man,  but  that  of  God  himself.  Those  who 
belong  not  to  our  faith  will  employ  other  names ;  but  at  least  we  shall  agree  in 
this,  that  facts,  considered  in  this  way,  above  the  mind  and  the  will  of  indivi- 
duals, preserve  much  better  their  real  dimensions  ;  and  thus  the  great  chain  of 
events  in  the  study  of  history  remains  unbroken.  Let  it  be  said  that  the  con- 
duct of  the  Church  was  inspired  and  directed  by  God;  or  that  it  was  the  result 
of  instinct ;  that  it  was  the  development  of  a  tendency  contained  in  her  doc- 
trines; we  will  not  now  stay  to  consider  the  expressions  which  may  be  used  by 
Catholics,  or  by  philosophers ;  what  we  have  to  show  is,  that  this  instinct  was 
noble  and  well-directed ;  that  this  tendency  had  a  great  object  in  view,  and 
knew  how  to  attain  it. 

The  first  thing  that  Christianity  did  for  slaves,  was  to  destroy  the  errors 
which  opposed,  not  only  their  universal  emancipation,  but  even  the  improve- 
ment of  their  condition  ;  that  is,  the  first  force  which  she  employed  in  the  attack 
was,  according  to  her  custom,  the  force  of  ideas.  This  first  step  was  the  more 
necessary,  as  the  same  thing  applies  to  all  other  evils,  as  well  as  to  slavery; 
every  social  evil  is  always  accompanied  by  some  error  which  produces  or  foments 
it.  There  existed  not  only  the  oppression  and  degradation  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  human  race,  but,  moreover,  an  accredited  error,  which  tended  more  and 
more  to  lower  that  portion  of  humanity.  According  to  this  opinion,  slaves 
were  a  mean  race,  far  below  the  dignity  of  freemen  :  they  were  a  race  degraded 
by  Jupiter  himself,  marked  by  a  stamp  of  humiliation,  and  predestined  to  their 
state  of  abjection  and  debasement.  A  detestable  doctrine,  no  doubt,  and  con- 
tradicted by  the  nature  of  man,  by  history  and  experience  j  but  which,  never- 
theless, reckoned  distinguished  men  among  its  defenders,  and  which  we  see  pro- 
claimed for  ages,  to  the  shame  of  humanity  and  the  scandal  of  reason,  until 
Christianity  came  to  destroy  it,  by  undertaking  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  man. 
Homer  tells  us  (Odys.  17)  that  "Jupiter  has  deprived  slaves  of  half  the  mind." 
We  find  in  Plato  a  trace  of  the  same  doctrine,  although  he  expresses  himself,  as 
he  is  accustomed  to  do,  by  the  mouth  of  another;  he  ventures  to  advance  the 
following :  "  It  is  said  that,  in  the  mind  of  slaves,  there  is  nothing  sound  or 
complete ;  and  that  a  prudent  man  ought  not  to  trust  that  class  of  persons ; 
which  is  equally  attested  by  the  wisest  of  our  poets/'  Here  Plato  cites  the 


96  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

above-quoted  passage  of  Homer  (Dial.  8,  de  Legibus).  But  it  is  in  the  Politics 
of  Aristotle  that  we  find  this  degrading  doctrine  in  all  its  deformity  and  naked- 
ness. Some  have  wished  to  excuse  this  philosopher,  but  in  vain ;  his  own  words 
condemn  him  without  appeal.  In  the  first  chapter  of  his  work,  he  explains  the 
constitution  of  the  family,  and  attempts  to  state  the  relations  of  husband  and 
wife,  of  master  and  slave ;  he  states  that,  as  the  wife  is  by  nature  different  from 
the  husband,  so  is  the  slave  from  the  master.  These  are  his  words :  "  Thus  the 
woman  and  the  slave  are  distinguished  by  nature  itself."  Let  it  not  be  said 
that  this  is  an  expression  that  escaped  from  the  pen  of  the  writer;  it  was  stated 
with  a  full  knowledge,  and  is  a  resume  of  his  theory.  In  the  third  chapter, 
where  he  continues  to  analyze  the  elements  which  compose  the  family,  after 
having  stated  "that  a  complete  family  is  formed  of  free  persons  and  slaves," 
he  alludes  particularly  to  the  latter,  and  begins  by  combating  an  opinion  which 
he  thinks  too  favorable  to  them  :  "  There  are  some,"  he  says,  "who  think  that 
slavery  is  a  thing  out  of  the  order  of  nature,  since  it  is  the  law  itself  which 
makes  some  free  and  others  slaves,  while  nature  makes  no  distinction."  Before 
combating  this  opinion,  he  explains  the  relations  between  master  and  slave,  by 
using  the  comparison  of  artist  and  instrument,  and  that  of  the  soul  and  body; 
he  continues  thus :  "If  we  compare  man  to  woman,  we  find  that  the  first  is  su- 
perior, therefore  he  commands ;  the  woman  is  inferior,  therefore  she  obeys. 
The  same  thing  ought  to  take  place  among  all  men.  Thus  it  is  that  those  among 
them  who  are  as  inferior  with  respect  to  others,  as  the  body  is  with  respect  to  the 
soul,  and  the  animal  to  man;  those  whose  powers  principally  consist  in  the  use  of 
the  body,  the  only  service  that  can  be  obtained  from  them,  they  are  naturally 
slaves."  We  should  imagine,  at  first  sight,  that  the  philosopher  spoke  only  of 
idiots ;  his  words  would  seem  to  indicate  this  ;  but  we  shall  see,  by  the  context, 
that  such  is  not  his  intention.  It  is  evident  that  if  he  spoke  only  of  idiots,  he 
would  prove  nothing  against  the  opinion  which  he  desires  to  combat ;  for  the 
number  of  them  is  nothing  with  respect  to  the  generality  of  men.  If  he  spoke 
only  of  idiots,  of  what  use  would  be  a  theory  founded  on  so  rare  and  monstrous 
an  exception  ? 

But  we  have  no  need  of  conjectures  as  to  the  real  intention  of  the  philoso- 
pher, he  himself  takes  care  to  explain  it  to  us,  and  tells  us  at  the  same  time  for 
what  reason  he  ventures  to  make  use  of  expressions  which  seem,  at  first,  to  place 
the  matter  on  another  level.  His  intention  is  nothing  less  than  to  attribute  to 
nature  the  express  design  of  producing  men  of  two  kinds ;  one  born  for  slavery, 
the  other  for  liberty.  The  passage  is  too  important  and  too  curious  to  be 
omitted.  It  is  this :  "  Nature  has  taken  care  to  create  the  bodies  of  free  men 
different  from  those  of  slaves ;  the  bodies  of  the  latter  are  strong,  and  proper 
for  the  most  necessary  labors :  those  of  freemen,  on  the  contrary,  well  formed, 
although  ill  adapted  for  servile  works,  are  proper  for  civil  life,  which  consists 
in  the  management  of  things  in  war  and  peace.  Nevertheless,  the  contrary 
often  happens.  To  a  free  man  is  given  the  body  of  a  slave ;  and  to  a  slave  the 
soul  of  a  free  man.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  if  the  bodies  of  some  men  were  as 
much  more  perfect  than  others,  as  we  see  is  the  case  in  the  image  of  the  Gods, 
all  the  world  would*  be  of  opinion  that  these  men  should  be  obeyed  by  those 
who  had  not  the  same  beauty.  If  this  is  true  in  speaking  of  the  body,  it  is 
still  more  so  in  speaking  of  the  soul ;  although  it  is  not  so  easy  to  see  the 
beauty  of  the  soul  as  that  of  the  body.  Thus  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  there 
are  some  men  born  for  liberty,  as  others  are  for  slavery;  a  slavery  which  is  not 
only  useful  to  the  slaves  themselves,  but,  moreover,  just."  A  miserable  philo- 
sophy, which,  in  order  to  support  that  degraded  state,  was  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  such  subtilties,  and  ventured  to  impute  to  nature  the  intention  of  cre- 
ating different  castes,  some,  born  to  command  and  others  to  obey ;  a  cruel  philo- 
sophy, which  thus  labored  to  break  the  bonds  of  fraternity  with  which  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  97 

Author  of  nature  has  desired  to  knit  together  the  human  race,  pretending  to 
raise  a  barrier  between  man  and  man,  and  inventing  theories  to  support  inequal- 
ity; not  that  inequality  which  is  the  necessary  result  of  all  social  organization, 
but  an  inequality  so  terrible  and  degrading  as  that  of  slavery. 

Christianity  raises  its  voice,  and  by  the  first  words  which  it  pronounces  on 
slaves,  declares  them  equal  to  all  men  in  the  dignity  of  nature,  and  in  the  par- 
ticipation of  the  graces  which  the  Divine  Spirit  diffuses  upon  earth.  We  must 
remark  the  care  with  which  St.  Paul  insists  on  this  point ;  it  seems  as  if  he  had 
in  view  those  degrading  distinctions  which  have  arisen  from  a  fatal  forgetfulness 
of  the  dignity  of  man.  The  Apostle  never  forgets  to  inculcate  to  the  faithful 
that  there  is  no  difference  between  the  slave  and  the  freeman.  "  For  in  one 
Spirit  were  we  all  baptized  into  one  body,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  whether 
bond  or  free/'  (1  Cor.  xii.  13.)  "  For  you  are  all  children  of  God,  by  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ.  For  as  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  in  Christ  have  put 
on  Christ.  There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek;  there  is  neither  bond  or  free; 
there  is  neither  male  or  female.  For  you  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus."  (Gal.  iii. 
26-28.)  "  Where  there  is  neither  Gentile  nor  Jew,  circumcision  nor  uncircum- 
cision,  barbarian  or  Scythian,  bond  or  free ;  but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all."  (Colos. 
iii.  11.)  The  heart  dilates  at  the  sound  of  the  voice  thus  loudly  proclaiming 
the  great  principles  of  holy  fraternity  and  equality.  After  having  heard  the 
oracles  of  Paganism  inventing  doctrines  to  degrade  still  more  the  unhappy 
slaves,  we  seem  to  awake  from  a  painful  dream,  and  to  find  ourselves  in  the 
light  of  day  in  the  midst  of  the  delightful  reality.  The  imagination  delights 
to  contemplate  the  millions  of  men  who,  bent  under  degradation  and  ignominy, 
at  this  voice  raised  their  eyes  towards  Heaven,  and  were  animated  with  hope. 

It  was  with  this  teaching  of  Christianity  as  with  all  generous  and  fruitful 
doctrines ;  they  penetrate  the  heart  of  society,  remain  there  as  a  precious  germ, 
and,  developed  by  time,  produce  an  immense  tree  which  overshadows  families 
and  nations.  When  these  doctrines  were  diffused  among  men,  they  could  not 
fail  to  be  misunderstood  and  exaggerated.  Thus  there  were  found  some  who 
pretended  that  Christian  freedom  was  the  proclamation  of  universal  freedom. 
The  pleasing  words  of  Christ  easily  resounded  in  the  ears  of  slaves :  they  heard 
themselves  declared  children  of  God,  and  brethren  of  Jesus  Christ;  they  saw 
that  there  was  no  distinction  made  between  them  and  their  masters,  between 
them  and  the  most  powerful  lords  of  the  earth ;  is  it,  then,  strange  that  men 
only  accustomed  to  chains,  to  labor,  to  every  kind  of  trouble  and  degradation, 
exaggerated  the  principles  of  Christian  liberty,  and  made  applications  of  them 
which  were  neither  just  in  themselves,  nor  capable  of  being  reduced  to  practice  ? 
We  know,  from  St.  Jerome,  that  many,  hearing  themselves  called  to  Christian 
liberty,  believed  that  they  were  thereby  freed.  Perhaps  the  Apostle  alluded  to 
this  error  when,  in  his  first  epistle  to  Timothy,  he  said,  "Whosoever  are  ser- 
vants under  the  yoke,  let  them  count  their  masters  worthy  of  all  honor ;  lest 
the  name  of  the  Lord  and  His  doctrines  be  blasphemed."  (1  Timothy  vi.  1.) 
This  error  had  been  so  general,  that  after  three  centuries  it  was  still  much  cre- 
dited ;  and  the  Council  of  Gangres,  held  about  324,  was  obliged  to  excommu- 
nicate those  who,  under  pretence  of  piety,  taught  that  slaves  ought  to  quit  their 
masters,  and  withdraw  from  their  service.  This  was  not  the  teaching  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  besides,  we  have  clearly  shown  that  it  would  not  have  been  the  right 
way  to  achieve  universal  emancipation.  Therefore  this  same  Apostle,  from 
whose  mouth  we  have  heard  such  generous  language  in  favor  of  slaves,  fre- 
quently inculcates  to  them  obedience  to  their  masters ;  but  let  us  observe,  that 
while  fulfilling  this  duty  imposed  by  the  spirit  of  peace  and  justice  which  ani- 
mates Christianity,  he  so  explains  the  motives  on  which  the  obedience  of  slaves 
ought  to  be  based,  he  calls  to  mind  the  obligations  of  masters  in  such  affecting 
and  energetic  words,  and  establishes  so  expressly  and  conclusively  the  equality 

13  I 


98  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

of  all  men  before  God,  that  we  cannot  help  seeing  how  great  was  his  compassion 
for  that  unhappy  portion  of  humanity,  and  how  much  his  ideas  on  this  point 
differed  from  those  of  a  blind  and  hardened  world.  There  is  in  the  heart  of 
man  a  feeling  of  noble  independence,  which  does  not  permit  him  to  subject 
himself  to  the  will  of  another,  except  when  he  sees  that  the  claims  to  his  obe- 
dience are  founded  on  legitimate  titles.  If  they  are  in  accordance  with  reason 
and  justice,  and,  above  all,  if  they  have  their  roots  in  the  great  objects  of  hu- 
man love  and  veneration,  his  understanding  is  convinced,  his  heart  is  gained, 
and  he  yields.  But  if  the  reason  for  the  command  is  only  the  will  of  another, 
if  it  is  only  man  against  man,  these  thoughts  of  equality  ferment  in  his  mind, 
then  the  feeling  of  independence  burns  in  his  heart,  he  puts  on  a  bold  front, 
and  his  passions  are  excited.  Therefore,  when  a  willing  and  lasting  obedience 
is  to  be  obtained,  it  is  necessary  that  the  man  should  be  lost  sight  of  in  the 
ruler,  and  that  he  should  only  appear  as  the  representative  of  a  superior  power, 
or  the  personification  of  the  motives  which  convince  the  subject  of  the  justice 
and  utility  of  his  submission ;  thus  he  does  not  obey  the  will  of  another  be- 
cause it  is  that  will,  but  because  it  is  the  representative  of  a  superior  power,  or 
the  interpreter  of  truth  and  justice  ;  then  man  no  longer  considers  his  dignity 
outraged,  and  obedience  becomes  tolerable  and  pleasing. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  such  were  not  the  titles  on  which  was  founded 
the  obedience  of  slaves  before  Christianity :  custom  placed  them  in  the  rank  of 
brutes ;  and  the  laws,  outdoing  it  if  possible,  were  expressed  in  language  which 
cannot  be  read  without  indignation.  Masters  commanded  because  such  was 
their  pleasure,  and  slaves  were  compelled  to  obey,  not  on  account  of  superior 
motives  or  moral  obligations,  but  because  they  were  the  property  of  their  mas- 
ters, horses  governed  by  the  bridle,  and  mere  mechanical  machines.  Was  it, 
then,  strange  that  these  unhappy  beings,  drenched  with  misfortune  and  igno- 
miny, conceived  and  cherished  in  their  hearts  that  deep  rancor,  that  violent 
hatred,  and  that  terrible  thirst  for  vengeance,  which  at  the  first  opportunity  ex- 
ploded so  fearfully  ?  The  horrible  massacre  of  Tyre,  the  example  and  terror 
of  the  universe,  according  to  the  expression  of  Justin ;  the  repeated  revolts  of 
the  Penestes  in  Thessaly,  of  the  Helotes  in  Sparta ;  the  defections  of  the1  slaves 
of  Chio  and  Athens ;  the  insurrection  under  the  command  of  Herdonius,  and 
the  terror  which  it  spread  in  all  the  families  of  Rome ;  the  scenes  of  blood,  the 
obstinate  and  desperate  resistance  of  the  bands  of  Spartacus;  was  all  this  any 
thing  but  the  natural  result  of  the  system  of  violence,  outrage,  and  contempt 
with  which  slaves  were  treated  ?  Is  it  not  what  we  have  seen  repeated  in  mo- 
dern times,  in  the  catastrophes  of  the  negro  colonies  ?  Such  is  the  nature  of 
man,  whoever  sows  contempt  and  outrage  will  reap  fury  and  vengeance.  Chris- 
tianity was  well  aware  of  these  truths ;  and  this  is  the  reason  why,  while  preach- 
ing obedience,  it  took  care  to  found  it  on  Divine  authority.  If  it  confirmed  to 
masters  their  rights,  it  also  taught  them  an  exalted  sense  of  their  obligation. 
Wherever  Christian  doctrines  prevailed,  slaves  might  say  :  "  It  is  true  that  we 
are  unfortunate ;  birth,  poverty,  or  the  reverses  of  war  have  condemned  us  to 
misfortune  ;  but  at  least  we  are  acknowledged  as  men  and  brethren ;  between 
us  and  our  masters  there  is  a  reciprocity  of  rights  and  obligations."  Let  us 
hear  the  Apostle :  "  You,  slaves,  obey  those  who  are  your  masters  according  to 
the  flesh,  with  fear  and  trembling,  in  the  simplicity  of  your  hearts,  as  to  Jesus 
Christ  himself.  Not  serving  to  the  eye^  as  it  were  pleasing  men}  but,  as  the  ser- 
vants of  Christ,  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the  heart.  With  a  good  will  serv- 
ing, as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  to  men.  Knowing  that  whatsoever  good  things 
.any  man  shall  do,  the  same  shall  he  receive  from  the  Lord,  whether  he  be  bond 
or  free.  And  you,  masters,  do  the  same  thing  to  them,  forbearing  threatenings, 
knowing  that  the  Lord  both  of  them  and  you  is  in  heaven,  and  there  is  no  respect 
of  persons  with  Him."  (Eph.  vi.  5-9.)  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  he  in- 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  99 

culcates  the  same  doctrine  of  obedience  anew,  basing  it  on  the  same  motives  • 
for,  to  console  the  unfortunate  slaves,  he  tells  them :  "  You  shall  receive  of  the 
Lord  the  reward  of  inheritance  :  serve  ye  the  Lord  Christ.  For  he  that  doth 
wrong  shall  receive  for  that  which  he  hath  done  wrongfully,  and  there  is  no 
respect  of  persons  with  God"  (Colos.  iii.  24,  25);  and  lower  down,  addressing 
himself  to  masters  :  "Masters,  do  to  your  servants  that  which  is  just  and  equal, 
knowing  that  you  also  have  a  Master  in  heaven."  (iv.  1.) 

The  diffusion  of  such  beneficent  doctrines  necessarily  tended  to  improve 
greatly  the  condition  of  slaves ;  their  immediate  effect  was  to  soften  that  exces- 
sive rigor,  that  cruelty  which  would  be  incredible  if  it  were  not  incontrovertibly 
proved.  We  know  that  the  master  had  the  right  of  life  and  death,  and  that 
he  abused  that  power  even  to  putting  a  slave  to  death  from  caprice,  as  Quintus 
Flaminius  did  in  the  midst  of  a  festival.  Another  caused  one  of  these  unfor- 
tunate beings  to  be  thrown  to  the  fishes,  because  he  broke  a  glass  of  crystal. 
This  is  related  of  Vedius  Pollio ;  and  this  horrible  cruelty  was  not  confined  to 
the  circle  of  a  few  families  subject  to  a  master  devoid  of  compassion;  no,  cruelty 
was  formed  into  a  system,  the  fatal  but  necessary  result  of  erroneous  notions  on 
this  point,  and  of  the  forgetfulness  of  the  sentiments  of  humanity.  This  vio- 
lent system  could  only  be  supported  by  constantly  trampling  upon  the  slave ; 
and  there  was  no  cessation  of  tyranny  until  the  day  when  he,  with  superior 
power,  attacked  his  master  and  destroyed  him.  An  ancient  proverb  said,  "  So 
many  slaves,  so  many  enemies."  We  have  already  seen  the  ravages  committed 
by  men  thus  rendered  savage  by  revenge,  whenever  they  were  able  to  break 
their  chains ;  but  certainly,  when  it  was  desired  to  terrify  them,  their  masters 
did  not  yield  to  them  in  ferocity.  At  Sparta,  on  one  occasion  when  they  feared 
the  ill-will  of  the  Helotes,  they  assembled  them  all  at  the  temple  of  Jupiter, 
and  put  them  to  death.  (Tliucyd.  b.  iv.)  At  Rome,  whenever  a  master  was 
assassinated,  all  his  slaves  were  condemned  to  death.  We  cannot  read  in  Taci- 
tus without  a  shudder  (Ann.  1.  xiv.  43)  the  horrible  scene  which  was  witnessed 
when  the  prefect  of  the  town,  Pedanius  Secundus,  was  assassinated  by  one  of 
his  slaves.  Not  less  than  four  hundred  were  to  die;  all,  according  to  the  an- 
cient custom,  were  to  be  led  to  punishment.  This  cruel  and  pitiable  spectacle, 
in  which  so  many  of  the  innocent  were  to  suffer  death,  excited  the  compassion 
of  the  people,  who  raised  a  tumult  to  prevent  this  horrid  butchery.  The  Se- 
nate, in  doubt,  deliberated  on  the  affair,  when  an  orator  named  Cassius  main- 
tained with  energy  that  it  was  necessary  to  complete  the  bloody  execution,  not 
only  in  obedience  to  the  ancient  custom,  but  also  because  without  it  it  would 
be  impossible  to  preserve  themselves  from  the  ill-will  of  the  slaves.  His  words 
are  all  dictated  by  injustice  and  tyranny;  he  sees  on  all  sides  dangers  and  con- 
spiracies; he  can  imagine  no  other  safeguards  than  force  and  terror.  The  fol- 
lowing passage  is  above  all  remarkable  in  his  speech,  as  showing  in  a  few  words 
the  ideas  and  manners  of  the  ancients  in  this  matter :  ' '  Our  ancestors,"  says 
the  senator,  "  always  mistrusted  the  character  of  slaves,  even  of  those  who, 
born  on  their  possessions  and  in  their  houses,  might  be  supposed  to  have  con- 
ceived from  their  cradle  an  affection  for  their  masters ;  but  as  we  have  slaves 
of  foreign  nations,  differing  in  customs  and  religion,  this  rabble  can  only  be 
restrained  by  terror."  Cruelty  prevailed,  the  boldness  of  the  people  was  re- 
pressed, the  way  was  filled  with  soldiers,  and  the  four  hundred  unfortunate  be- 
ings were  led  to  punishment. 

To  soften  this  cruel  treatment,  to  banish  these  frightful  atrocities,  ought  to 
have  been  the  first  effect  of  the  Christian  doctrines ;  and  we  may  rest  assured 
that  the  Church  never  lost  sight  of  so  important  an  object.  She  devoted  all 
her  efforts  to  improve  as  much  as  possible  the  condition  of  slaves ;  in  punish- 
ments she  caused  mildness  to  be  substituted  for  cruelty;  and  what  was  more 
important  than  all,  she  labored  to  put  reason  in  the  place  of  caprice,  and  to 


100  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

make  the  impetuosity  of  masters  yield  to  the  calmness  of  judges ;  that  is  to 
say,  she  every  day  assimilated  the  condition  of  slaves  more  and  more  to  that  of 
freemen,  by  making  right  and  not  might  reign  over  them.  The  Church  never 
forgot  the  noble  lesson  which  the  Apostle  gave  when  writing  to  Philemon,  and 
interceding  in  favor  of  a  fugitive  slave  named  Onesimus ;  he  spoke  in  his  favor 
with  a  tenderness  which  this  unhappy  class  had  never  before  inspired  :  "  I  be- 
seech thee,"  he  says  to  him,  "  for  my  son  Onesimus.  Receive  him  as  my  own 
bowels ;  no  more  as  a  slave,  but  as  a  most  dear  brother.  If  he  hath  wronged 
thee  in  any  thing,  or  is  in  thy  debt,  put  that  to  my  account."  (Epis.  to  Phil.) 
The  Council  of  Elvira,  held  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  subjects 
the  woman  who  shall  have  beaten  her  slave  so  as  to  cause  her  death  in  three 
days  to  many  years  of  penance ;  the  Council  of  Orleans,  held  in  549,  orders 
that  if  a  slave  guilty  of  a  fault  take  refuge  in  a  church,  he  is  to  be  restored  to 
his  master,  but  not  without  having  exacted  from  the  latter  a  promise,  confirmed 
by  oath,  that  he  will  not  do  him  any  harm ;  that  if  the  master,  in  violation  of 
his  oath,  maltreat  the  slave,  he  shall  be  separated  from  the  communion  of  the 
faithful  and  the  sacraments.  This  canon  shows  us  two  things :  the  habitual 
cruelty  of  masters,  and  the  zeal  of  the  Church  to  soften  the  treatment  of  slaves. 
To  restrain  this  cruelty,  nothing  less  than  an  oath  was  required ;  and  the  Church, 
always  so  careful  in  these  things,  yet  considered  the  matter  important  enough  to 
justify  and  require  the  invocation  of  the  sacred  name  of  God. 

The  favor  and  protection  which  the  Church  granted  to  slaves  rapidly  extended. 
It  seems  that  in  some  places  the  custom  was  introduced  of  requiring  a  promise 
on  oath,  not  only  that  the  slave  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  church  should  not 
be  ill-treated  in  his  person,  but  even  that  no  extraordinary  work  should  be  im- 
posed on  him,  and  that  he  should  wear  no  distinctive  mark.  This  custom,  pro- 
duced no  doubt  by  zeal  for  humanity,  but  which  may  have  occasioned  some  in- 
conveniences by  relaxing  too  much  the  ties  of  obedience,  and  allowing  excesses 
on  the  part  of  slaves,  appears  to  be  alluded  to  in  a  regulation  of  the  Council  of 
Epaone  (now  Abbon,  according  to  some),  held  about  517.  This  Council  labors 
to  stop  the  evil  by  prescribing  a  prudent  moderation ;  but  without  withdrawing 
the  protection  already  granted.  It  ordains,  in  the  39th  canon,  "  That  if  a  slave, 
guilty  of  any  atrocious  offence,  takes  refuge  in  a  church,  he  shall  be  saved  from 
corporal  punishment ;  but  the  master  shall  not  be  compelled  to  swear  that  he 
will  not  impose  on  him  additional  labor,  or  that  he  will  not  cut  off  his  hair, 
in  order  to  make  known  his  fault."  Observe  that  this  restriction  is  introduced 
only  in  the  case  when  the  slave  shall  have  committed  a  heinous  offence,  and 
even  in  this  case  all  the  power  allowed  to  the  master  consists  in  imposing  on  the 
slave  extraordinary  labor,  or  distinguishing  him  by  cutting  his  hair. 

Perhaps  such  indulgence  may  be  considered  excessive  ;  but  we  must  observe 
that  when  abuses  are  deeply  rooted,  they  cannot  be  eradicated  without  a  vigor- 
ous effort.  At  first  sight  it  often  appears  as  if  the  limits  of  prudence  were 
passed ;  but  this  apparent  excess  is  only  the  inevitable  oscillation  which  is  ob- 
served before  things  regain  their  right  position.  The  Church  had  therein  no 
wish  to  protect  crime,  or  give  unmerited  indulgence;  her  objeqt  was  to  check 
the  violence  and  caprice  of  masters;  she  did  not  wish  to  allow  a  man  to  suffer 
torture  or  death  because  such  was  the  will  of  another.  The  establishment  of 
just  laws  and  legitimate  tribunals,  the  Church  has  never  opposed ;  but  she  has 
never  given  her  consent  to  acts  of  private  violence.  The  spirit  of  opposition  to 
the  exercise  of  private  force,  which  includes  social  organization,  is  clearly  shown 
to  us  in  the  15th  canon  of  the  Council  of  Merida,  held  in  666.  I  have  already 
shown  that  slaves  formed  a  large  portion  of  property.  As  the  division  of  labor 
was  made  in  conformity  with  this  principle,  slaves  were  absolutely  necessary  to 
those  who  possessed  property,  especially  when  it  was  considerable.  Now  the 
Church  found  this  to  be  the  case ;  and  as  she  could  not  change  the  organization 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  101 

of  society  on  a  sudden,  she  was  obliged  to  yield  to  necessity,  and  admit  slavery. 
But  if  she  wished  to  introduce  improvements  in  the  lot  of  slaves  in  general,  it 
was  good  for  her  to  set  the  example  herself :  this  example  is  found  in  the  canon 
I  have  just  quoted.  There,  after  having  forbidden  the  bishops  and  priests  to 
maltreat  the  servants  of  the  Church  by  mutilating  their  limbs,  the  Council 
ordains  that  if  a  slave  commit  an  offence,  he  shall  be  delivered  to  the  secular 
judges,  but  so  that  the  bishops  shall  moderate  the  punishment  inflicted  on  him. 
We  see  by  this  canon  that  the  right  of  mutilation  exercised  by  private  masters 
was  still  in  use ;  and  perhaps  it  was  still  more  strongly  established,  since  we  see 
that  the  Council  limits  itself  to  interdicting  that  kind  of  punishment  to  eccle- 
siastics, without  saying  any  thing  as  to  laymen.  No  doubt,  one  of  the  motives 
for  this  prohibition  made  to  ecclesiastics,  was  to  prevent  their  shedding  human 
blood,  and  thus  rendering  themselves  incapable  of  exercising  their  lofty  minis- 
try, the  principal  act  of  which  is  the  august  sacrifice  in  which  they  offer  a  vic- 
tim of  peace  and  love ;  but  this  does  not  in  any  way  detract  from  the  merit  of 
the  regulation,  or  at  all  diminish  its  influence  on  the  improvement  of  the  con- 
dition of  slaves.  It  was  the  substitution  of  public  vengeance  for  private ;  it 
was  again  to  proclaim  the  equality  of  slaves  and  freemen  with  respect  to  the 
effusion  of  their  blood ;  it  was  to  declare  that  the  hands  which  had  shed  the 
blood  of  a  slave,  had  contracted  the  same  stain  as  if  they  had  shed  that  of  a 
freeman.  Now,  it  was  necessary  to  inculcate  these  salutary  truths  on  men's 
minds  in  every  way,  for  they  ran  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  ideas  and  man- 
ners of  antiquity;  it  was  necessary  to  labor  assiduously  to  destroy  the  shameful 
and  cruel  exceptions  which  continued  to  deprive  the  majority  of  mankind  of  a 
participation  in  the  rights  of  humanity.  There  is,  in  the  canon  which  I  have 
just  quoted,  a  remarkable  circumstance,  which  shows  the  solicitude  of  the 
Church  to  restore  to  slaves  the  dignity  and  respect  of  which  they  had  been  de- 
prived. To  shave  the  hair  of  the  head  was  among  the  Goths  a  very  ignomi- 
nious punishment ;  which,  according  to  Lucas  de  Tuy,  was  to  them  more  cruel 
than  death  itself.  It  will  be  understood,  that  whatever  was  the  force  of  preju- 
dice on  this  point,  the  Church  might  have  allowed  the  shaving  of  the  hair  with- 
out incurring  the  stain  which  was  attached  to  the  shedding  of  blood.  Yet  she 
was  not  willing  to  allow  it,  which  shows  us  how  attentive  she  was  to  destroy  the 
marks  of  humiliation  impressed  on  slaves.  After  having  enjoined  priests  and 
bishops  to  deliver  criminal  slaves  to  the  judges,  she  commands  them  "  not  to 
allow  them  to  be  shaved  ignominiously."  No  care  was  too  great  in  this  matter; 
to  destroy  one  after  another  the  odious  exceptions  which  affected  slaves,  it  was 
necessary  to  seize  upon  all  &vorable  opportunities.  This  necessity  is  clearly 
shown  by  the  manner  in  which  the  eleventh  Council  of  Toledo,  held  in  675, 
expresses  itself.  This  Council,  in  its  6th  canon,  forbids  bishops  themselves  to 
judge  crimes  of  a  capital  nature,  as  it  also  forbids  them  to  order  the  mutilation 
of  members.  Behold  in  what  terms  it  was  considered  necessary  to  state  that 
this  rule  admitted  of  no  exception;  "not  even,"  says  the  Council,  "with 
respect  to  the  slaves  of  the  Church."  The  evil  was  great,  it  could  not  be  cured 
without  assiduous  care.  Even  the  right  of  life  and  death,  the  most  cruel  of  all, 
could  not  be  extirpated  without  much  trouble ;  and  cruel  applications  of  it  were 
made  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century,  since  the  Council  of  Epaone,  in  its 
34th  canon,  ordains  that  "  the  master  who,  of  his  own  authority,  shall  take 
away  the  life  of  his  slave,  shall  be  cut  off  for  two  years  from  the  communion  of 
the  Church."  After  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  similar  attempts  were 
still  made,  and  the  Council  of  Worms,  held  in  868,  labored  to  repress  them, 
by  subjecting  to  two  years  of  penance  the  master  who,  of  his  own  authority, 
shall  have  put  his  slave  to  death. 

i  2 


102 
CHAPTER  XVII. 

MEANS   EMPLOYED    BY   THE   CHURCH   TO   ENFRANCHISE    SLAVES. 

WHILE  improving  the  condition  of  slaves  and  assimilating  it  as  much  as 
possible  to  that  of  freemen,  it  was  necessary  not  to  forget  the  universal  eman- 
cipation ;  for  it  was  not  enough  to  ameliorate  slavery,  it  was  necessary  to  abolish 
it.  The  mere  force  of  Christian  notions,  and  the  spirit  of  charity  which  was 
spread  at  the  same  time  with  them  over  the  world,  made  so  violent  an  attack  on 
the  state  of  slavery,  that  they  were  sure  sooner  or  later  to  bring  about  its  com- 
plete abolition.  It  is  impossible  for  society  to  remain  for  a  long  time  under  an 
order  of  things  which  is  formally  opposed  to  the  ideas  with  which  it  is  imbued. 
According  to  Christian  maxims,  all  men  have  a  common  origin  and  the  same 
destiny;  all  are  brethren  in  Jesus  Christ;  all  are  obliged  to  love  each  other 
with  all  their  hearts,  to  assist  each  other  in  their  necessities,  to  avoid  offending 
each  other  even  in  words ;  all  are  equal  before  God,  for  they  will  all  be  judged 
without  exception  of  persons.  Christianity  extended  and  took  root  everywhere 
— took  possession  of  all  classes,  of  all  branches  of  society;  how,  then,  could 
the  state  of  slavery  last — a  state  of  degradation  which  makes  man  the  property 
of  another,  allows  him  to  be  sold  like  an  animal,  and  deprives  him  of  the 
sweetest  ties  of  family  and  of  all  participation  in  the  advantages  of  society  ? 
Two  things  so  opposite  could  not  exist  together;  the  laws  were  in  favor  of 
slavery,  it  is  true ;  it  may  even  be  said  that  Christianity  did  not  make  a  direct 
attack  on  those  laws.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  what  did  it  do  ?  It  strove  to 
make  itself  master  of  ideas  and  manners,  communicated  to  them  a  new  impulse, 
and  gave  them  a  different  direction.  In  such  a  case,  what  did  laws  avail? 
Their  rigor  was  relaxed,  their  observance  was  neglected,  their  equity  began  to 
be  doubted,  their  utility  was  disputed,  their  fatal  effects  were  remarked,  and 
they  gradually  fell  into  desuetude,  so  that  sometimes  it  was  not  necessary  to 
strike  a  blow  to  destroy  them.  They  were  thrown  aside  as  things  of  no  use  ; 
or,  if  they  deserved  the  trouble  of  an  express  abolition,  it  was  only  for  the  sake 
of  ceremony ;  it  was  a  body  interred  with  honor. 

But  let  it  not  be  supposed,  after  what  I  have  just  said,  that  in  attributing  so 
much  importance  to  Christian  ideas  and  manners,  I  mean  that  the  triumph  of 
these  ideas  and  manners  was  abandoned  to  that  force  alone,  without  that  co- 
operation on  the  part  of  the  ^Church  which  the  time  and  circumstances  required. 
Quite  the  contrary :  the  Church,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  called  to  her 
aid  all  the  means  the  most  conducive  to  the  desired  result.  In  the  first  place, 
it  was  requisite,  to  secure  the  work  of  emancipation,  to  protect  from  all  assault 
the  liberty  of  the  freed — liberty  which  unhappily  was  often  attacked  and  put  in 
great  danger.  The  causes  of  this  melancholy  fact  may  be  easily  found  in  the 
remains  of  ancient  ideas  and  manners,  in  the  cupidity  of  powerful  men,  the 
system  of  violence  made  general  by  the  irruptions  of  the  barbarians,  in  the 
poverty,  neglect,  and  total  want  of  education  and  morality  in  which  slaves  must 
have  been  when  they  quitted  servitude.  It  must  be  supposed  that  a  great 
number  of  them  did  not  know  all  the  value  of  liberty ;  that  they  did  not  always 
conduct  themselves,  in  their  new  state,  according  to  the  dictates  of  reason  and 
the  exigences  of  justice;  and  that,  newly  entered  on  the  possession  of  the  rights 
of  freemen,  they  did  not  know  how  to  fulfil  all  their  new  obligations.  But 
these  different  inconveniences,  inseparable  from  the  nature  of  things,  were  not 
*.o  hinder  the  consummation  of  an  enterprise  called  for  both  by  religion  and 
humanity,  and  it  was  proper  to  be  resigned  to  them  from  the  consideration  of 
the  numerous  motives  for  excusing  the  conduct  of  the  enfranchised ;  the  state 
which  these  men  had  just  quitted  had  checked  the  development  of  their  moral 
and  intellectual  faculties. 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  103 

The  liberty  of  newly-emancipated  slaves  was  protected  against  the  attacks  of 
injustice,  and  clothed  with  an  inviolable  sanctity,  from  the  time  that  their 
enfranchisement  was  connected  with  things  which  then  exercised  the  most  pow- 
erful ascendency.  Now  the  Church,  and  all  that  belonged  to  her,  was  in  this 
influential  position ;  therefore  the  custom,  which  was  then  introduced,  of  per- 
forming the  manumission  in  the  churches,  was  undoubtedly  very  favorable  to 
the  progress  of  liberty.  This  custom,  by  taking  the  place  of  ancient  usages, 
caused  them  to  be  forgotten ;  it  was,  at  the  same  time,  a  tacit  declaration  of  the 
value  of  human  liberty  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  a  proclamation,  with  additional 
authority,  of  the  equality  of  men  before  Him ;  for  the  manumission  was  made 
in  the  same  place  where  it  was  so  often  read,  that  before  Him  there  was  no  ex- 
ception of  persons ;  where  all  earthly  distinctions  disappeared,  and  all  men  were 
commingled  and  united  by  the  sweet  ties  of  fraternity  and  love.  This  method 
of  manumission  more  clearly  invested  the  Church  with  the  right  of  defending 
the  liberty  of  the  enfranchised.  As  she  had  been  witness  to  the  act,  she  could 
testify  to  the  spontaneity  and  the  other  circumstances  which  assured  its  validity; 
she  could  even  insist  on  its  observance,  by  representing  that  the  promised  liberty 
could  not  be  violated  without  profaning  the  sacred  place,  without  breaking  a 
pledge  which  had  been  given  in  the  presence  of  Grod  himself.  The  Church  did 
not  forget  to  turn  these  circumstances  to  the  advantage  of  the  freed.  Thus  we 
see  that  the  first  Council  of  Orange,  held  in  441,  ordains,  in  its  7th  canon,  that 
it  was  necessary  to  check,  by  ecclesiastical  censures,  whoever  desired  to  reduce 
to  any  kind  of  servitude  slaves  who  had  been  emancipated  within  the  enclosure 
of  the  church.  A  century  later  we  find  the  same  prohibition  repeated  in  the 
7th  canon  of  the  fifth  Council  of  Orleans,  held  in  549. 

The  protection  given  by  the  Church  to  freed  Slaves  was  so  manifest  and 
known  to  all,  that  the  custom  was  introduced  of  especially  recommending  them 
to  her.  This  recommendation  was  sometimes  made  by  will,  as  the  Council  of 
Orange,  which  I  have  just  quoted,  gives  us  to  understand;  for  it  orders  that 
the  emancipated  who  had  been  recommended  to  the  Church  by  will,  shall  be 
protected  from  all  kinds  of  servitude,  by  ecclesiastical  censures. 

But  this  recommendation  was  not  always  made  in  a  testamentary  form-.  We 
read  in  the  sixth  canon  of  the  sixth  Council  of  Toledo,  held  in  589,  that  when 
any  enfranchised  persons  had  been  recommended  to  the  Church,  neither  they 
nor  their  children  could  be  deprived  of  the  protection  of  the  Church  :  here  they 
speak  in  general,  without  limitation  to  cases  in  which  there  had  been  a  will. 
The  same  regulation  may  be  seen  in  another  Council  of  Toledo,  held  in  633, 
which  simply  says,  that  the  Church  will  receive  under  her  protection  only 
the  enfranchised  of  individuals  who  shall  have  taken  care  to  recommend  them 
to  her. 

In  the  absence  of  all  particular  recommendation,  and  even  when  the  manu- 
mission had  not  been  made  in  the  Church,  she  did  not  cease  to  interest  herself 
in  defending  the  freed,  when  their  liberty  was  endangered.  He  who  has  any 
regard  for  the  dignity  of  man,  and  any  feeling  of  humanity  in  his  heart,  will 
certainly  not  find  it  amiss  that  the  Church  interfered  in  affairs  of  this  kind; 
indeed,  she  acted  as  every  generous  man  should  do,  in  the  exercise  of  the  right 
of  protecting  the  weak.  We  shall  not  be  displeased,  therefore,  to  find  in  the 
twenty-ninth  canon  of  the  Council  of  Agde  in  Languedoc,  held  in  506,  a  regu- 
lation commanding  the  Church,  in  case  of  necessity,  to.  undertake  the  defence 
of  those  to  whom  their  masters  had  given  liberty  in  a  lawful  way. 

The  zeal  of  the  Church  in  all  times  and  places  for  the  redemption  of  captives 
has  no  less  contributed  to  the  great  work  of  the  abolition  of  slavery.  We  know 
that  a  considerable  portion  of  slaves  owed  their  servitude  to  the  reverses  of 
war.  The  mild  character  which  we  see  in  modern  wars  would  have  appeared 
fabulous  to  the  ancients.  Woe  to  the  vanquished !  might  then  be  said  with 


104  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

perfect  truth ;  there  was  nothing  but  slavery  or  death.  The  evil  was  rendered 
still  greater  by  a  fatal  prejudice,  which  was  felt  with  respect  to  the  redemption 
of  captives — a  prejudice  which  was,  nevertheless,  founded  on  a  trait  of  remark- 
able heroism.  No  doubt  the  heroic  firmness  of  Regulus  is  worthy  of  all  admi- 
ration. The  hair  stands  upon  our  head  when  we  read  the  powerful  description 
of  Horace ;  the  book  falls  from  our  hands  at  this  terrible  passage : 

"  Fertur  pudicae  conjugis  osculum 
Parvosque  natos,  ut  capitis  minor, 
Ab  se  removisse,  et  virilem 
Torvus  humi  posuisse  vultum." — Lib.  iii.  od.  5. 

Nevertheless,  if  we  lay  aside  the  deep  impression  which  such  heroism  produces 
on  us,  and  the  enthusiasm  at  all  that  shows  a  great  soul,  we  must  confess  that 
this  virtue  bordered  on  ferocity ;  and  that,  in  the  terrible  discourse  of  Regulus, 
that  is  a  cruel  policy,  against  which  the  sentiments  of  humanity  would  strongly 
recoil,  if  the  mind  were  not,  as  it  were,  prostrated  at  the  sight  of  the  sublime 
disinterestedness  of  the  speaker.  Christianity  could  not  consent  to  such  doc- 
trines ;  it  could  not  allow  the  maxim  to  be  maintained  that,  in  order  to  render 
men  brave  in  battle,  it  was  necessary  to  deprive  them  of  hope.  The  wonderful 
traits  of  valor,  the  magnificent  scenes  of  force  and  constancy,  which  shine  in 
every  page  of  the  history  of  modern  nations,  eloquently  show  that  the  Christian 
religion  was  not  deceived ;  gentleness  of  manners  may  be  united  with  heroism. 
The  ancients  were  always  in  excess,  either  in  cowardice  or  ferocity ;  between 
these  two  extremes  there  is  a  middle  way,  and  that  has  been  taught  to  mankind 
by  the  Christian  religion.  Christianity,  in  accordance  with  its  principles  of 
fraternity  and  love,  regarded  the  redemption  of  captives  as  one  of  the  worthiest 
objects  of  its  charitable  zeal.  Whether  we  consider  the  noble  traits  of  parti- 
cular actions,  which  have  been  preserved  to  us  by  history,  or  observe  the  spirit 
which  guided  the  conduct  of  the  Church,  we  shall  find  therein  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  claims  of  the  Christian  religion  to  the  gratitude  of  mankind. 

A  celebrated  writer  of  our  times,  M.  de  Chateaubriand,  has  described  to  us 
a  Christian  priest  who,  in  the  forests  of  France,  voluntarily  made  himself  a 
slave,  who  devoted  himself  to  slavery  for  the  ransom  of  a  Christian  soldier,  and 
thus  restored  a  husband  to  his  desolate  wife,  and  a  father  to  three  unfortunate 
orphan  children.  The  sublime  spectacle  which  Zachary  offers  us,  when  endur- 
ing slavery  with  calm  serenity  for  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  for  the  unhappy 
being  for.  whom  he  has  sacrificed  his  liberty,  is  not  a  mere  fiction  of  the  poet. 
More  than  once,  in  the  first  ages  of  the  Church,  such  examples  were  seen ;  and 
he  who  has  wept  over  the  sublime  disinterestedness  and  unspeakable  charity  of 
Zachary,  may  be  sure  that  his  tears  are  only  a  tribute  to  the  truth.  "  We 
have  known,"  says  St.  Clement  the  Pope,  "  many  of  ours  who  have  devoted 
themselves  to  captivity,  in  order  to  ransom  their  brethren."  (First  Letter  to  the 
Corinth,  c.  55.)  The  redemption  of  captives  was  so  carefully  provided  for  by 
the  Church  that  it  was  regulated  by  the  ancient  canons,  and  to  fulfil  it,  she 
sold,  if  necessary,  her  ornaments,  and  even  the  sacred  vessels.  When  unhappy 
captives  were  in  question,  her  charity  and  zeal  knew  no  bounds,  and  she  went 
so  far  as  to  ordain  that,  however  bad  might  be  the  state  of  her  affairs,  their 
ransom  should  be  provided  for  in  the  first  instance.  (Cans.  12,  5,  2.)  In  the 
midst  of  revolutions  produced  by  the  irruption  of  barbarians,  we  see  that  the 
Church,  always  constant  in  her  designs,  forgot  not  the  noble  enterprise  in  which 
she  was  engaged.  The  beneficent  regulations  of  the  ancient  canons  fell  not  into 
forgetfulness  or  desuetude,  and  the  generous  words  of  the  holy  Bishop  of  Milan, 
in  favor  of  slaves,  found  an  echo  which  ceased  not  to  be  heard  amid  the  chaos 
of  those  unhappy  times.  We  see  by  the  fifth  canon  of  the  Council  of  Macon, 
held  in  585,  that  priests  undertook  the  ransom  of  captives  by  devoting  to  it  the 
Church  property.  The  Council  of  Rheims,  held  in  625,  inflicts  the  punishment 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY.  105 

of  suspension  from  his  functions  on  the  bishop  who  shall  have  destroyed  the 
sacred  vessels;  but  with  generous  foresight,  it  adds,  "for  any  other  motive 
than  the  redemption  of  captives;"  and  long  afterwards,  in  the  twelfth  canon 
of  the  Council  of  Verneuil,  held  in  844,  we  find  that  the  property  of  the  Church 
was  used  for  that  merciful  purpose.  When  the  captive  was  restored  to  liberty, 
the  Church  did  not  deprive  him  of  her  protection ;  she  was  careful  to  continue 
it,  by  giving  him  letters  of  recommendation,  for  the  double  purpose  of  protect- 
ing him  from  new  trouble  during  his  journey,  and  of  furnishing  him  with  the 
means  of  repairing  his*  losses  during  his  captivity.  We  find  a  proof  of  this  new 
kind  of  protection  in  the  second  canon  of  the  Council  of  Lyons,  held  in  583, 
which  ordains  that  bishops  shall  state  in  the  letters  of  recommendation  which 
they  give  to  captives,  the  date  and  price  of  their  ransom.  The  zeal  for  this 
work  was  displayed  in  the  Church  with  so  much  ardor,  that  it  went  so  far  as  to 
commit  acts  of  imprudence  which  the  ecclesiastical  authority  was  compelled  to 
check.  These  excesses,  and  this  mistaken  zeal,  prove  how  great  was  the  spirit 
of  charity.  We  know  by  a  Council,  called  that  of  St.  Patrick,  held  in  Ireland 
in  the  year  451  or  456,  that  some  of  the  clergy  ventured  to  procure  the  free- 
dom of  captives  by  inducing  them  to  run  away.  The  Council,  by  its  thirty- 
second  canon,  very  prudently  checks  this  excess,  by  ordaining  that  the  ecclesiastic 
who  desires  to  ransom  captives  must  do  so  with  his  own  money ;  for  to  steal 
them,  by  inducing  them  to  run  away,  was  to  expose  the  clergy  to  be  considered 
as  robbers,  which  was  a  dishonor  to  the  Church.  A  remarkable  document, 
which,  while  showing  us  the  spirit  of  order  and  equity  which  guides  the  Church, 
at  the  same  time  enables  us  to  judge  how  deeply  was  engraved  on  men's  minds 
the  maxim,  that  it  is  holy,  meritorious,  and  generous  to  give  liberty  to  captives  j 
for  we  see  that  some  persons  had  persuaded  themselves  that  the  excellence  of 
the  work  justified  seizing  them  forcibly.  The  disinterestedness  of  the  Church 
on  this  point  is  not  less  laudable.  When  she  had  employed  her  funds  in  the 
ransom  of  a  captive,  she  did  not  desire  from  him  any  recompense,  even  when 
he  had  it  in  his  power  to  discharge  the  debt.  We  have  a  certain  proof  of  this 
in  the  letters  of  St.  Gregory,  where  we  see  that  that  Pope  reassures  some  per- 
sons who  had  been  freed  with  the  money  of  the  Church,  and  who  feared  that 
after  a  time  they  would  be  called  upon  to  pay  the  sum  expended  for  their 
advantage.  The  Pope  orders  that  no  one,  at  any  time,  shall  venture  to  disturb 
either  them  or  their  heirs,  seeing  that  the  sacred  canons  allow  the  employment 
of  the  goods  of  the  Church  for  the  ransom  of  captives.  (L.  7,  ep.  14.) 

The  zeal  of  the  Church  for  so  holy  a  work  must  have  contributed  in  an  extra- 
ordinary way  to  diminish  the  number  of  slaves ;  the  influence  of  it  was  so  much 
the  more  salutary,  as  it  was  developed  precisely  at  the  time  when  it  was  most 
needed,  that  is,  in  those  ages  when  the  dissolution  of  the  Roman  empire,  the 
irruption  of  the  barbarians,  the  fluctuations  of  so  many  peoples,  and  the  ferocity 
of  the  invading  nations,  rendered  wars  so  frequent,  revolutions  so  constant,  and 
the  empire  of  force  so  habitual  and  prevailing.     Without  the  beneficent  and 
liberating  intervention  of   Christianity,   the  immense  pumber  of  slaves  be- 
queathed by  the  old  society  to  the  new,  far  from  diminishing,  would  have  been 
augmented  more  and  more ;  for  wherever  the  law  of  brute  force  prevails,  if  it 
be  not  checked  and  softened  by  a  powerful  element,  the  human  race  becomes 
rapidly  debased,  the  necessary  result  of  which  is  the  increase  of  slavery.    This 
lamentable  state  of  agitation  and  violence  was  in  itself  very  likely  to  render 
the  efforts  which  the  Church  made  to  abolish  slavery  useless ;  and  it  was  not 
without  infinite  trouble  that  she  prevented  what  she  succeeded  in  preserving  on 
one  side,  from  being  destroyed  on  the  other.     The  absence  of  a  central  power, 
the  complication  of  social  relations,   almost  always  badly  determined,   often 
affected  by  violence,  and  always  deprived  of  the  guarantee  of  stability  and  con- 
sistency, was  the  reason  why  there  was  no  security  either  for  things  or  persons, 
14 


106  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

and  that  while  properties  were  unceasingly  invaded,  persons  were  deprived  of 
their  liberty.  So  that  it  was  at  that  time  necessary  to  fight  against  the  violence 
of  individuals,  as  had  been  formerly  done  against  manners  and  legislation. 
We  see  that  the  third  canon  of  the  Council  of  Lyons,  held  about  566,  excom- 
municates those  who  unjustly  retain  free  persons  in  slavery ;  in  the  seventeenth 
canon  of  the  Council  of  Rheims,  held  in  625,  it  is  forbidden,  under  the  same 
penalty,  to  pursue  free  persons  in  order  to  reduce  them  to  slavery  :  in  the  twenty- 
seventh  canon  of  the  Council  of  London,  held  in  1102,  the  barbarous  custom 
of  dealing  in  men,  like  animals,  is  proscribed  :  and  in  the  seventh  canon  of  the 
Council  of  Coblentz,  held  in  922,  he  who  takes  away  a  Christian  to  sell  him  is 
declared  guilty  of  homicide;  a  remarkable  declaration,  when  we  see  liberty 
valued  at  as  high  a  price  as  life  itself.  Another  means  of  which  the  Church 
availed  herself  to  abolish  slavery  was,  to  preserve  for  the  unfortunate  who  had 
been  reduced  to  that  state  by  misery,  a  sure  means  of  quitting  it. 

We  have  already  remarked  above  that  indigence  was  one  of  the  causes  of 
slavery,  and  we  have  seen  that  this  was  frequently  the  cause  among  the  Gauls, 
as  is  evidenced  by  a  passage  of  Caesar.  We  also  know  that  by  virtue  of  an 
ancient  law,  he  who  had  fallen  into  slavery  could  not  recover  his  liberty  without 
the  consent  of  his  master ;  as  the  slave  was  really  property,  no  one  could  dis- 
pose of  him  without  the  consent  of  his  master,  and  least  of  all  himself.  This 
law  was  in  accordance  with  Pagan  doctrines,  but  Christianity  regarded  the  thing 
differently;  and  if  the  slave  was  still  in  her  eyes  a  property,  he  did  not  cease 
to  be  a  man.  Thus  on  this  point  the  Church  refused  to  follow  the  strict  rules 
of  other  properties ;  and  when  there  was  the  least  doubt,  at  the  first  favorable 
opportunity  she  took  the  side  of  the  slave.  These  observations  make  us  under- 
stand all  the  value  of  the  new  law  introduced  by  the  Church,  which  ordained 
that  persons  who  had  been  sold  by  necessity  should  be  able  to  return  to  their 
former  condition  by  restoring  the  price  which  they  had  received.  This  law, 
which  is  expressly  laid  down  in  a  French  Council,  held  about  616  at  Boneuil, 
according  to  the  common  opinion,  opened  a  wide  field  for  the  conquests  of 
liberty ;  it  supported  in  the  heart  of  the  slave  a  hope  which  urged  him  to  seek 
and  put  into  operation  the  means  of  obtaining  his  ransom,  and  it  placed  his 
liberty  within  the  power  of  any  one  who,  touched  with  his  unhappy  lot,  was 
willing  to  pay  or  lend  the  necessary  sum.  Let  us  remember  what  we  have  said 
of  the  ardent  zeal  which  was  awakened  in  so  many  hearts  for  works  of  this 
kind ;  let  us  call  to  mind  that  the  property  of  the  Church  was  always  considered 
as  well  employed  when  it  was  used  for  the  succor  of  the  unfortunate,  and  we 
shall  understand  the  incalculable  influence  of  the  regulation  which  we  have  just 
mentioned.  We  shall  see  that  it  was  to  close  one  of  the  most  abundant  sources 
of  slavery,  and  prepare  a  wide  path  to  universal  emancipation. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONTINUATION   OF   THE    SAME   SUBJECT. 

THE  conduct  of  the  Church  with  respect  to  the  Jews  also  contributed  to  the 
abolition  of  slavery.  This  singular  people,  who  bear  on  their  forehead  the  mark 
of  proscription,  and  are  found  dispersed  among  all  nations,  like  fragments  of 
insoluble  matter  floating  in  a  liquid,  seek  to  console  themselves  in  their  misfor- 
tune by  accumulating  treasures,  and  appear  to  wish  to  avenge  themselves  for 
the  contemptuous  neglect  in  which  they  are  left  by  other  nations,  by  gaining 
possession  of  their  wealth  by  means  of  insatiable  usury.  In  times  when  revo- 
lutions and  so  many  calamities  must  necessarily  have  produced  distress,  the 
odious  vice  of  unfeeling  avarice  must  have  had  a  fatal  influence.  The  harsh- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  107 

less  and  cruelty  of  ancient  laws  and  manners  concerning  debtors  were  not 
effaced,  liberty  was  far  from  being  estimated  at  its  just  value,  and  examples  of 
persons  who  sold  it  to  relieve  their  necessities  were  not  wanting;  it  was  there- 
fore important  to  prevent  the  power  of  the  wealthy  Jews  from  reaching  an 
exorbitant  extent,  to  the  detriment  of  the  liberty  of  Christians.  The  unhappy 
notoriety  which,  after  so  many  centuries,  attaches  to  the  Jews  in  this  matter^ 
proves  that  this  danger  was  not  imaginary;  and  facts  of  which  we  are  now 
witnesses  are  a  confirmation  of  what  we  advance.  The  celebrated  Herder,  in  his 
Adrastus,  ventures  to  prognosticate  that  the  children  of  Israel,  from  their  sys- 
tematic and  calculating  conduct,  will  in  time  make  slaves  of  all  Christians.  If 
this  extraordinary  and  extravagant  apprehension  could  enter  the  head  of  a  dis- 
tinguished man,  in  circumstances  which  are  certainly  infinitely  less  favorable  to 
the  Jews,  what  was  to  be  feared  from  this  people  in  the  unhappy  times  of  which 
we  speak  ?  From  these  considerations,  every  impartial  observer,  every  man  who 
is  not  under  the  influence  of  the  wretched  desire  of  taking  the  part  of  every 
kind  of  sect,  in  order  to  have  the  pleasure  of  accusing  the  Catholic  Church, 
even  at  the  risk  of  speaking  against  the  interests  of  humanity;  every  observer 
who  is  not  one  of  those  who  are  less  alarmed  by  an  irruption  of  Caffres  than 
by  any  regulation  by  which  the  ecclesiastical  power  appears  in  the  smallest 
degree  to  extend  the  circle  of  its  prerogative ;  every  man,  I  say,  who  is  neither 
thus  bitter,  little,  nor  pitiful,  will  see,  not  only  without  being  scandalized,  but 
even  with  pleasure,  that  the  Church,  with  prudent  vigilance,  watched  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Jews,  and  lost  no  opportunity  of  favoring  their  Christian  slaves, 
until  they  were  no  longer  allowed  to  have  any. 

The  third  Council  of  Orleans,  held  in  538,  by  its  13th  canon,  forbids  Jews  to 
compel  Christian  slaves  to  do  things  contrary  to  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 
This  regulation,  which  guarantied  the  liberty  of  the  slave  in  the  sanctuary  of 
conscience,  rendered  him  respectable  even  in  the  eyes  of  his  master :  it  was 
besides  a  solemn  proclamation  of  the  dignity  of  man,  it  was  a  declaration  that 
slavery  could  not  extend  its  dominion  over  the  sacred  region  of  the  mind.  Yet 
this  was  not  enough ;  it  was  proper  also  that  the  recovery  of  their  liberty  should 
be  facilitated  to  the  slaves  of  Jews.  Three  years  only  pass  away ;  a  fourth 
Council  is  held  at  Orleans ;  let  us  observe  the  progress  which  the  question  had 
made  in  so  short  a  time.  This  Council,  by  its  30th  canon,  allows  the  Christian 
slaves  who  shall  take  refuge  in  the  church  to  be  ransomed,  on  paying  to  their 
Jewish  master  the  proper  price.  If  we  pay  attention,  we  shall  see  that  such  a 
regulation  must  have  produced  abundant  results  in  favor  of  liberty,  as  it  gave 
Christian  slaves  the  opportunity  of  flying  to  the  churches,  and  there  imploring, 
with  more  effect,  the  charity  of  their  brethren,  to  gain  the  price  of  their  ran- 
som. The  same  Council,  in  its  31st  canon,  ordains  that  the  Jew  who  shall  per- 
vert a  Christian  slave  shall  be  condemned  to  lose  all  his  slaves ;  a  new  sanction 
given  to  the  security  of  the  slave's  conscience — a  new  way  opened  to  liberty. 
The  Church  constantly  advanced  with  that  unity  of  plan — that  admirable  con- 
sistency— which  even  her  enemies  have  acknowledged  in  her.  In  the  short 
interval  between  the  period  alluded  to  and  the  latter  part  of  the  same  cen- 
tury, her  progress  was  more  perceptible.  "We  observe,  in  the  canonical  regula- 
tions of  the  latter  period,  a  wider  scope,  and,  if  we  may  so  speak,  greater  bold- 
ness. In  the  Council  of  Macon,  held  in  581  or  582,  canon  16,  Jews  are  ex- 
pressly forbidden  to  have  Christian  slaves ;  and  it  is  allowed  to  ransom  those 
who  are  in  their  possession  for  twelve  sous.  We  find  the  same  prohibition  in 
the  14th  canon  of  the  Council  of  Toledo,  held  in  589;  so  that  at  this  time  the 
Church  shows  what  her  desire  is ;  she  is  unwilling  that  a  Christian  should  be  in 
any  way  the  slave  of  a  Jew.  Constant  in  her  design,  she  checked  the  evil  by 
all  the  means  in  her  power;  if  it  was  necessary,  limiting  the  right  of  sell- 
ing slaves,  when  there  was  danger  of  their  falling  "into  the  hands  of  Jews. 


108  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

Thus  we  see  that,  by  the  9th  canon  of  the  Council  of  Chalons,  held  in  650,  it 
is  forbidden  to  sell  slaves  out  of  the  kingdom  of  Clovis,  lest  they  should  fall 
into  the  power  of  Jews.  Yet  the  intention  of  the  Church  on  this  point  was  not 
understood  by  all,  and  her  views  were  not  seconded  as  they  ought  to  have  been ; 
but  she  did  not  cease  to  repeat  and  inculcate  them.  In  the  middle  of  the  seventh 
century  there  were  found  clergy  and  laity  who  sold  their  Christian  slaves  to 
Jews.  The  Church  labored  to  check  this  abuse.  The  tenth  Council  of  Toledo, 
held  in  657,  by  its  7th  canon,  forbids  Christians,  and  especially  clerics,  to  sell 
their  slaves  to  Jews ;  the  Council  adds  these  noble  words :  "  They  cannot  be 
ignorant  that  these  slaves  have  been  redeemed  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
wherefore  they  ought  rather  to  buy  than  sell  them." 

This  ineffable  goodness  of  a  God  made  man,  who  had  shed  His  blood  for  the 
redemption  of  all  men,  was  the  powerful  motive  which  urged  the  Church  to 
interest  herself  with  so  much  zeal  in  the  enfranchisement  of  slaves ;  and,  in- 
deed, was  it  not  enough  to  inspire  horror  for  so  degrading  an  inequality,  to 
think  that  these  same  men,  reduced  to  the  level  of  brutes,  had  been,  as  well  as 
their  masters,  as  well  as  the  most  powerful  monarchs  upon  earth,  the  objects 
of  the  merciful  intentions  of  the  Most  High  ?  "  Since  our  Redeemer,  the 
Creator  of  all  things/'  said  Pope  S.  Gregory,  "  has  deigned,  in  His  goodness, 
to  assume  the  flesh  of  man,  in  order  to  restore  to  us  our  pristine  liberty,  by 
breaking,  through  the  means  of  His  Divine  grace,  the  bonds  of  servitude,  which 
held  us  captives,  it  is  a  salutary  deed  to  restore  to  men,  by  enfranchisement, 
their  native  liberty ;  for,  in  the  beginning,  nature  made  them  all  free,  and  they 
have  only  been  subjected  to  the  yoke  of  servitude  by  the  law  of  nations." 
(L.  5,  lett.  72.) 

During  all  times  the  Church  has  considered  it  very  necessary  to  limit,  as 
much  as  possible,  the  alienation  of  her  property;  and  it  may  be  said  that  the 
general  rule  of  her  conduct  in  this  point  was  to  trust  very  little  to  the  discretion 
of  any  one  of  her  ministers  individually;  she  thus  epdeavored  to  prevent  dila- 
pidations, which  otherwise  would  have  been  frequent.  As  her  possessions  were 
dispersed  on  all  sides,  and  intrusted  to  ministers  chosen  from  all  classes  of  the 
people,  and  exposed  to  the  various  influences  which  the  relations  of  blood,  friend- 
ship, and  a  thousand  other  circumstances,  the  effects  of  difference  of  character, 
knowledge,  prudence,  and  even  of  times  and  places,  always  exercise,  the  Church 
showed  herself  very  watchful  in  giving  her  sanction  to  the  power  of  alienation ; 
and,  when  requisite,  she  knew  how  to  act  with  salutary  rigor  against  those  mi- 
nistervs  who,  neglecting  their  duty,  wasted  the  funds  confided  to  them.  We 
have  seen  that,  in  spite  of  all  this,  she  was  not  stopped  by  any  consideration 
when  the  ransom  of  captives  was  in  question ;  it  may  be  also  shown  that,  with 
respect  to  property  in  slaves,  she  saw  things  in  a  different  light,  and  changed 
her  rigor  into  indulgence.  When  slaves  had  faithfully  served  the  Church,  the 
Bishops  could  grant  them  their  liberty,  and  add  a  gift  to  assist  them  in  main- 
taining themselves.  This  judgment  as  to  the  merit  of  slaves  appears  to  have 
been  confided  to  the  discretion  of  the  Bishops ;  and  it  is  evident  that  such  a 
regulation  opened  a  wide  door  to  their  charity;  at  the  same  time,  it  stimulated 
the  slaves  to  behave  themselves,  so  as  to  deserve  so  precious  a  recompense.  As 
it  might  happen  that  the  succeeding  Bishop  might  raise  doubts  as  to  the  suffi- 
ciency of  the  motives  which  induced  his  predecessor  to  give  liberty  to  a  slave, 
and  attempt  afterwards  to  call  it  in  question,  it  was  ordained  that  they  should 
respect  the  appointments  of  their  predecessors  on  this  point,  and  leave  to  the 
enfranchised  not  only  their  liberty,  but  also  the  gratuity  which  had  been  given 
to  them  in  lands,  vineyards,  or  houses :  this  is  prescribed  in  the  7th  canon  of 
the  Council  of  Agde  in  Languedoc,  held  in  the  year  506.  Let  it  not  be  ob- 
jected that  manumission  is  forbidden  by  the  canons  of  this  Council  in  other 
places;  they  speak  only  in  general  terms,  and  allude  not  to  cases  where  slaves 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  109 

had  merited  well.  Alienations  or  mortgages  made  by  a  Bishop  who  left  no  pro- 
perty were  to  be  revoked.  This  regulation  itself  shows  that  it  alludes  to  cases 
in  which  the  Bishops  had  acted  against  the  canons.  Yet  if  he  had  given  liberty 
to  any  slaves,  the  rigor  of  the  law  was  mitigated  in  their  favor,  and  it  was 
ordained  that  the  enfranchised  should  continue  to  enjoy  their  liberty.  This  is 
ordained  by  the  9th  canon  of  the  Council  of  Orleans,  held  in  541.  This  canon 
only  imposes  on  the  enfranchised  the  obligation  of  lending  their  services  to  the 
Church ;  services  which  were  evidently  only  those  of  the  enfranchised.  On  the 
other  hand,  she  recompensed  them  with  the  protection  which  she  always  granted 
to  men  in  this  condition. 

As  another  proof  of  the  indulgence  of  the  Church  with  respect  to  slaves, 
may  be  cited  the  10th  canon  of  the  Council  of  Celchite,  in  England,  held  in 
816,  the  result  of  which  must  have  been  to  enfranchise,  in  a  few  years,  all  the 
English  slaves  of  the  Churches  existing  in  the  countries  where  the  Council  was 
observed.  Indeed,  this  canon  ordained  that,  at  the  death  of  a  Bishop,  all  his 
English  slaves  should  be  set  at  liberty ;  it  added,  that  each  of  the  other  Bishops 
and  Abbots  might  enfranchise  three  slaves  on  the  occasion,  by  giving  each  of 
them  three  sous.  Such  regulations  smoothed  the  way  more  and  more,  and  pre- 
pared circumstances  and  men's  minds,  so  that,  some  time  later,  was  witnessed 
that  noble  scene,  where,  at  the  Council  of  Armagh,  in  1172,  liberty  was  given 
to  all  the  English  who  were  slaves  in  Ireland. 

The  advantageous  conditions  enjoyed  by  the  slaves  of  the  Church  were  so 
much  the  more  valuable,  because  a  regulation  newly  introduced  prevented  their 
losing  them.  If  they  could  have  passed  into  the  hands  of  other  masters,  in  this 
case  they  would  have  lost  the  benefits  which  they  derived  from  living  under  the 
rule  of  so  kind  a  mistress.  But  happily,  it  was  forbidden  to  exchange  them  for 
others ;  and  if  they  left  the  power  of  the  Church,  it  was  for  freedom.  We  have 
a  positive  proof  of  this  regulation  in  the  decretals  of  Gregory  IX.  (1.  3,  t.  19, 
chaps.  3  and  4).  It  should  be  observed  that  in  this  document  the  slaves  of  the 
Church  are  regarded  as  consecrated  to  God ;  thereon  is  founded  the  regulation 
which  prevents  their  passing  into  other  hands  and  leaving  the  Church,  except  as 
freemen.  We  also  see  there  that  the  faithful,  for  the  good  of  their  souls,  had 
the  custom  of  offering  their  slaves  to  God  and  the  Saints.  By  placing  them 
thus  in  the  power  of  the  Church,  they  put  them  out  of  common  dealing  and 
prevented  their  again  falling  into  profane  servitude.  It  is  useless  to  enlarge  on 
the  salutary  effect  which  must  have  been  produced  by  these  ideas  and  manners, 
in  which  we  see  religion  so  intimately  allied  with  the  cause  of  humanity;  it  is 
enough  to  observe,  that  the  spirit  of  that  age  was  highly  religious,  and  that 
which  was  attached  to  the  cause  of  religion  was  sure  to  ride  in  safety. 

Religious  ideas,  by  constantly  developing  their  strength  and  directing  their 
action  to  all  branches,  were  intended  in  a  special  manner  to  relieve  men  by  all 
possible  means  from  the  yoke  of  slavery.  On  this  subject  we  may  be  allowed 
to  remark  a  canonical  regulation  of  the  time  of  Gregory  the  Great.  In  a  Coun- 
cil at  Rome,  held  in  595,  and  presided  over  by  that  Pope,  a  new  means  of 
escaping  from  their  degraded  state  was  offered  to  slaves,  by  deciding  that  liberty 
should  be  given  to  all  those  who  desired  to  embrace  the  monastic  life.  The 
words  of  the  holy  Pope  are  worthy  of  attention ;  they  show  the  ascendency  of 
religious  motives,  and  how  much  these  motives  preponderated  over  considera- 
tions and  interests  of  a  worldly  nature.  This  important  document  is  found 
in  the  letters  of  St.  Gregory;  it  may  be  read  in  the  notes  at  the  end  of  the 
volume. 

To  imagine  that  such  regulations  would  remain  barren,  is  to  mistake  the  spirit, 
of  those  times  :  on  the  contrary,  they  produced  the  most  important  effects.  We 
may  form  an  idea  of  them  by  reading  in  the  decree  of  Gratian  (Distin.  54,  c.  12), 
that  they  led  to  scandal ;  slaves  fled  from  the  houses  of  their  masters  and  took 

K 


110  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

refuge  in  monasteries,  under  pretext  of  religion.  It  was  necessary  to  check  this 
abuse,  against  which  complaints  arose  on  all  sides.  Without  waiting  to  consi- 
der what  these  abuses  themselves  indicate,  is  it  difficult  to  imagine  that  these 
regulations  of  the  Church  must  have  had  valuable  results  ?  They  not  only 
gained  liberty  for  a  great  many  slaves,  but  also  raised  them  very  much  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  for  they  placed  them  in  a  state  which  every  day  gained  im- 
portance and  acquired  an  immense  prestige  and  a  powerful  influence.  We  may 
form  an  idea  of  the  profound  change  which  took  place  every  day  in  the  organi- 
zation of  society,  thanks  to  these  various  means,  by  fixing  our  attention  for  a 
moment  on  what  resulted  with  respect  to  the  ordination  of  slaves.  The  disci- 
pline of  the  Church  on  this  point  was  in  accordance  with  her  doctrines.  The 
slave  was  a  man  like  other  men,  and  he  could  be  ordained  as  well  as  the  greatest 
noble.  Yet  while  he  was  subject  to  the  power  of  his  master,  he  was  devoid  of 
the  independence  necessary  for  the  dignity  of  the  sacred  ministry;  therefore  it 
was  required  that  he  should  not  be  ordained  until  he  had  been  previously  set  at 
liberty.  Nothing  could  be  more  just,  reasonable,  and  prudent,  than  the  limit 
thus  placed  on  a  discipline  otherwise  so  noble  and  generous — a  discipline  which 
was  in  itself  an  eloquent  protest  in  favor  of  the  dignity  of  man.  The  Church 
solemnly  declared  that  the  misfortune  of  being  a  slave  did  not  reduce  him  below 
the  level  of  other  men,  for  she  did  not  think  it  unworthy  of  her  to  choose  her 
ministers  from  among  those  who  had  been  in  servitude.  By  placing  in  so  ho- 
norable a  sphere  those  who  had  been  slaves,  she  labored  with  lofty  generosity 
to  disperse  the  prejudices  which  existed  against  those  who  were  placed  in  that 
unhappy  condition,  and  created  strong  and  effective  ties  between  them  and  the 
most  venerated  class  of  freemen.  The  abuse  which  then  crept  in  of  conferring 
orders  on  slaves,  without  the  consent  of  their  masters,  is  above  all  worthy  of  our 
attention ;  an  abuse,  it  is  true,  altogether  contrary  to  the  sacred  canons,  and 
which  was  checked  by  the  Church  with  praiseworthy  zeal,  but  which  is  not  the 
less  useful  in  enabling  the  observer  duly  to  appreciate  the  profound  effect  of 
religious  ideas  and  institutions.  Without  attempting  in  any  way  to  excuse  what 
was  blamable  therein,  we  may  very  well  make  use  of  the  abuse  itself,  by  con- 
sidering that  it  frequently  happens  that  abuses  are  only  exaggerations  of  a  good 
principle.  Religious  ideas  accord  but  ill  with  slavery,  although  supported  by 
laws ;  thence  the  incessant  struggle,  repeated  under  different  aspects,  but  always 
directed  towards  the  same  end,  viz.  universal  emancipation.  It  appears  to  us 
that  we  may  now  the  more  confidently  avail  ourselves  of  this  kind  of  argument, 
as  we  have  seen  the  most  dreadful  attempts  at  revolution  treated  with  indul- 
gence, on  account  of  the  principles  with  which  the  revolutionists  were  imbued 
and  the  objects  which  they  had  in  view ;  objects  which,  as  every  one  knows, 
were  nothing  less  than  an  entire  change  in  the  organization  of  society.  The 
abuse  to  which  we  have  alluded,  is  attested  by  the  curious  documents  which  are 
found  collected  in  the  decree  of  Gratian  (Dist.  54,  c.  9, 10, 11, 12).  When  we 
examine  these  documents  with  attention,  we  find,  1st,  that  the  number  of  slaves 
thus  freed  was  very  considerable,  since  the  complaints  on  this  subject  were 
almost  universal :  2d,  that  the  Bishops  were  generally  in  favor  of  the  slaves ; 
that  they  carried  their  protection  very  far;  that  they  labored  in  all  ways  to 
realize  these  doctrines  of  equality ;  indeed,  it  is  affirmed  in  these  documents 
that  there  was  hardly  a  Bishop  who  could  not  be  charged  with  this  reprehensi- 
ble compliance  :  3d,  that  slaves  were  aware  of  this  spirit  of  protection,  and  were 
eager  to  throw  off  their  chains  and  cast  themselves  into  the  arms  of  the  Church  : 
4th,  that  this  combination  of  circumstances  must  have  produced  in  men's  minds 
a  movement  very  favorable  to  liberty;  and  that  this  affectionate  communication 
established  between  slaves  and  the  Church,  then  so  powerful  and  influential, 
must  soon  have  weakened  slavery,  and  rapidly  have  promoted  the  advance  of 
nations  towards  that  liberty  which  completely  triumphed  a  few  centuries  later. 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  Ill 

The  Church  of  Spain,  whose  civilizing  influence  has  received  so  many  eulogiums 
from  men  certainly  but  little  attached  to  Catholicity,  equally  displays  her  lofty 
views  and  consummate  prudence  on  this  point.  Charitable  zeal  in  favor  of 
slaves  was  so  ardent,  the  tendency  to  raise  them  to  the  sacred  ministry  so  de- 
cided, that  it  was  necessary  to  allow  free  scope  to  this  generous  impulse,  while 
reconciling  it  as  much  as  possible  with  the  sacredness  of  the  ministry.  Such 
Was  the  two-fold  object  of  the  discipline  introduced  into  Spain,  by  virtue  of 
which  it  was  allowed  to  confer  sacred  orders  on  the  slaves  of  the  Church,  on 
their  being  previously  enfranchised.  This  is  ordered  by  the  74th  canon  of  the 
fourth  Council  of  Toledo,  held  in  633;  it  is  also  inferred  from  the  llth  canon 
of  the  ninth  Council  of  Toledo,  which  ordains  that  Bishops  shall  not  introduce 
the  slaves  of  the  Church  among  the  clergy  without  having  previously  given 
them  their  liberty. 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  regulation  was  extended  by  the  18th  canon  of  the 
Council  of  Merida,  in  666,  which  gives  to  parish-priests  the  right  of  selecting 
clerks  among  the  slaves  of  their  own  church,  with  the  obligation  of  maintain- 
ing them  according  to  their  means.  This  wise  discipline  prevented,  without  any 
injustice,  all  the  difficulties  that  might  have  ensued  from  the  ordination  of 
slaves }  while  it  was  a  very  mild  way  of  effecting  the  most  beneficent  results, 
since  in  conferring  orders  on  the  slaves  of  the  Church,  it  was  easy  to  choose 
from  among  them  such  as  were,  most  deserving  by  their  intellectual  and  moral 
qualifications.  At  the  same  time,  it  was  affording  the  Church  a  most  favorable 
and  honorable  mode  of  liberating  her  slaves,  by  enrolling  them  among  her  mi- 
nisters. Finally,  the  Church  by  her  generous  conduct  towards  slaves,  gave  a 
salutary  example  to  the  laity.  We  have  seen  that  she  allowed  the  parochial 
clergy,  as  well  as  the  bishops,  the  privilege  of  setting  them  free ;  and  this  must 
have  rendered  it  less  painful  for  laymen  to  emancipate  their  slaves,  when  cir- 
cumstances seemed  to  call  the  latter  to  the  sacred  ministry. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

DOCTRINES   OF   S.  AUGUSTINE   AND    S.  THOMAS   AQUINAS   ON   THE   SUBJECT   OF 
SLAVERY. — RESUME    OF   THE   SUBJECT. 

THUS  did  the  Church,  by  a  Tsariety  of  means,  break  the  chains  of  slavery, 
without  ever  exceeding  the  limits  marked  out  by  justice  and  prudence :  thus 
did  she  banish  from  among  Christians  that  degrading  condition,  so  contrary  to 
their  exalted  ideas  on  the  dignity  of  man,  and  their  generous  feelings  of  frater- 
nity and  love.  Wherever  Christianity  shall  be  introduced,  chains  of  iron  shall 
be  turned  into  gentle  ties,  and  humiliated  men  shall  raise  their  ennobled  heads. 
With  what  pleasure  do  we  read  the  remarks  of  one  of  the  greatest  men  of 
Christianity,  S.  Augustine,  on  this  point  (De  Oivit.  Deij  1.  xix.  c.  14,  15,  16). 
He  establishes  in  a  few  words  the  obligation  incumbent  upon  all  who  rule — 
fathers,  husbands,  and  masters— -^to  watch  over  the  good  of  those  who  are  under 
them :  he  lays  down  the  advantage  of  those  who  obey,  as  one  of  the  founda- 
tions for  obedience ;  he  says  that  the  just  do  not  rule  from  ambition  or  pride, 
but  from  duty  and  the  desire  of  doing  good  to  their  subjects :  "  Neque  enim 
dominandi  cupiditate  imperant,  sed  officio  consulendi,  nee  principandi  superbia, 
sed  providendi  misericordia •"  and  by  these  noble  maxims  he  proscribes  all 
opinions  which  tend  to  tyranny,  or  found  obedience  on  any  degrading  notions ; 
but  on  a  sudden,  as  if  this  great  mind  apprehended  some  reply  in  violation  of 
human  dignity,  he  grows  warm,  he  boldly  faces  the  question j  he  rises  to  his 


• 


112  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

full  height,  and,  giving  free  scope  to  the  noble  thoughts  that  ferment  in  his 
mind,  he  invokes  the  idea  of  nature  and  the  will  of  God  in  favor  of  the  dignity 
of  man  thus  menaced.  He  says  :  "  Thus  wills  the  order  of  nature  •  thus  has 
man  been  created  by  God.  He  has  given  him  to  rule  over  the  fishes  of  the  sea, 
the  birds  of  the  air,  and  the  reptiles  that  crawl  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  He 
lias  ordained  that  reasoning  creatures,  made  according  to  His  own  image,  shall 
rule  only  over  creatures  devoid  of  reason.  He  has  not  established  the  dominion 
of  man  over  man,  but  that  of  man  over  the  brute."  This  passage  of  S.  Augus- 
tine is  one  of  those  bold  features  which  shine  forth  in  writers  of  genius,  when 
grieved  by  the  sight  of  a  painful  object,  they  allow  their  generous  ideas  and 
feelings  to  have  free  scope,  and  cease  to  restrain  their  daring  energies.  Struck 
by  the  force  of  the  expression,  the  reader,  in  suspense  and  breathless,  hastens 
to  read  the  succeeding  lines ;  he  fears  that  the  author  may  be  mistaken,  seduced 
by  the  nobleness  of  his  heart,  and  carried  away  by  the  force  of  his  genius. 
But,  with  inexpressible  pleasure,  he  finds  that  the  writer  has  in  no  degree  de- 
parted from  the  path  of  true  doctrine,  when,  like  a  brave  champion,  he  has 
descended  into  the  arena  to  defend  the  cause  of  justice  and  humanity.  Thus 
does  S.  Augustine  now  appear  to  us :  the  sight  of  so  many  unfortunate  beings 
groaning  in  slavery,  victims  of  the  violence  and  caprice  of  their  masters, 
afflicted  his  generous  mind.  By  the  light  of  reason  and  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, he  saw  no  reason  why  so  considerable  a  portion  of  the  human  race 
should  be  condemned  to  live  in  such  debasement  j  wherefore,  when  proclaiming 
the  doctrines  of  submission  and  obedience,  he  labors  to  discover  the  cause  of 
such  ignominy;  and  not  being  able  to  find  it  in  the  nature  of  man,  he  seeks  for 
it  in  sin,  in  malediction.  "The  primitive  just  men,"  says  he,  "were  rather 
established  as  pastors  over  their  flocks,  than  as  kings  over  other  men ;  whereby 
God  gives  us  to  understand  what  was  called  for  by  the  order  of  creation,  and 
what  was  required  by  the  punishment  of  sin ;  for  the  condition  of  slavery  has, 
with  reason,  been  imposed  on  the  sinner.  Thus  we  do  not  find  the  word  slave 
in  the  Scriptures  before  the  day  when  the  just  man,  Noah,  gave  it  as  a  punish- 
ment to  his  guilty  son;  whence  it  follows  that  this  word  came  from  sin,  and  not 
from  nature."  This  manner  of  considering  slavery  as  the  offspring  of  sin,  as 
the  fruit  of  the  Divine  malediction,  was  of  the  highest  importance.  By  pro- 
tecting the  dignity  of  human  nature,  that  doctrine  completely  destroyed  all  the 
prejudices  of  natural  superiority  which  the  pride  of  free  men  could  entertain. 
Thereby  also,  slavery  was  deprived  of  all  its  supposed  value  as  a  political  prin- 
ciple or  means  of  government :  it  could  only  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  num- 
berless scourges  inflicted  on  the  human  race  by  the  anger  of  the  Most  High. 
Henceforth  slaves  had  a  motive  for  resignation,  while  the  absolute  power  of 
masters  was  checked,  and  the  compassion  of  all  free  men  was  powerfully  excited. 
All  were  born  in  sin,  all  might  have  been  in  a  state  of  slavery.  To  make  a 
boast  of  liberty  would  have  been  like  the  conduct  of  a  man  who,  during  an  epi- 
demic, should  boast  of  having  preserved  his  health,  and  imagine  that  on  that 
account  he  had  a  right  to  insult  the  unhappy  sick.  In  a  word,  the  state  of  sla- 
very was  a  scourge,  nothing  more ;  like  pestilence,  war,  famine,  or  any  thing 
else  of  the  kind.  The  duty  of  all  men  was  to  labor  to  remedy  and  abolish  it. 
Such  doctrines  did  not  remain  sterile.  Proclaimed  in  the  face  of  day,  they  were 
heard  in  all  parts  of  the  Catholic  world  j  and  not  only  were  they  put  in  prac- 
tice, as  we  have  seen  by  numberless  examples,  but  they  were  carefully  preserved 
as  a  precious  theory,  throughout  the  confusion  of  the  times.  After  the  lapse 
of  eight  centuries,  we  see  them  repeated  by  one  of  the  brightest  lights  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  S.  Thomas  Aquinas  (I.  p.  q.  xcvi.  art.  4).  That  great  man 
does  not  see  in  slavery  either  difference  of  race  or  imaginary  inferiority  or  means 
of  government ;  he  only  considers  it  as  a  scourge  inflicted  on  humanity  by  the 
sins  of  the  first  man. 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  113 

Such  is  the  repugnance  with  which  Christians  have  looked  upon  slavery :  we 
see  from  this,  how  false  is  the  assertion  of  M.  Guizot :  "  It  does  not  seem  that 
Christian  society  was  surprised  or  much  offended  by  it."  It  is  true  there  was 
not  that  blind  disturbance  and  irritation  which,  despising  all  barriers  and  pay- 
ing no  attention  to  the  rules  of  justice  or  the  counsels  of  prudence,  ran  with 
foolish  haste  to  efface  the  mark  of  degradation  and  ignominy.  But  if  that  dis- 
turbance and  irritation  are  meant  which  are  caused  by  the  sight  of  oppression 
and  outrages  committed  against  man,  sentiments  which  can  well  accord  with 
longanimity  and  holy  resignation,  and  which,  without  checking  for  a  moment 
the  action  of  charitable  zeal,  nevertheless  avoid  precipitating  events,  preferring 
mature  arrangement  in  order  to  secure  a  complete  result ;  how  can  this  pertur- 
bation of  mind  and  holy  indignation  be  better  proved  to  have  existed  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Church  than  by  the  facts  and  doctrines  which  we  have  just  quoted? 
What  more  eloquent  protest  against  the  continuance  of  slavery  can  you  have 
than  the  doctrine  of  these  two  illustrious  doctors  ?  They  declare  it,  as  we  have 
just  seen,  to  be  the  fruit  of  malediction,  the  chastisement  of  the  prevarication 
of  the  human  race ;  and  they  only  acknowledge  its  existence  by  considering  it 
as  one  of  the  great  scourges  that  afflict  humanity. 

I  have  explained,  with  sufficient  evidence,  the  profound  reasons  which  in- 
duced the  Church  to  recommend  obedience  to  slaves,  and  she  cannot  be  re- 
proached on  that  account  with  forgetting  the  rights  of  humanity.  We  must 
not  suppose  on  that  account  that  Christian  society  was  wanting  in  the  boldness 
necessary  for  telling  the  whole  truth ;  but  it  told  only  the  pure  and  wholesome 
truth.  What  took  place  with  respect  to  the  marriages  of  slaves  is  a  proof  of 
what  I  advance.  We  know  that  their  union  was  not  regarded  as  a  real  mar- 
riage, and  that  even  that  union,  such  as  it  was,  could  not  be  contracted  without 
the  consent  of  their  masters,  under  pain  of  being  considered  as  void.  Here 
was  a  flagrant  violation  of  reason  and  justice.  What  did  the  Church  do  ?  She 
directly  reprobated  so  gross  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  nature.  Let  us  hear 
what  Pope  Adrian  I.  said  on  this  subject:  "According  to  the  words  of  the 
Apostles,  as  in  Jesus  Christ  we  ought  not  to  deprive  either  slaves  or  freemen  of 
the  sacraments  of  the  Church,  so  it  is  not  allowed  in  any  way  to  prevent  the 
marriage  of  slaves;  and  if  their  marriages  have  been  contracted  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  and  repugnance  of  their  masters,  nevertheless  they  ought  not  to  be 
dissolved  in  any  way."  (De  Conju.  Serv.,  lib.  iv.  torn.  9,  c.  1.)  And  let  it  not 
be  supposed  that  this  regulation,  which  secured  the  liberty  of  slaves  on  one  of 
the  most  important  points,  was  restricted  to  particular  circumstances ;  no,  it 
was  something  more;  it  was  a^  proclamation  of  their  freedom  in  this  matter. 
The  Church  was  unwilling  to  allow  that  man,  reduced  to  the  level  of  the  brute, 
should  be  forced  to  obey  the  caprice  or  the  interest  of  another,  without  regard 
to  the  feelings  of  his  heart.  St.  Thomas  was  of  the  same  opinion,  for  he  openly 
maintains  that,  with  respect  to  the  contracting  of  marriage,  slaves  are  not  obliged 
to  obey  their  masters  (2a.  2,  q.  104,  art.  5). 

In  the  hasty  sketch  which  I  have  given,  I  believe  that  I  have  kept  the  pro- 
mise which  I  made  at  the  beginning,  not  to  advance  any  proposition  without 
supporting  it  by  undeniable  documents,  and  not  to  allow  myself  to  be  misled 
by  enthusiasm  in  favor  of  Catholicity,  so  as  to  concede  to  it  that  to  which  it  is 
not  entitled.  By  passing,  rapidly  it  is  true,  the  course  of  ages,  we  have  shown, 
by  convincing  proofs,  which  have  been  furnished  by  times  and  places  the  most 
various,  that  it  was  Catholicity  that  abolished  slavery,  in  spite  of  ideas,  manners, 
interests,  and  laws,  which  opposed  obstacles  apparently  invincible ;  and  that  it 
has  done  so  without  injustice,  without  violence,  without  revolutions, — with  the 
most  exquisite  prudence  and  the  most  admirable  moderation.  ^  We  have  seen 
the  Catholic  Church  make  so  extensive,  so  varied,  and  so  efficacious  an  attack  on 
slavery;  that  that  odious  chain  was  broken  without  a  single  violent  stroke. 

15  K  2 


114  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

Exposed  to  the  action  of  the  most  powerful  agents,  it  gradually  relaxed  and 
fell  to  pieces.  Her  proceedings  may  be  thus  recapitulated  : — 

First,  she  loudly  teaches  the  truth  concerning  the  dignity  of  man ;  she  defines 
the  obligations  of  masters  and  slaves ;  she  declares  them  equal  before  God,  and 
thus  completely  destroys  the  degrading  theories  which  stain  the  writings  even 
of  the  greatest  philosophers  of  antiquity.  She  then  comes  to  the  application 
of  her  doctrines  :  she  labors  to  improve  the  treatment  of  slaves ;  she  struggles 
against  the  atrocious  right  of  life  and  death ;  she  opens  her  temples  to  them  as 
asylums,  and  when  they  depart  thence,  prevents  their  being  ill-treated ;  she 
labors  to  substitute  public  tribunals  for  private  vengeance.  At  the  same  time 
that  the  Church  guarantees  the  liberty  of  the  enfranchised,  by  connecting  it 
with  religious  motives,  she  defends  that  of  those  born  free ;  she  labors  to  close 
the  sources  of  slavery,  by  displaying  the  most  active  zeal  for  the  redemption  of 
captives,  by  opposing  the  avarice  of  the  Jews,  by  procuring  for  men  who  were 
sold,  easy  means  of  recovering  their  liberty.  The  Church  gives  an  example  of 
mildness  and  disinterestedness ;  she  facilitates  emancipation,  by  admitting  slaves 
into  monasteries  and  the  ecclesiastical  state ;  she  facilitates  it  by  all  the  other 
means  that  charity  suggests ;  and  thus  it  is  that,  in  spite  of  the  deep  roots'  of 
slavery  in  ancient  society — in  spite  of  the  perturbation  caused  by  the  irruptions 
of  the  barbarians — in  spite  of  so  many  wars  and  calamities  of  every  kind,  which 
in  great  measure  paralyzed  the  effect  of  all  regulating  and  beneficent  action — 
yet  we  see  slavery,  that  dishonor  and  leprosy  of  ancient  civilization,  rapidly  di- 
minish among  Christians,  until  it  finally  disappears.  Surely  in  all  this  we  do 
not  discover  a  plan  conceived  and  concerted  by  men.  But  we  do  observe  there- 
in, in  the  absence  of  that  plan,  such  unity  of  tendencies,  such  a  perfect  identity 
of  views,  and  such  similarity  in  the  means,  that  we  have  the  clearest  demon- 
stration of  the  civilizing  and  liberating  spirit  contained  in  Catholicity.  Accurate 
observers  will  no  doubt  be  gratified  in  beholding,  in  the  picture  which  I  have 
just  exhibited,  the  admirable  concord  with  which  the  period  of  the  empire,  that 
of  the  irruption  of  the  barbarians,  and  that  of  feudality,  all  tended  towards  the 
same  end.  They  will  not  regret  the  poor  regularity  which  distinguishes  the 
exclusive  work  of  man ;  they  will  love,  I  repeat  it,  to  collect  all  the  facts  scat- 
tered in  the  seeming  disorder,  from  the  forests  of  Germany  to  the  fields  of 
Bceotia — from  the  banks  of  the  Thames  to  those  of  the  Tiber.  I  have  not  in- 
vented these  facts ;  I  have  pointed  out  the  periods,  and  cited  the  Councils.  The 
reader  will  find,  at  the  end  of  the  volume,  in  the  original  and  in  full,  the  texts 
of  which  I  have  just  given  an  abstract — a  re'sume'  :  thus  he  may  fully  convince 
himself  that  I  have  not  deceived  him.  If  such  had  been  my  intention,  surely 
I  should  have  avoided  descending  to  the  level  ground  of  facts ;  I  should  have 
preferred  the  vague  regions  of  theory;  I  should  have  called  to  my  aid  high 
sounding  and  seductive  language,  and  all  the  means  the  most  likely  to  enchant 
the  imagination  and  excite  the  feelings ;  in  fine,  I  should  have  placed  myself  in 
one  of  those  positions  where  a  writer  can  suppose  at  his  pleasure  things  which 
have  never  existed,  and  made  the  best  use  of  the  resources  of  imagination  and 
invention.  The  task  which  I  have  undertaken  is  rather  more  difficult,  perhaps 
less  brilliant,  but  certainly  more  useful. 

We  may  now  inquire  of  M.  Guizot  what  were  the  other  causes,  the  other  ideas, 
the  other  principles  of  civilization,  the  great  development  of  which,  to  avail  myself 
of  his  words,  was  necessary  "  to  abolish  this  evil  of  evils,  this  iniquity  of  ini- 
quities." Ought  he  not  to  explain,  or  at  least  point  out,  these  causes,  ideas, 
and  principles  of  civilization,  which,  according  to  him,  assisted  the  Church  in 
the  abolition  of  slavery,  in  order  to  save  the  reader  the  trouble  of  seeking  or 
divining  them  ?  If  they  did  not  arise  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  where  did 
they  arise  ?  Were  they  found  in  the  ruins  of  ancient  civilization  ?  But  could 
these  remains  of  a  scattered  and  almost  annihilated  civilization  effect  what  that 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  115 

same  civilization,  in  all  its  vigor,  power,  and  splendor,  never  did  or  thought  of 
doing  ? — Were  they  in  the  individual  independence  of  the  barbarians  f  But 
that  individuality,  the  inseparable  companion  of  violence,  must  consequently 
have  been  the  source  of  oppression  and  slavery.  Were  they  found  in  the  mili- 
tary patronage  introduced,  according  to  M.  Guizot,  by  the  barbarians  themselves; 
patronage  which  laid  the  foundation  of  that  aristocratical  organization  which 
was  converted  at  a  later  period  into  feudality  ?  But  what  could  this  patronage 
— an  institution  likely,  on  the  contrary,  to  perpetuate  slavery  among  the  indi- 
gent in  conquered  countries,  and  to  extend  it  to  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
conquerors  themselves — what  could  this  patronage  do  for  the  abolition  of  sla- 
very? Where,  then,  is  the  idea,  the  custom,  the  institution,  which,  born  out 
of  Christianity,  contributed  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  ?  Let  any  one  point  out 
to  us  the  epoch  of  its  formation,  the  time  of  its  development ;  let  him  show  us 
that  it  had  not  its  origin  in  Christianity,  and  we  will  then  confess  that  the  latter 
cannot  exclusively  lay  claim  to  the  glorious  title  of  having  abolished  that  de- 
graded condition ;  and  he  may  be  sure  that  this  shall  not  prevent  our  exalting 
that  idea,  custom,  or  institution  which  took  part  in  the  great  and  noble  enter- 
prise of  liberating  the  human  race. 

We  may  be  allowed,  in  conclusion,  to  inquire  of  the  Protestant  churches,  of 
those  ungrateful  daughters  who,  after  having  quitted  the  bosom  of  their  mother, 
attempt  to  calumniate  and  dishonor  her,  where  were  you  when  the  Catholic 
Church  accomplished  in  Europe  the  immense  work  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  ? 
and  how  can  you  venture  to  reproach  her  with  sympathizing  with  servitude,  de- 
grading man,  and  usurping  his  rights  ?  Can  you,  then,  present  any  such  claim 
entitling  you  to  the  gratitude  of  the  human  race  ?  What  part  can  you  claim 
in  that  great  work  which  prepared  the  way  for  the  development  and  grandeur 
of  European  civilization  ?  Catholicity  alone,  without  your  concurrence,  com- 
pleted the  work  ]  and  she  alone  would  have  conducted  Europe  to  its  lofty 
destinies,  if  you  had  not  come  to  interrupt  the  majestic  march  of  its  mighty 
nations,  by  urging  them  into  a  path  bordered  by  precipices, — a  path  the  end 
of  which  is  concealed  by  darkness  which  the  eye  of  God  alone  can  pierce.  (15) 


CHAPTER  XX. 

CONTRAST   BETWEEN   TWO   ORDERS   OF  CIVILIZATION. 

WE  have  seen  that  European,  civilization  owes  to  the  Catholic  Church  its 
finest  ornament,  its  most  valuable  victory  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery.  It  was  the  Church  that,  by  her  doctrines,  as  beneficent  as  ele- 
vated, by  a  system  as  efficacious  as  prudent,  by  her  unbounded  generosity,  her 
indefatigable  zeal,  her  invincible  firmness,  abolished  slavery  in  Europe ;  that  is 
to  say,  she  took  the  first  step  towards  the  regeneration  of  humanity,  and  laid 
the  first  stone  for  the  wide  and  deep  foundation  of  European  civilization ;  we 
mean  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  the  abolition  for  ever  of  so  degrading  a  state, 
— universal  liberty.  It  was  impossible  to  create  and  organize  a  civilization  full 
of  grandeur  and  dignity,  without  raising  man  from  his  state  of  abjection,  and 
'placing  him  above  the  level  of  animals.  Whenever  we  see  him  crouching  at 
another's  feet,  awaiting  with  anxiety  the  orders  of  his  master  or  trembling  at 
the  lash ;  whenever  he  is  sold  like  a  beast,  or  a  price  is  set  upon  his  powers  and 
his  life,  civilization  will  never  have  its  proper  development,  it  will  always  be 
weak,  sickly,  and  broken ;  for  thus  humanity  bears  a  mark  of  ignominy  on  its 
forehead. 

After  having  shown  that  it  was  Catholicity  that  removed  that  obstacle  to  all 
social  progress,  by,  as  it  were,  cleansing  Europe  of  the  disgusting  leprosy  with 


116  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

which  it  was  infected  from  head  to  foot,  let  us  examine  what  it  has  done  towards 
creating  and  erecting  the  magnificent  edifice  of  European  civilization.  If  we 
seriously  reflect  on  the  vitality  and  fruitfulness  of  this  civilization,  we  shall  find 
therein  new  and  powerful  claims  on  the  part  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  the 
gratitude  of  nations.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  proper  to  glance  at  the  vast  and 
interesting  picture  which  European  civilization  presents  to  us,  and  to  sum  up  in  a 
few  words  its  principal  perfections  ;  thereby  we  shall  be  enabled  the  more  easily 
to  account  to  ourselves  for  the  admiration  and  enthusiasm  with  which  it 
inspires  us. 

The  individual  animated  by  a  lively  sense  of  his  own  dignity,  abounding  in 
activity,  perseverance,  energy,  and  the  simultaneous  development  of  all  his 
faculties ;  woman  elevated  to  the  rank  of  the  consort  of  man,  and,  as  it  were, 
recompensed  for  the  duty  of  obedience  by  the  respectful  regards  lavished  upon 
her ;  the  gentleness  and  constancy  of  family  ties,  protected  by  the  powerful 
guarantees  of  good  order  and  justice ;  an  admirable  public  conscience,  rich  in 
maxims  of  sublime  morality,  in  laws  of  justice  and  equity,  in  sentiments  of 
honor  and  dignity ;  a  conscience  which  survives  the  shipwreck  of  private  moral- 
ity, and  does  not  allow  unblushing  corruption  to  reach  the  height  which  it  did 
in  antiquity ;  a  general  mildness  of  manners,  which  in  war  prevents  great  ex- 
cesses, and  in  peace  renders  life  more  tranquil  and  pleasing ;  a  profound  respect 
for  man,  and  all  that  belongs  to  him,  which  makes  private  acts  of  violence  very 
uncommon,  and  in  all  political  constitutions  serves  as  a  salutary  check  on  go- 
vernments; an  ardent  desire  of  perfection  in  all  departments;  an  irresistible 
tendency,  sometimes  ill-directed,  but  always  active,  to  improve  the  condition  of 
the  many ;  a  secret  impulse  to  protect  the  weak,  to  succour  the  unfortunate — an 
impulse  which  sometimes  pursues  its  course  with  generous  ardor,  and  which, 
whenever  it  is  unable  to  develop  itself,  remains  in  the  heart  of  society,  and  pro- 
duces there  the  uneasiness  and  disquietude  of  remorse ;  a  cosmopolitan  spirit 
of  universality,  of  propagandism,  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  resources  to  grow 
young  again  without  danger  of  perishing,  and  for  self-preservation  in  the  most 
important  junctures;  a  generous  impatience,  which  longs  to  anticipate  the 
future,  and  produces  an  incessant  movement  and  agitation,  sometimes  dangerous, 
but  which  are  generally  the  germs  of  great  benefits,  and  the  symptoms  of  a 
strong  principle  of  life ;  such  are  the  great  characteristics  which  distinguish 
European  civilization ;  such  are  the  features  which  place  it  in  a  rank  immensely 
superior  to  that  of  all  other  civilizations,  ancient  and  modern. 

Read  the  history  of  antiquity;  extend  your  view  over  the  whole  world; 
wherever  Christianity  does  not  reign,  and  where  the  barbarous  or  savage  life  no 
longer  prevails,  you  will  find  a  civilization  which  in  nothing  resembles  our  own, 
and  which  cannot  be  compared  with  it  for  a  moment.  In  some  of  these  states 
of  civilization,  you  will  perhaps  find  a  certain  degree  of  regularity  and  some 
marks  of  power,  for  they  have  endured  for  centuries ;  but  how  have  they  en- 
dured ?  Without  movement,  without  progress ;  they  are  devoid  of  life ;  their 
regularity  and  duration  are  those  of  a  marble  statue,  which,  motionless  itself, 
sees  the  waves  of  generations  pass  by.  There  have  also  been  nations  whose 
civilization  displayed  motion  and  activity ;  but  what  motion  and  what  activity  ? 
Some,  ruled  by  the  mercantile  spirit,  never  succeeded  in  establishing  their 
internal  happiness  on  a  firm  basis;  their  only  object  was  to  invade  new  countries 
which  tempted  their  cupidity,  to  pour  into  their  colonies  their  superabundant 
population,  and  establish  numerous  factories  in  new  lands  :  others,  continually 
contending  and  fighting  for  a  few  measures  of  political  freedom,  forgot  their 
social  organization,  took  no  care  of  their  civil  liberty,  and  acted  in  the  nar- 
rowest circle  of  time  and  space ;  they  would  not  be  even  worthy  of  having  their 
names  preserved  for  posterity,  if  the  genius  of  the  beautiful  had  not  shone  there 
with  indescribable  charm,  and  if  the  monuments  of  their  knowledge,  like  a 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  117 

mirror,  had  not  preserved  the  bright  rays  of  Eastern  learning :  others,  great 
and  terrible,  it  is  true,  but  troubled  by  intestine  dissensions,  bear  inscribed  upon 
their  front  the  formidable  destiny  of  conquest }  this  destiny  they  fulfilled  by 
subjugating  the  world,  and  immediately  their  rapid  and  inevitable  ruin  ap- 
proached :  others,  in  fine,  excited  by  violent  fanaticism,  raged  like  the  waves  of 
ocean  in  a  storm ;  they  threw  themselves  upon  other  nations  like  a  devastating 
torrent,  and  threatened  to  involve  Christian  civilization  itself  in  their  deafening 
uproar ;  but  their  efforts  were  vain ;  their  waves  broke  against  insurmountable 
barriers ;  they  repeated  their  attempts,  but,  always  compelled  to  retire,  they  fell 
back  again,  and  spread  themselves  on  the  beach  with  a  sullen  roar :  and  now 
look  at  the  Eastern  nations ;  behold  them  like  an  impure  pool,  which  the  heat 
of  the  sun  is  about  to  dry  up ;  see  the  sons  and  successors  of  Mahomet  and 
Omar  on  their  knees  at  the  feet  of  the  European  powers,  begging  a  protection, 
which  policy  sometimes  affords  them,  but  only  with  disdain.  Such  is  the  pic- 
ture presented  to  us  by  every  civilization,  ancient  and  modern,  except  that  of 
•'^Europe,  that  is,  the  Christian.  It  alone  at  once  embraces  every  thing  great  and 
noble  in  the  others ;  it  alone  survives  the  most  thorough  revolutions  j  it  alone 
extends  itself  to  all  races  and  climates,  and  accommodates  itself  to  forms  of 
government  the  most  various ;  it  alone,  in  fine,  unites  itself  with  all  kinds  of 
institutions,  whenever,  by  circulating  in  them  its  fertile  sap,  it  can  produce  its 
sweet  and  salutary  fruits  for  the  good  of  humanity.  And  whence  comes  the 
immense  superiority  of  European  civilization  over  all  others  ?  How  has  it  be- 
come so  noble,  so  rich,  so  varied,  so  fruitful ;  with  the  stamp  of  dignity,  of 
nobility,  and  of  loftiness ;  without  castes,  without  slaves,  without  eunuchs,  with^ 
out  any  of  those  miseries  which  prey  upon  other  ancient  and  modern  nations  ? 
It  often  happens  that  we  Europeans  complain  and  lament- more  than  the  most 
unfortunate  portion  of  the  human  race  ever  did ;  and  we  forget  that  we  are  the 
privileged  children  of  Providence,  and  that  our  evils,  our  share  of  the  unavoid- 
able patrimony  of  humanity,  are  very  slight,  are  nothing  in  comparison  with 
those  which  have  been,  and  still  are,  suffered  by  other  nations.  Even  the  extent 
of  our  good  fortune  itself  renders  us  difficult  to  please,  and  exceedingly  fasti- 
dious. We  are  like  a  man  of  high  rank,  accustomed  to  live  respected  and 
esteemed  in  the  midst  of  ease  and  pleasure,  who  is  indignant  at  a  slighting  word, 
is  filled  with  disquietude  and  affliction  at  the  most  trifling  contradiction,  and 
forgets  the  multitude  of  men  who  are  plunged  in  misery,  whose  nakedness  is 
covered  with  a  few  rags,  and  who  meet  with  a  thousand  insults  and  refusals  be- 
fore they  can  obtain  a  morsel  of  bread  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  hunger. 

The  mind,  when  contemplating  European  civilization,  experiences  so  many 
different  impressions,  is  attracted  by  so  many  objects  that  at  the  same  time 
claim  its  attention  and  preference,  that,  charmed  by  the  magnificent  spectacle, 
it  is  dazzled,  and  knows  not  where  to  commence  the  examination.  The  best 
way  in  such  a  case  i^  to  simplify,  to  decompose  the  complex  object,  and  reduce 
it  to  its  simplest  elements.  The  individual,  the  family,  and  society;  these  we 
have  thoroughly  to  examine,  and  these  ought  to  be  the  subjects  of  our  inqui- 
ries. If  we  succeed  in  fully  understanding  these  three  elements,  as  they  really 
are  in  themselves,  and  apart  from  the  slight  variations  which  do  not  affect  their 
essence,  European  civilization,  with  all  its  riches  and  all  its  secrets,  will  be 
presented  to  our  view,  like  a  fertile  and  beautiful  landscape  lit  up  by  the  morn- 
ing sun. 

European  civilization  is  in  possession  of  the  principal  truths  with  respect  to 
the  individual,  to  the  family,  and  to  society ;  it  is  to  this  that  it  owes  all  that 
it  is  and  all  that  it  has.  Nowhere  have  the  true  nature,  the  true  relations  and 
object  of  these  three  things  been  better  understood  than  in  Europe ;  with  respect 
to  them  we  have  ideas,  sentiments,  and  views  which  have  been  wanting  in  other 
civilizations.  Now,  these  ideas  and  feelings,  strongly  marked  on  the  face  of 


118  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

European  nations,  have  inoculated  their  laws,  manners,  institutions,  customs, 
and  language ;  they  are  inhaled  with  the  air,  for  they  have  impregnated  the 
whole  atmosphere  with  their  vivifying  aroma.  To  what  is  this  owing  ?  To  the 
fact,  that  Europe,  for  many  centuries,  has  had  within  its  bosom  a  powerful  prin- 
ciple which  preserves,  propagates,  and  fructifies  the  truth ;  and  it  was  especially 
in  those  times  of  difficulty,  when  the  disorganized  society  had  to  assume  a  new 
form,  that  this  regenerating  principle  had  the  greatest  influence  and  ascendency. 
Time  has  passed  away,  great  changes  have  taken  place,  Catholicity  has  under- 
gone vast  vicissitudes  in  its  power  and  influence  on  society;  but  civilization,  its 
work,  was  too  strong  to  be  easily  destroyed ;  the  impulse  which  had  been  given 
to  Europe  was  too  powerful  and  well  secured  to  be  easily  diverted  from  its 
course.  Europe  was  like  a  young  man  gifted  with  a  strong  constitution,  and 
full  of  health  and  vigor;  the  excesses  of  labor  or  of  dissipation  reduce  him 
and  make  him  grow  pale ;  but  soon  the  hue  of  health  returns  to  his  counte- 
nance, and  his  limbs  recover  their  suppleness  and  vigor. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

OF  THE   INDIVIDUAL — OF   THE    FEELING   OF   INDIVIDUAL    INDEPENDENCE 
ACCORDING   TO   M.  GUIZOT. 

THE  individual  is  the  first  and  simplest  element  of  society.  If  the  indivi- 
dual is  not  well  constituted,  if  he  is  ill  understood  and  ill  appreciated,  there 
will  always  be  an  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  real  civilization.  First  of  all,  we 
must  observe,  that  we  speak  here  only  of  the  individual,  of  man  as  he  is  in 
himself,  apart  from  the  numerous  relations  which  surround  him  when  we  come 
to  consider  him  as  a  member  of  society.  But  let  it  not  be  imagined  from  this, 
that  I  wish  to  .consider  him  in  a  state  of  absolute  isolation,  to  carry  him  to  the 
desert,  to  reduce  him  to  the  savage  state,  and  analyze  the  individuality  as  it 
appears  to  us  in  a  few  wandering  hordes,  a  monstrous  exception,  which  is  only 
the  result  of  the  degradation  of  our  nature.  Equally  useless  would  it  be  to 
revive  the  theory  of  Rousseau,  that  pure  Utopianism  which  can  only  lead  to 
error  and  extravagance.  We  may  separately  examine  the  pieces  of  a  machine, 
for  the  better  understanding  of  its  particular  construction;  but  we  must  take 
care  not  to  forget  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  intended,  and  not  lose  sight 
of  the  whole,  of  which  they  form  a  part.  Without  that,  the  judgment  we 
should  form  of  them  would  certainly  be  erroneous.  The  most  wonderful  and 
sublime  picture  would  be  only  a  ridiculous  monstrosity,  if  its  groups  and  figures 
were  considered  in  a  state  of  isolation  from  its  other  parts ;  in  this  way,  the 
prodigies  of  Michael  Angelo  and  Raffael  might  be  taken  for  the  dreams  of  a 
madman.  Man  is  not  alone  in  the  world,  nor  is  he  born  to  live  alone.  Besides 
what  is  he  in  himself,  he  is  a  part  of  the  great  scheme  of  the  Universe.  Be- 
sides the  destiny  which  belongs  to  him  in  the  vast  plan  of  creation,  he  is  raised, 
by  the  bounty  of  his  Maker,  to  another  sphere,  above  all  earthly  thoughts. 
Good  philosophy  requires  that  we  should  forget  nothing  of  all  this.  It  now 
remains  for  us  to  consider  the  individual  and  individuality. 

In  considering  man,  we  may  abstract  from  his  quality  of  citizen, — an  abstrac- 
tion which,  far  from  leading  to  any  extravagant  paradoxes,  is  likely  to  make  us 
thoroughly  understand  a  remarkable  peculiarity  of  European  civilization,  one 
of  the  distinctive  characteristics,  which  will  be  alone  sufficient  to  enable  us  to 
avoid  confounding  it  with  others.  All  will  readily  understand  that  there  is  a 
distinction  to  be  made  between  the  man  and  the  citizen,  and  that  these  two 
aspects  lead  to  very  different  considerations ;  but  it  is  more  difficult  to  say  how 
far  the  limits  of  this  distinction  should  extend ;  to  what  extent  the  feeling  of 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  119 

independence  should  be  admitted ;  what  is  the  sphere  which  ought  to  be  assigned 
to  purely  individual  development ;  in  fine,  whatever  is  peculiar  to  our  civiliza- 
tion on  this  point.  We  must  justly  estimate  the  difference  which  we  find  herein 
between  our  state  of  society  and  that  of  others ;  we  must  point  out  its  source, 
and  its  result ;  we  must  carefully  weigh  its  real  influence  on  the  advance  of 
civilization.  This  task  is  difficult ;  I  repeat  it, — for  we  have  here  various  ques- 
tions, great  and  important,  it  is  true,  but  delicate  and  profound,  and  very  easily 
mistaken, — it  is  not  without  much  trouble  that  we  can  fix  our  eyes  with  cer- 
tainty on  these  vague,  indeterminate,  and  floating  objects,  which  are  connected 
together  by  no  perceptible  ties. 

We  here  meet  with  the  famous  personal  independence,  which,  according  to 
M.  Guizot,  was  brought  by  the  barbarians  from  the  North,  and  played  so  im- 
portant a  part,  that  we  ought  to  look  upon  it  as  one  of  the  chief  and  most  pro- 
ductive principles  of  European  civilization.  This  celebrated  publicist,  analyzing 
the  elements  of  this  civilization,  and  pointing  out  the  share  which  the  Roman 
empire  and  the  Church  had  therein,  in  his  opinion,  finds  a  remarkable  principle 
of  productiveness  in  the  feeling  of  individuality,  which  the  Germans  brought 
with  them,  and  inoculated  into  the  manners  of  Europe.  It  will  not  be  useless 
to  discuss  the  opinion  of  M.  Guizot  on  this  important  and  delicate  matter.  By 
thus  explaining  the  state  of  the  question,  we  shall  remove  the  important  errors 
of  some  persons,  errors  produced  by  the  authority  of  this  writer,  whose  talent 
and  eloquence  have  unfortunately  given  plausibility  and  semblance  of  truth  to 
what  is  in  reality  only  a  paradox.  The  first  care  we  ought  to  take,  in  combat- 
ing the  opinions  of  this  writer,  is  not  to  attribute  to  him  what  he  has  not  really 
said ;  besides,  as  the  matter  we  are  treating  of  is  liable  to  many  mistakes,  we 
shall  do  well  to  transcribe  the  words  of  M.  Guizot  at  length.  "  What  we  require 
to  know,"  he  says,  "  is  the  general  condition  of  society  among  the  barbarians. 
Now  it  is  very  difficult,  now-a-days,  to  give  an  account  of  it.  We  can  under- 
stand, without  too  much  trouble,  the  municipal  system  of  Rome,  and  the  Chris- 
tian Church ;  their  influence  has  continued  down  to  our  times ;  we  find  traces 
of  them  in  many  institutions  and  existing  facts.  We  have  a  thousand  means 
of  recognising  and  explaining  them.  The  manners,  the  social  condition  of  the 
barbarians,  have  entirely  perished }  we  are  compelled  to  divine  them,  by  the 
most  ancient  historical  documents,  or  by  an  effort  of  imagination." 

What  has  been  preserved  to  us  of  the  manners  of  the  barbarians  is,  indeed, 
little  \  this  is  an  assertion  which  I  will  not  deny.  I  will  not  dispute  with  M. 
Guizot  about  the  authority  which  ought  to  belong  to  facts  which  require  to  be 
filled  up  by  an  effort  of  the  imagination,  and  which  compel  us  to  have-recourse 
to  the  dangerous  expedient  of  divining.  As  for  the  rest,  I  am  aware  of  the 
nature  of  these  questions ;  and  the  reflections  which  I  have  just  made,  as  well 
as  the  terms  which  I  have  used,  prove  that  I  do  not  think  it  possible  to  proceed 
with  rule  and  compass  in  such  an  examination.  Nevertheless,  I  have  thought 
it  proper  to  warn  the  reader  on  this  point,  and  combat  the  delusion  into  which 
he  might  be  led  by  a  doctrine  which,  when  fully  examined,  is,  I  repeat  it,  only 
a  brilliant  paradox.  "There  is  a  feeling,  a  fact,"  continues  M.  Guizot,  "which 
it  is  above  all  necessary  to  understand  well,  in  order  to  represent  to  ourselves 
with  truth  what  a  barbarian  was :  this  is,  the  pleasure  of  individual  independ- 
ence— the  pleasure  of  playing  amid  the  chances  of  the  world  and  of  life,  with 
power  and  liberty;  the  joys  of  activity  without  labor;  the  taste  for  an  adven- 
turous destiny,  full  of  surprises,  vicissitudes,  and  perils.  Such  was  the  ruling 
feeling  of  the  barbarian  state,  the  moral  necessity  which  put  these  masses  of 
men  in  motion.  To-day,  in  the  regular  society  in  which  we  live,  it  is  difficult 
to  represent  to  one's  self  this  feeling,  with  all  the  influence  which  it  exercised 
over  the  barbarians  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  There  is  only  one  work, 
in  my  opinion,  in  which  this  character  of  barbarism  is  described  with  all  its 


120  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

force,  viz.  The  History  of  the  Conquest  of  England  by  the  Normans,  of  M. 
Thierry — the  only  book  where  the  motives,  the  inclinations,  the  impulses  which 
actuate  man  in  a  social  state  bordering  on  barbarism,  are  felt  and  described  with 
a  truth  really  Homeric.  Nowhere  do  we  see  so  clearly  what  a  barbarian  was, 
and  what  was  his  life.  We  also  find  something  of  this,  although  in  a  very  in- 
ferior degree,  in  my  opinion,  in  a  manner  much  less  simple,  much  less  true,  in 
the  romances  of  Mr.  Cooper  on  the  American  savages.  There  is  in  the  life  of 
the  savages  of  America,  in  the  relations  and  feelings  which  exist  in  those  forests, 
something  which  reminds  one,  to  a  certain  extent,  of  the  manners  of  the  ancient 
Germans.  No  doubt  these  pictures  are  a  little  ideal,  a  little  poetical ;  the  un- 
favorable side  of  barbarian  life  and  manners  is  not  displayed  in  all  its  crudity. 
I  do  not  speak  merely  of  the  evils  which  these  manners  produce  in  the  indivi- 
dual social  condition  of  the  barbarian  himself.  In  this  passionate  love  of  per- 
sonal independence,  there  was  something  more  rude  and  coarse  than  one  would 
imagine  from  the  work  of  M.  Thierry ;  there  was  a  degree  of  brutality,  of  indo- 
lence, of  apathy,  which  is  not  always  faithfully  described  in  his  pictures. 
Nevertheless,  when  one  examines  the  thing  to  the  bottom,  in  spite  of  brutality, 
coarseness,  and  this  stupid  egotism,  the  taste  for  individual  independence  is  a 
noble  moral  feeling,  which  draws  its  power  from  the  moral  nature  of  man  :  it  is 
the  pleasure  of  feeling  himself  a  man — the  sentiment  of  personality,  of  spon- 
taneous action  in  his  free  development.  Gentlemen,  it  was  by  the  German 
barbarians  that  this  feeling  was  introduced  into  the  civilization  of  Europe ;  it 
was  unknown  to  the  Roman  world,  unknown  to  the  Christian  Church,  unknown 
to  almost  all  the  ancient  civilizations  : — when  you  find  liberty  in  the  ancient 
civilizations,  it  is  political  liberty,  the  liberty  of  the  citizen.  It  is  not  with  his 
personal  liberty  that  the  man  is  prepossessed,  but  with  his  liberty  as  a  citizen. 
He  belongs  to  an  association — he  is  devoted  to  an  association — he  is  ready  to 
sacrifice  himself  for  an  association.  It  was  the  same  with  the  Christian  Church  : 
there  prevailed  a  feeling  of  great  attachment  to  the  Christian  corporation — of 
devotion  to  its  laws — a  strong  desire  of  extending  its  empire ;  the  religious  feel- 
ing produced  a  reaction  on  the  man  himself — on  his  soul — an  internal  struggle 
to  subdue  his  own  will,  and  make  it  submit  to  the  demands  of  his  faith.  But 
the  feeling  of  personal  independence,  the  taste  for  liberty  showing  itself  at  any 
hazard,  with  hardly  any  other  object  than  its  own  satisfaction — this  feeling,  I 
repeat,  was  unknown  to  the  Roman  and  Christian  society.  It  was  brought  in 
by  the  barbarians,  and  placed  in  the  cradle  of  modern  civilization.  It  has 
played  so  great  a  part,  it  has  produced  such  noble  results,  that  it  is  impossible 
not  to  bring  it  to  light  as  one  of  the  fundamental  elements  thereof/'  (ffistoire 
Generate  de  la  Civilisation  en  Europe,  legon  2.)  This  feeling  of  personal  inde- 
pendence, exclusively  attributed  to  a  nation — this  vague,  undefinable  feeling — 
a  singular  mixture  of  nobleness  and  brutality,  of  barbarism  and  civilization — is 
in  some  degree  poetical,  and  is  very  likely  to  seduce  the  fancy;  but,  unfortu- 
nately, there  is  in  the  contrast,  intended  to  increase  the  effect  of  the  picture, 
something  extraordinary,  I  will  even  say  contradictory,  which  excites  the  suspi- 
cion of  cool  reason  that  there  is  some  hidden  error  which  compels  it  to  be  on  its 
guard.  If  it  be  true  that  this  phenomenon  ever  existed,  what  was  its  origin  ? 
Will  it  be  said  that  it  was  the  result  of  climate  ?  But  how  can  it  be  imagined 
that  the  snows  of  the  north  protected  what  was  not  found  in  the  ardent  south  ? 
How  comes  it  that  the  feeling  of  personal  independence  was  wanting  precisely 
in  those  southern  countries  of  Europe,  where  the  feeling  of  political  independ- 
ence was  developed  with  so  much  force?  and  would  it  not  be  a  strange  tiling, 
not  to  say  an  absurdity,  if  these  different  climates  had  divided  these  two  kinds 
of  liberty  between  them,  like  an  inheritance  ?  It  will  be  said,  perhaps,  that 
this  feeling  arose  from  the  social  state.  But  in  that  case,  it  cannot  be  made 
the  characteristic  mark  of  one  nation :  it  must  be  said,  in  general  terms,  that 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  121 

the  feeling  belonged  to  all  the  nations  who  were  in  the  same  social  condition  as 
the  Germans.  Besides,  even  according  to  this  hypothesis,  how  could  that  which 
was  peculiar  to  barbarism  have  been  a  germ,  a  fruitful  principle  of  civilization? 
This  feeling,  which  must  have  been  effaced  by  civilization,  could  not  even  pre- 
serve itself  in  the  midst  thereof,  much  less  contribute  to  its  development.  If 
its  perpetuation  in  some  form  was  absolutely  necessary,  why  did  not  the  same 
thing  take  place  in  the  bosom  of  other  civilizations  ?  Surely  the  Germans  were 
not  the  only  people  who  passed  from  barbarism  to  civilization.  But  I  do  not 
pretend  to  say  that  the  barbarians  of  the  north  did  not  present  some  remarkable 
peculiarity  in  this  point  of  view ;  and  I  do  not  deny  that  we  find  in  European 
civilization  a  feeling  of  personality,  if  I  may  so  speak,  unknown  to  other  civili- 
zations. But  what  I  venture  to  affirm  is,  that  it  is  little  philosophical  to  have 
recourse  to  mysteries  and  enigmas  to  explain  the  individuality  of  the  Germans, 
and  that  it  is  useless  to  seek  in  their  barbarism  the  cause  of  the  superiority 
which  European  civilization  possesses  in  this  respect.  To  form  a  clear  idea  of 
this  question,  which  is  as  complicated  as  it  is  important,  it  is  first  of  all  neces- 
sary to  specify,  in  the  best  way  we  can,  the  real  nature  of  the  barbarian  indivi- 
duality. In  a  pamphlet  which  I  published  some  time  ago,  called  Observations 
Sociales,  Politiques,  et  Economises,  sur  les  Biens  du  Clerge,  I  have  incidentally 
touched  upon  this  individuality,  and  attempted  to  give  clear  ideas  on  this  point. 
As  I  have  not  changed  my  opinion  since  that  time,  but,  on  the  contrary,  as  it 
has  been  confirmed,  I  will  transcribe  what  I  then  said,  as  follows :  "  What  was 
this  feeling  ?  Was  it  peculiar  to  those  nations  ?  Was  it  the  result  of  the  influ- 
ence of  climate,  of  a  social  position?  Was  it  perchance  a  feeling  formed  in  all 
places  and  at  all  times,  but  which  is  here  modified  by  particular  circumstances  ? 
What  was  its  force,  its  tendency  ?  How  far  was  it  just  or  unjust,  noble  or 
degrading,  profitable  or  injurious?  What  benefits  did  it  confer  on  society; 
what  evils  ?  How  were  these  evils  combated,  by  whom,  by  what  means,  and 
with  what  result  ?  These  questions  are  numerous,  but  they  are  not  so  compli- 
cated as  they  appear  at  first  sight ;  when  once  the  fundamental  idea  shall  be 
cleared  up,  the  others  will  be  understood  without  difficulty,  and  the  theory, 
when  simplified,  will  immediately  be  confirmed  and  supported  by  history.  There 
is  a  strong,  active,  an  indestructible  feeling  in  the  human  heart  which  urges 
men  to  self-preservation,  to  avoid  evils,  and  to  attain  to  their  well-being  and 
happiness.  Whether  you  call  it  self-love,  instinct  of  preservation,  desire  of 
happiness  or  of  perfection,  egotism,  individuality,  or  whatever  name  you  give 
to  it,  this  feeling  exists ;  we  have  it  within  us.  We  cannot  doubt  of  its  exist- 
ence; it  accompanies  us  at  every  step,  in  all  our  actions,  from  the  time  when 
we  first  see  the  light  till  we  descend  into  the  tomb.  This  feeling,  if  you  will 
observe  its  origin,  its  nature,  and  its  object,  is  nothing  but  a  great  law  of  all 
beings  applied  to  man ;  a  law  which,  being  a  guarantee  for  the  preservation  and 
perfecting  of  individuals,  admirably  contributes  to  the  harmony  of  the  universe. 
It  is  clear  that  such  a  feeling  must  naturally  incline  .us  to  hate  oppression,  and 
to  suffer  with  impatience  what  tends  to  limit  and  fetter  the  use  of  our  faculties. 
The  cause  is  easily  found ;  all  this  gives  us  uneasiness,  to  which  our  nature  is 
repugnant ;  even  the  tenderest  infant  bears  with  impatience  the  tie  that  fastens 
him  in  his  cradle ;  he  is  uneasy,  he  is  disturbed,  he  cries. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  individual,  when  he  is  not  totally  devoid  of  know- 
ledge of  himself,  when  his  intellectual  faculties  are  at  all  developed,  will  feel 
another  sentiment  arise  in  his  mind  which  has  nothing  in  common  with  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation  with  which  all  beings  are  animated,  a  sentiment 
which  belongs  exclusively  to  intelligence ;  I  mean,  the  feeling  of  dignity,  of 
value  of  ourselves,  of  that  fire  which,  enkindled  in  our  hearts  in  our  earliest 
years,  is  nourished,  extended,  and  supported  by  the  aliment  afforded  to  it  by 
time,  and  acquires  that  immense  power,  that  expansion  which  makes  us  so  rest- 

16  L 


122  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

less,  active,  and  agitated  during  all  periods  of  our  life.  The  subjection  of  one 
man  to  another  wounds  this  feeling  of  dignity;  for  even  supposing  it  to  be 
reconciled  with  all  possible  freedom  and  mildness,  with  the  most  perfect  respect 
for  the  person  subjected,  this  subjection  reveals  a  weakness  or  a  necessity  which 
compels  him  in  some  degree  to  limit  the  free  use  of  his  faculties.  Such  is  the 
second  origin  of  the  feeling  of  personal  independence.  It  follows  from  what  I 
have  just  said,  that  man  always  bears  within  himself  a  certain  love  of  inde- 
pendence, that  this  feeling  is  necessarily  common  to  all  times  and  countries,  for 
we  have  found  its  roots  in  the  two  most  natural  feelings  of  man — viz.  the  desire 
of  well-being  and  the  consciousness  of  his  own  dignity.  It  is  evident  that  these 
feelings  may  be  modified  and  varied  indefinitely,  on  account  of  the  infinity  of 
situations  in  which  the  individual  may  be  placed,  morally  and  physically.  With- 
out leaving  the  sphere  which  is  marked  out  for  them  by  their  very  essence,  these 
feelings  may  vary  as  to  strength  or  weakness  on  the  most  extensive  scale ;  they 
may  be  moral  or  immoral,  just  or  unjust,  noble  or  vile,  advantageous  or  inju- 
rious. Consequently  they  may  contribute  to  the  individual  the  greatest  variety 
of  inclinations,  of  habits,  of  manners ;  and  thereby  give  very  different  features 
to  the  physiognomy  of  nations,  according  to  the  particular  and  characteristic 
manner  in  which  they  affect  the  individual.  These  notions  being  once  cleared 
up  by  a  real  knowledge  of  the  constitution  of  the  heart  of  man,  we  see  how  all 
questions  which  relate  to  the  feeling  of  individuality  must  be  resolved;  we  also 
see  that  it  is  useless  to  have  recourse  to  mysterious  language  or  poetical  expla- 
nations, for  in  all  this  there  is  nothing  that  can  be  submitted  to  a  rigorous 
analysis.  The  ideas  which  man  forms  of  his  own  well-being,  and  dignity,  the 
means  which  he  employs  to  promote  the  one  and  preserve  the  other,  these  are 
what  will  settle  the  degrees  of  energy,  will  determine  the  nature  and  signalize 
the  tendency  of  all  these  feelings ;  that  is  to  say,  all  will  depend  on  the  phy- 
sical and  moral  state  of  society  and  the  individual.  Now,  supposing  all  other 
circumstances  to  be  equal,  give  a  man  true  ideas  of  his  own  well-being  and 
dignity,  such  as  reason  and  above  all  the  Christian  religion  teach,  and  you  will 
form  a  good  citizen ;  give  false,  exaggerated,  absurd  ideas,  such  as  are  enter- 
tained by  perverted  schools  and  promulgated  by  agitators  at  all  times  and  in 
all  countries,  and  you  spread  the  fruitful  seeds  of  disturbance  and  disorder. 

"  In  order  to  complete  the  clearing  up  of  the  important  point  which  we  have 
undertaken  to  explain,  we  must  apply  this  doctrine  to  the  particular  fact  which 
now  occupies  us.  If  we  fix  our  attention  on  the  nations  who  invaded  and  over- 
turned the  Roman  empire,  confining  ourselves  to  the  facts  which  history  has 
preserved  of  them,  to  the  conjectures  which  are  authorized  by  the  circumstances 
*in  which  they  were  placed,  and  to  the  general  data  which  modern  science  has 
been  able  to  collect  from  the  immediate  observation  of  the  different  tribes 
of  America,  we  shall  be  able  to  form  an  idea  of  what  was  the  state  of  society 
and  of  the  individual  among  the  invading  barbarians.  In  their  native  countries, 
among  their  mountains,  in  their  forests  covered  with  frost  and  snow,  they  had 
their  family  ties,  their  relationships,  their  religion,  traditions,  customs,  manners, 
attachment  to  their  hereditary  soil,  their  love  of  national  independence,  their 
enthusiasm  for  the  great  deeds  of  their  ancestors,  and  for  the  glory  acquired  in 
battle ;  in  fine,  their  desire  of  perpetuating  in  their  children  a  race  strong, 
valiant,  and  free;  they  had  their  distinctions  of  family,  their  division  into 
tribes,  their  priests,  chiefs,  and  government.  Without  discussing  the  character 
of  their  forms  of  government,  and  laying  aside  all  that  might  be  said  of  their 
monarchy,  their  public  assemblies,  and  other  similar  points,  questions  which  are 
foreign  to  our  subject,  and  which  besides  are  always  in  some  degree  hypothetical 
and  imaginary,  I  shall  content  myself  with  making  a  remark  which  none  of  my 
readers  will  deny,  viz.  that  among  them  the  organization  of  society  was  such  as 
might  have  been  expected  from  rude  and  superstitious  ideas,  gross  habits,  and 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  123 

ferocious  manners ;  that  is  to  say,  that  their  social  condition  did  not  rise  above 
the  level  which  had  naturally  been  marked  out  for  it  by  two  imperious  necessi- 
ties :  first,  that  complete  anarchy  should  not  prevail  in  their  forests ;  and  second, 
that  in  war  they  should  have  some  one  to  lead  their  confused  hordes.  Born  in 
rigorous  climates,  crowding  on  each  other  by  their  rapid  increase,  and  on  that 
account  obtaining  with  difficulty  even  the  means  of  subsistence,  these  nations 
saw  before  their  eyes  the  abundance  and  the  luxuries  of  ample  and  well-culti- 
vated regions ;  they  were  at  the  same  time  urged  on  by  extreme  want,  and 
strongly  excited  by  the  presence  of  plunder.  There  was  nothing  to  oppose  them 
but  the  feeble  legions  of  an  effeminate  and  decaying  civilization  j  their  own 
bodies  were  strong,  their  minds  full  of  courage  and  audacity ;  their  numbers 
augmented  their  boldness ;  they  left  their  native  soil  without  pain ;  a  spirit  of 
adventure  and  enterprise  developed  itself  in  their  minds,  and  they  threw  them- 
selves on  the  Empire  like  a  torrent  which  falls  from  the  mountains,  and  inun- 
dates the  neighboring  plains.  However  imperfect  was  their  social  condition, 
and  however  rude  were  its  ties,  it  sufficed,  nevertheless,  in  their  native  soil,  and 
amid  their  ancient  manners ;  if  the  barbarians  had  remained  in  their  forests,  it 
may  be  said  that  that  form  of  government,  which  answered  its  purpose  in  its 
way,  would  have  been  perpetuated ;  for  it  was  born  of  necessity,  it  was  adapted 
to  circumstances,  it  was  rooted  in  their  habits,  sanctioned  by  time,  and  connected 
with  traditions  and  recollections  of  every  kind.  But  these  ties  were  too  weak 
to  be  transported  without  being  broken.  These  forms  of  government  were,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  so  suited  to  the  state  of  barbarism,  and  consequently  so  circum- 
scribed and  limited,  that  they  could  not  be  applied  without  difficulty  to  the  new 
situation  in  which  these  nations  found  themselves  almost  suddenly  placed.  Let 
us  imagine  these  savage  children  of  the  forest  precipitated  on  the  south ;  their 
fierce  chiefs  precede  them,  and  they  are  followed  by  crowds  of  women  and  chil- 
dren ;  they  take  with  them  their  flocks  and  rude  baggage ;  they  cut  to  pieces 
numerous  legions  on  their  way;  they  form  intrenchments,  cross  ditches,  scale 
ramparts,  ravage  the  country,  destroy  forests,  burn  populous  cities,  and  take 
with  them  immense  numbers  of  slaves  captured  on  the  way.  They  overturn 
every  thing  that  opposes  their  fury,  and  drive  before  them  multitudes  who  flee 
to  avoid  fire  and  sword.  In  a  short  time  see  these  same  men,  elated  with  victory, 
enriched  by  immense  booty,  inured  by  so  many  battles,  fires,  sackings,  and  mas- 
sacres, transported,  as  if  by  enchantment,  into  a  new  climate,  under  another 
sky,  and  swimming  in  abundance,  in  pleasure,  in  new  enjoyments  of  every  kind. 
A  confused  mixture  of  idolatry  and  Christianity,  of  truth  and  falsehood,  is 
become  their  religion ;  their  principal  chiefs  are  dead  in  battle ;  families  are 
confounded  in  disorder,  races  mixed,  old  manners  and  customs  altered  and  lost. 
These  nations,  in  fine,  are  spread  over  immense  countries,  in  the  midst  of  other 
nations,  differing  in  language,  ideas,  manners,  and  usages ;  imagine,  if  you  can, 
this  disorder,  this  confusion,  this  chaos,  and  tell  me  whether  the  ties  which 
formed  the  society  of  these  nations  are  not  destroyed  and  broken  into  a  thou- 
sand pieces,  and  whether  you  do  not  see  barbarian  and  civilized  society  disappear 
together,  and  all  antiquity  vanish  without  any  thing  new  taking  its  place  ?  And 
at  this  moment,  fix  your  eyes  upon  the  gloomy  child  of  the  North,  when  he 
feels  all  the  ties  that  bound  him  to  society  suddenly  loosened,  when  all  the 
chains  that  restrained  his  ferocity  break ;  when  he  finds  himself  alone,  isolated, 
in  a  position  so  new,  so  singular,  so  extraordinary,  with  an  obscure  recollection 
of  his  late  country  and  without  affection  for  that  which  he  has  just  occupied ; 
without  respect  for  law,  fear  of  man,  or  attachment  to  custom.  Do  you  not  see 
him,  in  his  impetuous  ferocity,  indulge  without  limit  his  habits  of  violence, 
wandering,  plunder,  and  massacre  ?  He  confides  in  his  strong  arm  and  activity 
of  foot,  and  led  by  a  heart  full  of  fire  and  courage,  by  an  imagination  excited 
by  the  view  of  so  many  different  countries  and  by  the  hazards  of  so  many  travels 


124  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

and  combats,  he  rashly  undertakes  all  enterprises,  rejects  all  subjection,  throws 
off  all  restraint,  and  delights  in  the  dangers  of  fresh  struggles  and  adventures. 
Do  you  not  find  here  the  mysterious  individuality,  the  feeling  of  personal  inde- 
pendence, in  all  its  philosophical  reality  and  all  the  truth  which  is  assigned  to 
it  by  history  ?  This  brutal  individuality,  this  fierce  feeling  of  independence, 
which  was  not  reconcileable  with  the  well-being  or  with  the  true  dignity  of  the 
individual,  contained  a  principle  of  eternal  war  and  a  continually  wandering 
mode  of  life,  and  must  necessarily  produce  the  degradation  of  man  and  the 
complete  dissolution  of  society.  Far  from  containing  the  germ  of  civilization, 
it  was  this  that  was  best  adapted  to  reduce  Europe  to  the  savage  state ;  it  stifled 
society  in  its  cradle ;  it  destroyed  every  attempt  made  to  reorganize  it,  and  com- 
pleted the  annihilation  of  all  that  remained  of  the  ancient  civilization." 

The  observations  which  have  just  been  made  may  be  more  or  less  well  founded, 
more  or  less  happy,  but  at  least  they  do  not  present  the  inexplicable  incon- 
sistency, not  to  say  contradiction,  of  allying  barbarism  and  brutality  with  civili- 
zation and  refinement;  they  do  not  give  the  name  of  an  eminent  and  fruitful 
principle  of  European  civilization  to  that  which  a  little  further  on  is  pointed 
out  as  one  of  the  strongest  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  social  organization.  As 
M.  Guizot,  on  this  last  point,  agrees  with  the  opinion  which  I  have  just  stated, 
and  shows  the  incoherence  of  his  own  doctrines,  the  reader  will  allow  me  to 
quote  his  own  words.  "  It  is  clear,"  he  says,  "  that  if  men  have  no  ideas 
extending  beyond  their  own  existence,  if  their  intellectual  horizon  is  limited  to 
themselves,  if  they  give  themselves  up  to  the  caprices  of  their  own  passions  and 
wills,  if  they  have  not  among  them  a  certain  number  of  common  notions  and 
feelings,  around  which  they  rally ;  it  is  clear,  I  say,  that  no  society  can  be  pos- 
sible among  them ;  that  such  individual,  when  he  enters  into  any  association, 
will  be  a  principle  of  disturbance  and  dissolution.  Whenever  individuality 
almost  absolutely  prevails,  or  man  only  considers  himself,  or  his  ideas  do  not 
extend  beyond  himself,  or  he  obeys  only  his  own  passions,  society,  I  mean  one 
with  any  thing  of  extent  or  permanency,  becomes  almost  impossible.  Now 
such  was  the  moral  condition  of  the  conquerors  of  Europe  at  the  period  of  which 
we  speak.  I  have  pointed  out,  in  the  last  lecture,  that  we  owe  the  energetic 
feeling  of  individual  liberty  and  humanity  to  the  Germans.  Now,  in  a  state 
of  extreme  rudeness  and  ignorance,  this  feeling  is  egotism  in  all  its  brutality, 
in  all  its  unsociability.  From  the  fifth  to  the  eighth  century,  such  was  the  case 
among  the  Germans.  They  consulted  only  their  own  interests,  their  own  pas- 
sions, their  own  wills ;  how  could  this  accord  with  the  social  state  ?  It  was 
attempted  to  make  them  enter  it ;  they  attempted  it  themselves ;  they  soon  left 
it  from  some  sudden  act,  some  sally  of  passion  or  misunderstanding.  Every 
moment  we  see  society  attempted  to  be  formed ;  every  moment  we  see  it  broken 
by  the  act  of  man,  by  the  want  of  the  moral  conditions  necessary  for  its  sub- 
sistence. Such,  gentlemen,  were  the  two  prevailing  causes  of  the  state  of  bar- 
barism. As  long  as  they  lasted,  barbarism  continued."  (Histoire  Generate  de 
la  Civilisation  en  Europe,  Ie§on3.) 

With  respect  to  his  theory  of  individuality,  M.  Guizot  has  met  with  the  com- 
mon fate  of  men  of  great  talents.  They  are  forcibly  struck  by  a  singular  phe- 
nomenon, they  conceive  an  ardent  desire  of  finding  its  cause,  and  they  fall  into 
frequent  errors,  led  away  by  a  secret  tendency  always  to  point  out  a  new,  unex- 
pected, astonishing  origin.  In  his  vast  and  penetrating  view  of  European  civi- 
lization, in  his  parallel  between  this  and  the  most  distinguished  ones  of  antiquity, 
he  discovered  a  very  remarkable  difference  between  the  individuals  of  the  former 
and  of  the  latter.  He  saw  in  the  man  of  modern  Europe,  something  nobler, 
more  independent  than  in  the  Greek  or  Roman  j  it  was  necessary  to  point  out 
the  origin  of  this  difference.  Now  this  was  not  an  easy  task,  considering  the 
peculiar  situation  in  which  the  philosophical  historian  found  himself.  From 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  125 

the  first  glance  which  he  took  at  the  elements  of  European  civilization,  the 
Church  presented  herself  to  him  as  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  the  most  influ- 
ential agents  on  the  organization  of  society;  and  he  saw  issue  from  her  the 
impulse  which  was  most  capable  of  leading  the  world  to  a  great  and  happy 
future.  He  had  already  expressly  acknowledged  this,  and  had  paid  homage  to 
the  truth  in  magnificent  language  ;  in  order  to  explain  this  phenomenon,  should 
he  again  have  recourse  to  Christianity,  to  the  Church  ?  This  would  have  been 
conceding  to  her  the  whole  of  the  great  work  of  civilization ;  and  M.  Guizot 
was  desirous,  at  all  hazards,  of  giving  her  coadjutors.  Therefore,  fixing  his 
eyes  upon  the  barbarian  hordes,  he  expects  to  discover  in  the  swarthy  brows, 
the  savage  countenances,  and  the  menacing  looks  of  these  children  of  the  forest, 
a  type,  somewhat  rude  but  still  very  just,  of  the  noble  independence,  the  eleva- 
tion, and  dignity  which  the  European  bears  in  his  features. 

After  having  explained  the  mysterious  personality  of  the  Germans,  and 
shown  that,  far  from  being  an  element  of  civilization,  it  was  a  source  of  disorder 
and  barbarism ;  it  is  besides  necessary  to  examine  the  difference  which  exists 
between  the  civilization  of  Europe  and  other  civilizations,  with  respect  to  the 
feeling  of  dignity }  it  is  necessary  to  determine  with  precision  what  modifica- 
tions have  been  undergone  by  a  feeling,  which,  considered  by  itself,  is,  as  we 
have  seen,  common  to  all  men.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  no  foundation  for 
this  assertion  of  M.  Guizot,  that  the  feeling  of  personal  independence,  the  taste 
for  liberty,  displaying  itself  at  all  hazards,  with  scarcely  any  other  object  than 
its  own  satisfaction,  was  unknown  to  Roman  society.  It  is  clear  that  in  such  a 
comparison,  it  is  not  meant  to  allude  to  the  feeling  of  independence  in  the  savage 
state,  in  the  state  of  barbarism;  for  as  well  might  it  be  said  that  civilized 
nations  could  not  have  the  distinctive  character  of  barbarism.  But  laying  aside 
that  circumstance  of  ferocity,  we  will  say  that  the  feeling  was  very  active,  not 
only  among  the  Romans,  but  also  among  the  other  most  celebrated  nations  of 
antiquity.  "  When  you  find  in  ancient  civilization,"  says  M.  Guizot,  "  liberty, 
it  is  political  liberty,  the  liberty  of  the  citizen.  It  is  not  with  his  personal 
liberty  that  the  man  is  prepossessed,  it  is  with  his  liberty  as  a  citizen ;  he  be- 
longs to  an  association,  he  is  devoted  to  an  association,  he  is  ready  to  sacrifice 
himself  for  an  association."  I  will  not  deny  that  this  spirit  of  sacrifice  for  the 
benefit  of  an  association  did  exist  among  ancient  nations ;  I  acknowledge  also 
that  it  was  accompanied  by  remarkable  peculiarities,  which  I  intend  to  explain 
further  on ;  yet  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  taste  for  liberty,  with  scarcely 
any  other  object  than  its  own  satisfaction,  was  not  more  active  with  ancient 
nations  than  with  us.  Indeed,  \what  was  the  object  of  the  Phoenicians,  the 
Greeks  of  the  Archipelago  and  of  Asia  Minor,  the  Carthaginians,  when  they 
undertook  those  voyages  which,  for  such  remote  times,  were  as  bold  and  perilous 
as  those  of  our  most  intrepid  sailors  ?  Was  it,  indeed,  to  sacrifice  themselves 
for  an  association  that  they  sought  new  territories  with  so  much  ardour,  in  order 
to  amass  there  money,  gold,  and  all  kinds  of  articles  of  value  ?  Were  they 
not  led  by  the  desire  of  acquiring  to  gratify  themselves  f  Where,  then,  is  the 
association  ?  Where  do  you  find  it  here  ?  Do  you  see  any  thing  but  the  indi- 
vidual, with  his  passions  and  tastes,  and  his  ardour  in  satisfying  them  ?  And 
the  Greeks — those  Greeks  so  enervated,  so  voluptuous,  so  spoiled  by  pleasures, 
had  they  not  the  most  lively  feeling  of  personal  independence,  the  most  ardent 
desire  of  living  with  perfect  freedom,  with  no  other  object  but  to  gratify  them- 
selves ?  Their  poets  singing  of  nectar  and  of  love ;  their  free  courtesans  receiv- 
ing the  homage  of  the  most  illustrious  citizens,  and  making  sages  forget  their 
philosophical  moderation  and  gravity ;  and  the  people  celebrating  their  festivals 
amid  the  most  fearful  dissoluteness ;  did  they  also  only  sacrifice  on  the  altars 
of  association?  Had  they  not  the  desire  of  gratifying  themselves? 
respect  to  the  Romans,  perhaps  it  would  not  be  so  easy  to  demonstrate  this,  if 

L  2 


126  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

we  had  to  speak  of  what  are  called  the  glorious  times  of  the  Republic ;  but  we 
have  to  deal  with  the  Romans  of  the  empire,  with  those  who  lived  at  the  time 
of  the  irruption  of  the  barbarians ;  with  those  Romans,  greedy  of  pleasures,  and 
devoured  by  that  thirst  for  excess  of  which  history  has  preserved  such  shame- 
ful pictures.  Their  superb  palaces,  their  magnificent  villas,  their  delicious 
baths,  their  splendid  festive  halls,  their  tables  loaded  with  riches,  their  effemi- 
nate dresses,  their  voluptuous  dissipation ;  do  they  not  show  us  individuals 
who,  without  thinking  of  the  association  to  which  they  belonged,  only  thought 
of  gratifying  their  own  passioijs  and  caprices ;  lived  in  the  greatest  luxury, 
with  every  delicacy  and  all  imaginable  splendour;  had  no  care  but  to  enjoy 
society,  to  lull  themselves  asleep  in  pleasure,  to  gratify  all  their  passions,  and 
give  way  to  a  burning  love  of  their  own  satisfactions  and  amusements  ? 

It  is  not  easy,  then,  to  imagine  why  M.  Guizot  exclusively  attributes  to  the 
barbarians  the  pleasure  of  feeling  themselves  men,  the  feeling  of  personality,  of 
human  spontaneousness  in  its  free  development.  Can  we  believe  that  such  sen- 
timents were  unknown  to  the  victors  of  Marathon  and  Platsea,  to  those  nations 
who  have  immortalized  their  names  by  so  many  monuments  ?  When,  in  the 
fine  arts,  in  the  sciences,  in  eloquence,  in  poetry,  the  noblest  traits  of  genius 
shone  forth  on  all  sides,  had  they  not  among  them  the  pleasure  of  feeling  them- 
selves men,  the  feeling  and  the  power  of  the  free  development  of  all  their 
faculties  ?  and  in  a  society  where  glory  was  so  passionately  loved,  as  we  see  it 
was. among  the  Romans,  in  a  society  which  shows  us  men  like  Cicero  and  Virgil, 
and  which  produced  a  Tacitus,  who  still,  after  nineteen  centuries,  makes  every 
generous  heart  thrill  with  emotion,  was  there  no  pleasure  in  feeling  themselves 
men,  no  pride  in  appreciating  their  own  dignity  f  Was  there  no  feeling  of  the 
spontaneousness  of  man  in  his  own  free  development  ?  How  can  we  imagine 
that  the  barbarians  of  the  north  surpassed  the  Greeks  and  Romans  in  this 
respect  ?  Why,  then,  these  paradoxes,  this  confusion  of  ideas  ?  Of  what  avail 
are  these  brilliant  expressions  meaning  nothing  ?  Of  what  use  are  these  ob- 
servations, of  a  false  delicacy,  where  the  mind  at  first  sight  discovers  vagueness 
and  inexactitude ;  and  where  it  finds,  after  a  complete  examination,  nothing 
but  incoherency  and  revery  ? 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

HOW   THE   INDIVIDUAL   WAS   ABSORBED   BY   ANCIENT    SOCIETY. 

IF  we  profoundly  study  this  question,  without  suffering  ourselves  to  be  led 
into  error  and  extravagance,  by  the  desire  of  passing  for  deep  observers ;  if  we 
call  to  our  aid  a  just  and  cool  philosophy,  supported  by  the  facts  of  history,  we 
shall  see  that  the  principal  difference  between  the  ancient  civilizations  and  our 
own  with  respect  to  the  individual  is,  that,  in  antiquity,  man,  considered  as 
man,  was  not  properly  esteemed.  Ancient  nations  did  not  want  either  the  feel- 
ing of  personal  independence,  or  the  pleasure  of  feeling  themselves  men ;  the 
fault  was  not  in  the  heart,  but  in  the  head.  What  they  wanted  was  the  com- 
prehension of  the  dignity  of  man ;  the  high  idea  which  Christianity  has  given  us 
of  ourselves,  while,  at  the  same  time,  with  admirable  wisdom,  it  has  shown  us 
our  infirmities.  What  ancient  societies  wanted,  what  all  those,  where  Chris- 
tianity does  not  prevail,  have  wanted,  and  will  continue  to  want,  is  the  respect 
and  the  consideration  which  surround  every  individual,  every  man,  inasmuch  as 
he  is  a  man.  Among  the  Greeks  the  Greeks  are  every  thing ;  strangers,  bar- 
barians, are  nothing :  in  Rome,  the  title  of  Roman  citizen  makes  the  man ;  he 
who  wants  this  is  nothing.  In  Christian  countries,  the  infant  who  is  born 
deformed,  or  deprived  of  some  member,  excites  compassion,  and  becomes  an 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  127 

object  of  the  tenderest  solicitude ;  it  is  enough  that  he  is  man,  and  unfortunate. 
Among  the  ancients,  this  human  being  was  regarded  as  useless  and  contempti- 
ble ;  in  certain  cities,  as  for  example  at  Lacedsemon,  it  was  forbidden  to  nourish 
him,  and,  by  command  of  the  magistrates  charged  with  the  regulation  of  births, 
horrible  to  relate  !  he  was  thrown  into  a  ditch.  He  was  a  human  being  ;  but 
what  matter  ?  He  was  a  human  being  who  would  be  of  no  use ;  and  society, 
without  compassion,  did  not  wish  to  undertake  the  charge  of  his  support.  If 
you  read  Plato  and  Aristotle,  you  will  see  the  horrible  doctrine  which  they  pro- 
fessed on  the  subject  of  abortion  and  infanticide ;  you  will  see  the  means  which 
these  philosophers  imagined,  in  order  to  prevent  the  excess  of  population ;  and 
you  will  be  sensible  of  the  immense  progress  which  society  has  made,  under 
the  influence  of  Christianity,  in  all  that  relates  to  man.  Are  not  the  public 
games,  those  horrible  scenes  where  hundreds  of  men  were  slaughtered  to  amuse 
an  inhuman  multitude,  an  eloquent  testimony  to  the  little  value  attached  to 
man,  when  he  was  sacrificed  with  so  much  barbarism  for  reasons  so  frivolous  ? 

The  right  of  the  strongest  was  exercised  among  the  ancients  in  a  horrible 
manner ;  and  this  is  one  of  the  causes  to  which  must  be  attributed  the  state 
of  annihilation,  so  to  speak,  in  which  we  see  the  individual  with  respect  to 
society.  Society  was  strong,  the  individual  was  weak ;  society  absorbed  the 
individual,  and  arrogated  to  itself  all  imaginable  rights  over  him  ',  and  if  ever 
he  made  opposition  to  society,  he  was  sure  to  be  crushed  by  it  with  an  iron 
hand.  When  we  read  the  explanation  which  M.  G-uizot  gives  us  of  this  pecu- 
liarity of  ancient  civilizations,  we  might  suppose  that  there  existed  among  them 
a  patriotism  unknown  to  us ;  a  patriotism  which,  carried  to  exaggeration,  and 
stripped  of  the  feeling  of  personal  independence,  produced  a  kind  of  annihila- 
tion of  the  individual  in  presence  of  society.  If  he  had  reflected  deeply  on 
the  matter,  M.  Gruizot  would  have  seen  that  the  difference  is  not  in  the  feelings 
of  antiquity,  but  in  the  immense  fundamental  revolution  which  has  taken  place 
in  ideas ;  hence  he  would  easily  have  concluded,  that  the  difference  observed 
in  their  feelings  must  have  been  owing  to  the  differences  in  the  ideas  them- 
selves. Indeed,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  individual,  seeing  the  little  esteem 
in  which  he  was  held,  and  the  unlimited  power  which  society  arrogated  to  itself 
over  his  independence  and  his  life,  (for  it  went  so  far  as  to  grind  him  to 
powder,  when  he  opposed  it,)  on  his  side  formed  an  exaggerated  idea  of  society 
and  the  public  authority,  so  as  to  annihilate  himself  in  his  own  heart  before 
this  fearful  colossus.  Far  from  considering  himself  as  a  member  of  an  associa- 
tion the  object  of  which  was  the  safety  and  happiness  of  every  individual,  the 
benefits  of  which  required  from  hyn  some  sacrifices  in  return,  he  regarded  him- 
self as  a  thing  devoted  to  this  association,  and  compelled,  without  hesitation, 
to  offer  himself  as  a  holocaust  on  its  altars.  Such  is  the  condition  of  man ; 
when  a  power  acts  upon  him,  for  a  long  time,  unlimitedly,  his  indignation  is 
excited  against  it,  and  he  rejects  it  with  violence;  or  else  he  humbles,  he 
debases,  he  annihilates  himself  before  the  strong  influence  which  binds  and 
prostrates  him.  Let  us  see  if  this  be  not  the  contrast  which  ancient  societies 
constantly  afford  us ;  the  blindest  submission  and  annihilation  on  the  one  hand, 
and,  on  the  other,  the  spirit  of  insubordination,  of  resistance,  showing  itself 
in  terrible  explosions.  It  is  thus,  and  thus  only,  that  it  is  possible  to  under- 
stand how  societies,  whose  normal  condition  was  confusion  and  agitation,  pre- 
sent us  with  such  astonishing  examples  as  Leonidas  with  his  three  hundred 
Spartans  perishing  at  Thermopylae,  Ssevola  thrusting  his  hand  into  the  fire, 
Regulus  returning  to  Carthage  to  suffer  and  die,  and  Marcus  Curtius,  all  armed, 
leaping  into  the  chasm  which  had  opened  in  the  midst  of  Home.  All  these 
phenomena,  which  at  first  sight  appear  inexplicable,  are  explained  when  we 
compare  them  with  what  has  taken  place  in  the  revolutions  of  modern  times. 
Terrible  revolutions  have  thrown  some  nations  into  confusion ;  the  struggle  ot 


128  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

ideas  and  interests,  inflaming  their  passions,  has  made  them  forget  their  true 
social  relations,  during  intervals  of  greater  or  less  duration.  What  has  hap- 
pened ?  At  the  same  time  that  unlimited  freedom  was  proclaimed,  and  the 
rights  of  individuals  were  incessantly  extolled,  there  arose  in  the  midst  of 
society  a  cruel  power,  which,  concentrating  in  its  own  hands  all  public  author- 
ity, inflicted  on  them  the  severest  blows.  At  such  periods,  when  the  formida- 
ble maxim  of  the  ancients,  the  solus  populi,  that  pretext  for  so  many  frightful 
attempts  was  in  full  force,  there  arose,  on  the  other  hand,  that  mad  and  ferocious 
patriotism  which  superficial  men  admire  in  the  citizens  of  ancient  republics. 

Some  writers  have  lavished  eulogiums  on  the  ancients,  and,  above  all,  on  the 
Romans.  It  seemed  as  if,  to  gratify  their  ardent  wishes,  modern  civilization 
must  be  moulded  according  to  the  ancient.  They  made  absurd  attempts ;  they 
attacked  the  existing  social  system  with  unexampled  violence;  they  labored 
to  destroy,  or  at  least  to  stifle,  Christian  ideas  concerning  the  individual  and 
society,  and  they  sought  their  inspiration  from  the  shades  of  the  ancient  Ro- 
mans. It  is  remarkable  that,  during  the  short  time  that  the  attempt  lasted, 
there  were  seen,  as  in  ancient  Rome,  admirable  traits  of  strength,  of  valor, 
of  patriotism,  in  fearful  contrast  with  cruelties  and  crimes  without  example. 
In  the  midst  of  a  great  and  generous  nation  there  appeared  again,  to  affright 
the  human  race,  the  bloody  spectres  of  Marius  and  Sylla ;  so  true  it  is  that 
man  is  everywhere  the  same,  and  that  the  same  order  of  ideas  in  the  end  pro- 
duces the  same  order  of  events.  Let  the  Christian  ideas  disappear,  let  old 
ones  regain  their  force,  and  you  will  see  that  the  modern  world  will  resemble 
the  ancient  one.  Happily  for  humanity,  this  is  impossible.  All  the  attempts 
hitherto  made  to  produce  such  a  result  have  been  necessarily  of  short  continu- 
ance, and  such  will  be  the  case  in  future.  But  the  bloody  page  which  these 
criminal  attempts  have  left  in  history  offers  an  abundant  subject  for  reflection 
to  the  philosopher  who  desires  to  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  inti- 
mate and  delicate  relations  between  ideas  and  facts.  There  he  will  see  fully 
exhibited  the  vast  scheme  of  social  organization,  and  he  will  be  able  to  appre- 
ciate at  its  just  value  the  beneficial  or  injurious  influence  of  the  various  reli- 
gious and  the  different  philosophical  systems. 

The  periods  of  revolutions,  that  is  to  say,  those  stormy  times  when  govern- 
ments are  swallowed  up  one  after  another  like  edifices  built  upon  a  volcanic 
soil,  have  all  this  distinctive  character,  the  tyranny  of  the  interests  of  public 
authority  over  private  interests.  Never  is  this  power  feebler,  or  less  lasting;  but 
never  is  it  more  violent,  more  mad.  Every  thing  is  sacrificed  to  its  safety  or 
its  vengeance ;  the  shade  of  its  enemies  pursues  it  and  makes  it  continually 
tremble ;  its  own  conscience  torments  it  and  leaves  it  no  repose ;  the  weakness 
of  its  organization,  its  instable  position,  warn  it  at  every  step  of  its  approach- 
ing fall,  and  in  its  impotent  despair  it  makes  the  convulsive  efforts  of  one  dying 
in  agony.  What,  then,  in  its  eyes  are  the  lives  of  citizens,  if  they  excite  the 
slightest,  the  most  remote  suspicion  ?  If  the  blood  of  thousands  of  victims  could 
procure  for  it  a  moment  of  security,  and  add  a  few  days  to  its  existence,  "  Perish 
my  enemies,"  it  says ;  "  this  is  required  for  the  safety  of  the  state,  that  is,  for 
mine !"  Why  this  frenzy,  this  cruelty  ?  It  is  because  the  ancient  govern- 
ment, having  been  overturned  by  force,  and  the  new  having  been  enthroned 
in  the  same  way,  the  idea  of  right  has  disappeared  from  the  sphere  of  power. 
Legitimacy  does  not  protect  it,  even  its  novelty  betrays  its  little  value ;  every 
thing  forebodes  its  short  existence.  Stripped  of  the  reason  and  justice  which 
it  is  obliged  to  invoke  in  its  own  support,  it  seeks  for  both  in  the  very  necessity 
of  power,  a  social  necessity,  which  is  always  visible,  and  it  proclaims  that  the 
safety  of  the  people  is  the  supreme  care.  Then  the  property  and  lives  of  indi- 
viduals are  nothing ;  they  are  annihilated  in  the  presence  of  the  bloody  spectre 
which  arises  in  the  midst  of  society;  armed  with  force,  and  surrounded  by 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  129 

guards  and  scaffolds,  it  says,  "  I  am  the  public  power ;  to  me  is  confided  the 
safety  of  the  people ;  it  is  I  who  watch  over  the  interests  of  society/' 

Now,  do  you  know  what  is  the  result  of  this  absolute  want  of  respect  for  the 
individual,  of  this  complete  annihilation  of  man  in  presence  of  the  alarming  power 
which  claims  to  represent  society  ?  It  is  that  the  feeling  of  association  reap- 
pears in  different  directions  ;  no  longer  a  feeling  directed  by  reason,  foresight,  and 
beneficence,  but  a  blind,  instinctive  feeling,  which  urges  man  not  to  remain  alone, 
without  defence,  in  the  midst  of  a  society  which  is  converted  into  a  field  of  bat- 
tle and  a  vast  conspiracy ;  men  then  unite  either  to  sustain  power,  when,  influ- 
enced by  the  whirlwind  of  revolution,  they  are  identified  with  it,  and  regard  it 
as  their  only  rampart,  or  to  overturn  it,  if,  some  motive  having  urged  them  into 
the  opposite  ranks,  they  see  their  most  terrible  enemy  in  the  existing  power, 
and  a  sword  continually  suspended  over  their  heads.  These  men  belong  to  an 
association,  are  devoted  to  an  association,  are  ready  to  sacrifice  themselves  for 
it,  for  they  cannot  live  alone ;  they  know,  they  comprehend,  at  least  instinct- 
ively, that  the  individual  is  nothing ;  for  as  the  restraints  that  maintain  social 
order  have  been  broken,  the  individual  no  longer  has  a  tranquil  sphere  where 
he  can  live  in  peace  and  independence,  confident  that  a  power  founded  on  legi- 
timacy and  guided  by  reason  and  justice  watches  over  the  preservation  of  public 
order  and  the  respect  due  to  individual  rights.  Then  timid  men  are  alarmed 
and  humbled,  and  begin  to  represent  that  first  scene  of  servitude  where  the 
oppressed  is  seen  to  kiss  the  hand  of  the  oppressor,  and  the  victim  to  reverence 
the  executioner.  Daring  men  resist  and  contend,  or  rather,  conspiring  in  the  dark, 
they  prepare  terrible  explosions.  No  one  then  belongs  to  himself;  the  indivi- 
dual is  absorbed  on  all  sides,  either  by  the  force  which  oppresses  or  by  that 
which  conspires.  The  tutelary  divinity  of  individuals  is  justice;  when  justice 
vanishes,  they  are  no  more  than  imperceptible  grains  of  dust  carried  away  by 
the  wind,  or  drops  of  water  in  the  stormy  waves  of  ocean.  Imagine  to  your- 
self societies  where  this  passing  frenzy  does  not  prevail,  it  is  true,  but  which  are 
yet  devoid  of  true  ideas  on  the  rights  and  duties  of  individuals,  and  of  those 
of  public  authority;  societies  where  there  are  some  wandering,  uncertain, 
obscure,  imperfect  notions  thereon,  stifled  by  a  thousand  prejudices  and  errors ; 
societies  under  which,  nevertheless,  public  authority  is  organized  under  one 
form  or  another,  and  has  become  consolidated,  thanks  to  the  force  of  habit,  and 
the  absence  of  all  other  government  better  calculated  to  satisfy  urgent  necessi- 
ties ;  you  will  then  have  an  idea  of  the  ancient  societies,  we  should  rather  say, 
societies  without  Christianity,  and  you  will  understand  the  annihilation  of  the 
individual  before  the  force  of  public  power,  either  under  an  Asiatic  despotism 
or  the  turbulent  democracy  of  the  ancient  republics.  And  what  you  will  then 
see  will  be  precisely  what  you  have  observed  in  modern  societies  at  times  of 
revolution,  only  with  this  difference,  that  in  these  the  evil  is  transitory  and 
noisy,  like  the  ravages  of  the  tempest,  while  among  the  ancients  it  was  the  nor- 
mal state,  like  the  vitiated  atmosphere  which  injures  and  corrupts  all  that 
breathe  it. 

Let  us  examine  the  cause  of  these  two  opposite  phenomena,  the  lofty  patriot- 
ism of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  the  state  of  prostration  and  political  degra- 
dation in  which  other  nations  lay,  and  in  which  those  still  lie  who  are  not  under 
the  influence  of  Christianity ;  what  is  the  cause  of  this  individual  abnegation 
which  is  found  at  the  bottom  of  two  feelings  so  contrary  ?  and  why  do  we  not 
find  among  any  of  those  nations  that  individual  development  which  is  observed 
in  Europe,  and  which  with  us  is  connected  with  a  reasonable  patriotism,  from 
which  the  feeling  of  a  legitimate  personal  independence  is  not  excluded  ?  It 
is  because  in  antiquity  man  did  not  know  himself,  or  what  he  was;  it  is 
because  his  true  relations  with  society  were  viewed  through  a  thousand  preju- 
dices and  errors,  and  consequently  were  very  ill  understood.  This  will  show 


130  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

that  admiration  for  the  patriotism,  disinterestedness,  and  heroic  self-denial  of 
the  ancients  has  been  sometimes  carried  too  far,  and  that  these  qualities,  far 
from  revealing  in  the  men  of  antiquity  a  greater  perfection  of  the  individual,  a 
superior  elevation  of  mind  to  that  of  the  men  of  modern  times,  rather  indicate 
ideas  less  elevated  and  feelings  less  independent  than  our  own.  Perhaps  some 
blind  admirers  of  the  ancients  will  be  astonished  at  these  assertions.  Let  them 
consider  the  women  of  India  throwing  themselves  on  the  funeral-pile  after  the 
death  of  their  husbands,  and  slaves  putting  themselves  to  death  because  they 
could  not  survive  their  masters,  and  they  will  see  that  personal  self-denial  is 
not  an  infallible  sign  of  elevation  of  mind.  Sometimes  man  does  not  under- 
stand his  own  dignity;  he  considers  himself  devoted  to  another  being,  absorbed 
by  him,  and  then  he  regards  his  own  existence  only  as  a  secondary  thing,  which 
has  no  object  but  to  minister  to  the  existence  of  another.  We  do  not  wish  to 
underrate  the  merit  which  rightly  belongs  to  the  ancients  ;  we  do  not  wish  to 
lower  their  heroism,  as  far  as  it  is  just  and  laudable,  any  more  than  we  wish  to 
attribute  to  the  moderns  an  egotistical  individuality,  which  prevents  their  sacri- 
ficing themselves  for  their  country  :  our  only  object  is  to  assign  to  every  thing 
its  place,  by  dissipating  prejudices  which  are  excusable  up  to  a  certain  point, 
but  do  lamentable  mischief  by  falsifying  the  principal  features  of  ancient  and 
modern  history. 

This  annihilation  of  the  individual  among  the  ancients  arose  also  from  the 
weakness  and  imperfection  of  his  moral  development,  and  from  his  want  of  a 
rule  for  his  own  guidance,  which  compelled  society  to  interfere  in  all  that  con- 
cerned him,  as  if  public  reason  was  called  upon  to  supply  the  defect  of  private 
reason.  If  we  pay  attention,  we  shall  observe  that  in  countries  where  political 
liberty  was  the  most  cherished,  civil  liberty  was  almost  unknown.  While  the 
citizens  flattered  themselves  that  they  were  very  free,  because  they  took  part  in 
the  public  deliberations,  they  wanted  that  liberty  which  is  most  important 
to  man,  that  which  we  now  call  civil  liberty.  We  may  form  an  idea  of  the 
thoughts  and  manners  of  the  ancients  on  this  point,  by  reading  one  of  their 
most  celebrated  writers,  Aristotle.  In  the  eyes  of  this  philosopher,  the  only 
title  which  renders  a  man  worthy  of  the  name  of  citizen,  seems  to  be  the  parti- 
cipation in  the  government  of  the  republic ;  and  these  ideas,  apparently  very 
democratic  and  calculated  to  extend  the  rights  of  the  most  numerous  class,  far 
from  proceeding,  as  one  would  suppose,  from  an  exaggeration  of  the  dignity  of 
man,  was  connected  in  his  mind  with  a  profound  contempt  for  man  himself. 
His  system  was  to  reserve  all  honor  and  consideration  for  a  very  limited  num- 
ber ;  the  classes  of  citizens  who  were  thus  condemned  to  degradation  and  nullity 
were  all  laborers,  artisans,  and  tradesmen.  (Pol.  1.  vii.  c.  9,  12;  1.  viii.  c.  1,  2; 
1.  iii.  c.  1.)  This  theory  supposed,  as  may  oe  seen,  very  curious  ideas  on  indi- 
viduals and  society,  and  is  an  additional  confirmation  of  what  I  have  said 
respecting  the  eccentricities,  not  to  say  monstrosities,  which  we  see  in  the 
ancient  republics.  Let  us  never  forget  that  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the 
evil  was  the  want  of  .an  intimate  knowledge  of  man;  it  was  the  little  value 
which  was  placed  upon  his  dignity  as  man ;  the  individual,  deprived  of  guides 
to  direct  him,  could  not  conciliate  esteem ;  in  a  word,  there  was  wanting  the 
light  of  Christianity,  which  was  alone  capable  of  illuminating  the  chaos. 

The  feeling  of  the  dignity  of  man  is  deeply  engraven  on  the  heart  of  modern 
society;  we  find  everywhere,  written  in  striking  characters,  this  truth,  that 
man,  by  virtue  of  his  title  of  man,  is  respectable  and  worthy  of  high  conside- 
ration ;  hence  it  is  that  all  the  schools  of  modern  times  that  have  foolishly 
undertaken  to  exalt  the  individual,  at  the  imminent  risk  of  producing  fearful 
perturbations  in  society,  have  adopted  as  the  constant  theme  of  their  instruc- 
tions, this  dignity  and  nobility  of  man.  They  thus  distinguish  themselves  in 
the  most  decided  manner  from  the  democrats  of  antiquity ;  the  latter  acted  in 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY.  131 

a  narrow  sphere,  without  departing  from  a  certain  order  of  things,  without  look- 
ing beyond  the  limits  of  their  own  country;  in  the  spirit  of  modern  democrats, 
on  the  contrary,  we  find  a  tendency  to  invade  all  branches,  an  ardent  propa- 
gandism  which  embraces  the  whole  world.  They  never  invoke  mean  ideas; 
man,  his  reason,  his  imprescriptible  rights,  these  are  their  perpetual  theme. 
Ask  them  what  is  their  design,  and  they  will  tell  you  that  they  desire  to  level 
all  things,  to  avenge  the  sacred  cause  of  humanity.  This  exaggeration  of  ideas, 
the  pretext  and  motive  for  so  many  crimes,  shows  us  a  valuable  fact,  viz.  the 
immense  progress  which  Christianity  has  given  to  ideas  with  relation  to  the 
dignity  of  our  nature.  When  they  have  to  .mislead  societies  which  owe  their 
civilization  to  Christianity,  they  find  no  better  means  than  to  invoke  the  dignity 
of  human  nature.  The  Christian  religion,  the  enemy  of  all  that  is  criminal, 
could  not  consent  to  see  society  overturned,  under  the  pretence  of  defending 
and  raising  the  dignity  of  man ;  this  is  the  reason  why  a  great  number  of  the 
most  ardent  democrats  have  indulged  in  insults  and  sarcasms  against  religion. 
On  the  other  hand,  as  history  loudly  proclaims  that  all  our  knowledge  and  feel- 
ing of  what  is  true,  just,  and  reasonable  on  this  point,  is  due  to  the  Christian 
religion,  it  has  been  recently  attempted  to  make  a  monstrous  alliance  between 
Christian  ideas  and  the  most  extravagant  of  democratic  theories.  A  celebrated 
man  has  undertaken  this  enterprise ;  but  true  Christianity,  that  is,  Catholicity, 
rejects  these  adulterous  alliances;  it  ceases  to  acknowledge  its  most  eminent 
apologists  when  they  have  quitted  the  path  of  eternal  truth.  De  Lamennais 
now  wanders  in  the  darkness  of  error,  embracing  a  deceitful  shadow  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  the  voice  of  the  supreme  Pastor  of  the  Church  has  warned  the 
faithful  against  being  dazzled  by  the  illusion  of  a  name  illustrious  by  so  many 
titles.  (16) 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

THE   PROGRESS   OF  INDIVIDUALITY    UNDER   THE   INFLUENCE    OF    CATHOLICITY. 

IF  we  give  a  just  and  legitimate  meaning  to  the  word  individuality,  taking 
the  feeling  of  personal  independence  in  an  acceptation  which  is  not  repugnant 
to  the  perfection  of  the  individual,  and  does  not  oppose  the  constitutive  princi- 
ples of  all  society ;  moreover,  if  we  seek  the  various  causes  which  have  influ- 
enced the  development  of  this  feeling,  without  speaking  of  that  which  we  have 
already  pointed  out  as  one  of  tlte  most  important,  viz.  the  true  notion  of  man, 
and  his  connections  with  his  fellows,  we  shall  find  many  of  them  which  are 
quite  worthy  of  attention  in  Catholicity.  M.  Guizot  was  greatly  deceived 
when,  putting  the  faithful  of  the  Church  in  the  same  rank  with  the  ancient 
Romans,  he  asserted  that  both  were  equally  wanting  in  the  feeling  of  personal 
independence.  He  describes  the  faithful  as  absorbed  by  the  association  of  the 
Church,  entirely  devoted  to  her,  ready  to  sacrifice  themselves  for  her ;  so  that, 
according  to  him,  it  was  the  interests  of  the  association  which  induced  them  to 
act.  There  is  an  error  here ;  but  as  this  error  has  originated  in  a  truth,  it  is 
our  duty  to  distinguish  the  ideas  and  the  facts  with  much  attention. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  from  the  cradle  of  Christianity  the  faithful  have  had 
an  extreme  attachment  to  the  Church,  and  it  was  always  well  understood  among 
them,  that  they  could  not  leave  the  communion  of  the  Church  without  ceasing 
to  be  numbered  among  the  true  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  equally  unde- 
niable that,  in  the  words  of  M.  Gruizot,  "There  prevailed  in  the  Christian 
Church  a  feeling  of  strong  attachment  to  the  Christian  corporation,  of  devotion 
to  its  laws,  and  an  ardent  desire  to  extend  its  empire ;"  but  it  is  not  true  that 
the  origin  and  source  of  all  these  feelings  was  the  spirit  of  association  alone,  to 


132  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

the  exclusion  of  all  development  of  real  individuality.  The  Christian  belonged 
to  an  association,  but  that  association  was  regarded  by  him  as  a  means  of  obtain- 
ing eternal  happiness,  as  the  ship  in  which  he  was  embarked,  amid  the  tempests 
of  the  world,  to  arrive  safe  in  the  port  of  eternity:  and  although  he  believed 
it  impossible  to  be  saved  out  of  the  Church,  he  did  not  understand  from  that 
that  he  was  devoted  to  the  Church,  but  to  God.  The  Roman  was  ready  to 
sacrifice  himself  for  his  country;  the  Christian,  for  his  faith.  When  the  Roman 
died,  he  died  for  his  country;  the  faithful  did  not  die  for  the  Church,  but  for 
God.  If  we  open  the  monuments  of  Church  history,  and  read  the  acts  of  the 
martyrs,  we  shall  then  see  what  passed  in  that  terrible  moment,  when  the  Chris- 
tian, fully  arousing  himself,  showed  in  the  presence  of  the  instruments  of  tor- 
ture, burning  piles,  and  the  most  horrible  punishments,  the  true  principle  which 
acted  on  his  mind.  The  judge  asks  his  nam«;  he  declares  it,  and  adds,  "  lam 
a  Christian."  He  is  asked  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods.  "We  only  sacrifice  to  one 
God,  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth/'  He  is  reproached  with  the  disgrace 
of  following  a  man  who  has  been  nailed  to  the  cross ;  for  him  the  ignominy  of 
the  cross  is  a  glory,  and  he  loudly  proclaims  that  the  Crucified  is  his  Saviour 
and  his  God.  He  is  threatened  with  tortures ;  he  despises  them,  for  they  are 
passing,  and  rejoices  in  being  able  to  suffer  something  for  his  Master.  The 
cross  of  punishment  is  already  prepared,  the  pile  is  lighted  before  his  eyes,  the 
executioner  raises  the  fatal  axe  to  strike  off  his  head ;  what  does  it  matter  to 
him  ?  all  this  is  but  for  a  moment,  and  after  that  moment  comes  a  new  life  of 
ineffable  and  endless  happiness.  We  thus  see  what  influenced  his  heart ;  it 
was  the  love  of  his  God  and  the  interest  of  his  eternal  happiness.  Conse- 
quently, it  is  utterly  false  that  the  Christian,  like  men  of  the  ancient  republics, 
destroyed  his  individuality  in  the  association  to  which  he  belonged,  allowing 
himself  to  be  absorbed  in  that  association  like  a  drop  of  water  in  the  immensity 
of  ocean.  The  Christian  belonged  to  an  association  which  gave  him  the  rule 
of  his  faith  and  conduct ;  he  regarded  that  association  as  founded  and  directed 
by  God  himself;  but  his  mind  and  his  heart  were  raised  to  God,  and  when  fol- 
lowing the  voice  of  the  Church,  he  believed  that  he  was  engaged  with  his  own 
individual  affair,  which  was  nothing  less  than  his  eternal  happiness.  This  dis- 
tinction is  quite  necessary  in  an  affair  which  has  relations  so  various  and  deli- 
cate that  the  slightest  confusion  may  produce  considerable  errors.  Here  a 
hidden  fact  reveals  itself  to  us,  which  is  infinitely  precious,  and  throws  much 
light  upon  the  development  and  perfecting  of  the  individual  in  Christian  civili- 
zation. It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  there  should  be  a  social  order  to  which 
the  individual  must  submit;  but  it  is  also  proper  that  he  should  not  be  absorbed 
by  society  to  such  an  extent  that  he  cannot  be  conceived  but  as  forming  part 
of  it,  and  remains  deprived  of  his  own  sphere  of  action.  If  this  were  the  case, 
never  would  true  civilization  be  completely  developed ;  as  it  consists  in  the 
simultaneous  perfecting  of  the  individual  and  of  society,  it  is  necessary,  for  its 
existence,  that  both  should  have  a  well  determined  sphere,  where  their  peculiar 
and  respective  movements  may  not  check  and  embarrass  each  other. 

After  these  reflections,  to  which  I  especially  call  the  attention  of  all  thinking 
men,  I  will  point  out  a  thing  which  has,  perhaps,  not  yet  been  remarked  ;  it  is, 
that  Christianity  has  eminently  contributed  to  create  that  individual  sphere  in 
which  man,  without  breaking  the  ties  which  connect  him  with  society,  is  free 
to  develop  all  his  peculiar  faculties.  From  the  mouth  of  an  Apostle  went  forth 
that  generous  expression  which  strictly  limits  political  power :  "  We  ought  to 
obey  God  rather  than  man."  (Acts  v.  29.)  "  Obedire  oportetpeo  magis  quam 
hominibus."  The  Apostle  thereby  proclaims  that  the  individual  should  cease 
to  acknowledge  power,  when  power  exacts  from  him  what  he  believes  to  be  con- 
trary to  his  conscience.  It  was  among  Christians  that  this  great  example  was 
witnessed  for  the  first  time ;  individuals  of  all  countries,  of  all  ages,  of  both 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY.  133 

sexes,  of  all  conditions,  braving  the  anger  of  authority,  and  all  the  fury  of 
popular  passions,  rather  than  pronounce  a  single  word  contrary  to  the  principles 
which  they  professed  in  the  sanctuary  of  conscience ;  and  this,  not  with  arms 
in  their  hands,  in  the  midst  of  popular  commotions,  where  their  impetuous 
passions  are  excited,  which  communicate  to  the  mind  temporary  energy,  but  in 
the  solitude  and  obscurity  of  dungeons,  amid  the  fearful  calmness  of  the  tribu- 
nals, that  is,  in  that  situation  where  man,  alone  and  isolated,  cannot  show  force 
and  dignity  without  revealing  the  elevation  of  his  ideas,  the  nobleness  of  his 
feelings,  the  unalterable  firmness  of  his  conscience,  and  the  greatness  of  his 
soul.  Christianity  engraved  this  truth  deeply  on  the  heart  of  man,  that  indi- 
viduals have  duties  to  perform,  even  when  the  whole  world  is  aroused  against 
them ;  that  they  have  an  immense  destiny  to  fulfil,  and  that  it  is  entirely  their 
own  affair,  the  responsibility  of  which  rests  upon  their  own  free  will.  This 
important  truth,  unceasingly  inculcated  by  Christianity  at  all  times,  to  both 
sexes,  to  all  conditions,  must  have  powerfully  contributed  to  excite  in  man  an 
active  and  ardent  feeling  of  personality.  This  feeling,  with  all  its  sublimity, 
combining  with  the  other  inspirations  of  Christianity,  all  full  of  dignity  and 
grandeur,  has  raised  the  human  mind  from  the  dust,  where  ignorance  and  rude 
superstitions,  and  systems  of  violence,  which  oppressed  it  .on  all  sides,  had 
placed  and  retained  it.  How  strange  and  surprising  to  the  ears  of  Pagans  must 
have  been  those  energetic  words  of  Justin,  which  nevertheless  expressed  the 
disposition  of  mind  of  the  majority  of  the  faithful,  when,  in  his  Apology, 
addressed  to  Antoninus  Pius,  he  said,  "  As  we  have  not  placed  our  hopes  on 
present  things,  we  contemn  those  who  kill  us,  death  being,  moreover,  a  thing 
which  cannot  be  avoided." 

This  full  and  entire  self-consciousness,  this  heroic  contempt  of  death,  this 
calm  spirit  of  a  man  who,  supported  by  the  testimony  of  intimate  feeling,  sets 
at  defiance  all  the  powers  of  earth,  must  have  tended  the  more  to  enlarge  the 
mind,  as  they  did  not  emanate  from  that  cold  stoical  impassibility,  the  constant 
effort  of  which  was  to  struggle  against  the  nature  of  things  without  any  solid 
motive.  The  Christian  feeling  had  its  origin  in  a  sublime  freedom  from  all 
that  is  earthly,  in  a  profound  conviction  of  the  holiness  of  duty,  and  in  that 
undeniable  maxim,  that  man,  in  spite  of  all  the  obstacles  which  the  world  places 
in  his  way,  should  walk  with  a  firm  step  towards  the  destiny  which  is  marked 
out  for  him  by  his  Creator.  These  ideas  and  feelings  together  communicated 
to  the  soul  a  strong  and  vigorous  temper,  which,  without  reaching  in  any  thing 
the  savage  harshness  of  the  ancients,  raised  man  to  all  his  dignity,  nobleness, 
and  grandeur.  It  must  be  observed  that  these  precious  effects  were  not  confined 
to  a  small  number  of  privileged  individuals,  but  that,  in  conformity  with  the 
genius  of  the  Christian  religion,  they  extended  to  all  classes;  for  one  of  the 
noblest  characters  of  that  divine  religion  is  the  unlimited  expansion  which  it 
gives  to  all  that  is  good ;  it  knows  no  distinction  of  persons,  and  makes  its  voice 
penetrate  the  obscurest  places  of  society.  It  was  not  only  to  the  elevated 
classes  and  philosophers,  but  to  the  generality  of  the  faithful,  that  St.  Cyprian, 
the  light  of  Africa,  addressed  himself,  when,  summing  up  in  a  few  words  all 
the  grandeur  of  man,  he  marked  with  a  bold  hand  the  sublime  position  where 
our  soul  ought  to  maintain  itself  with  constancy.  "  Never,"  he  says,  "  never 
will  he  who  feels  himself  to  be  the  child  of  God  admire  the  words  of  man.  He 
falls  from  hi*  noblest  state  who  can  admire  any  thing  but  God."  (De  Spectaculis.) 
Sublime  words,  which  make  us  boldly  raise  our  heads,  and  fill  our  hearts  with 
noble  feelings ;  words  which,  diffusing  themselves  over  all  classes,  like  a  ferti- 
lizing warmth,  were  capable  of  inspiring  the  humblest  of  men  with  what  pre- 
viously seemed  exclusively  reserved  for  the  transports  of  the  poet : 

Os  homini  sublime  dedit,  coeluinque  tueri 
Jussit,  et  erectos  ad  sidera  tollere  cultus. 
M 


134  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

The  development  of  the  moral  life,  the  interior  life,  that  life  in  which  man, 
reflecting  on  himself,  is  accustomed  to  render  a  circumstantial  account  of  all  his 
actions,  of  the  motives  which  actuate  him,  of  the  goodness  or  the  wickedness  of 
those  motives,  and  the  object  to  which  they  tend,  is  principally  due  to  Chris- 
tianity, to  its  unceasing  influence  on  man  in  all  his  conditions,  in  all  situations, 
in  all  moments  of  his  life.  Such  a  progress  of  the  individual  life  in  all  that  it 
has  most  intimate,  most  active,  and  most  interesting  for  the  heart  of  man,  was 
incompatible  with  that  absorption  of  the  individual  by  society,  with  that  blind 
self-denial,  in  which  man  forgot  himself,  to  think  only  of  the  association  of 
which  he  formed  a  part.  This  moral  and  interior  life  was  unknown  to  the 
ancients,  because  they  wanted  principles  for  supporting,  rules  for  guiding,  and 
inspirations  for  exciting  and  nourishing  it.  Thus  at  Rome,  where  the  political 
element  tries  its  ascendency  over  minds,  when  enthusiasm  becomes  extinguished 
by  the  effect  of  intestine  dissensions,  when  every  generous  feeling  becomes 
stifled  by  the  insupportable  despotism  which  succeeds  to  the  last  agitations  of 
the  republic,  we  see  baseness  and  corruption  develope  themselves  with  fearful 
rapidity.  The  activity  of  mind  which  before  occupied  itself  in  debates  of  the 
Forum  and  the  glorious  exploits  of  war,  no  longer  finding  food,  gave  itself  up 
to  sensual  pleasures  with  an  abandonment  which  we  can  hardly  imagine  now-a- 
days,  in  spite  of  the  looseness  of  morals  which  we  so  justly  deplore.  Thus  we 
see  among  the  ancients  only  these  two  extremes,  either  the  most  exalted  patriot- 
ism, or  the  complete  prostration  of  the  faculties  of  the  soul,  which  abandons 
itself  without  reserve  to  the  dictates  of  its  irregular  passions ;  there  man  was 
the  slave  either  of  his  own  passions,  of  another  man,  or  of  society. 

Since  the  moral  tie  which  united  men  to  Catholic  society  has  been  broken, 
since  religious  belief  has  been  weakened,  in  consequence  of  the  individual  inde- 
pendence which  Protestantism  has  proclaimed  in  religious  matters,  it  has  unhap- 
pily become  possible  for  us  to  conceive,  by  means  of  examples  found  in  Euro- 
pean civilization,  what  man  still  deprived  of  real  knowledge  of  himself,  his 
origin  and  destiny,  must  have  been.  We  will  indicate  in  another  place  the 
points  of  resemblance  which  are  found  between  ancient  and  modern  society  in 
the  countries  where  the  influence  of  religious  ideas  is  enfeebled.  It  is  enough 
now  to  remark,  that  if  Europe  had  completely  lost  Christianity,  according  to 
the  insane  desires  of  some  men,  a  generation  would  not  have  passed  away  with- 
out there  being  revived  among  us  the  individual  and  society  such  as  they 
were  among  the  ancients,  except  the  modifications  which  the  difference  of  the 
material  state  of  the  two  civilizations  would  necessarily  produce. 

The  doctrine  of  free  will,  so  loudly  proclaimed  by  Catholicity,  and  sustained 
by  her  with  such  vigour,  not  only  against  the  old  Pagan  teaching,  but  particu- 
larly against  sectarians  at  all  times,  and  especially  against  the  founders  of  the 
pretended  Reformation,  has  also  contributed  more  than  is  imagined  to  develope 
and  perfect  the  individual,  to  raise  his  ideas  of  independence,  nobleness,  and 
dignity.  When  man  comes  to  consider  himself  as  constrained  by  the  irresisti- 
ble force  of  destiny,  and  attached  to  a  chain  of  events  over  which  he  has  no 
control — when  he  comes  to  suppose  that  the  operations  of  his  mind,  those  active 
proofs  of  his  freedom,  are  but  vain  illusions — he  soon  annihilates  himself;  he 
feels  himself  assimilated  to  the  brute ;  he  ceases  to  be  the  prince  of  living 
beings,  the  ruler  of  the  earth ;  he  is  nothing  more  than  a  machine  fixed  in  its 
place,  which  is  compelled  to  perform  its  part  in  the  great  system  of  the  uni- 
verse. The  social  order  ceases  to  exist ;  merit  and  demerit,  praise  and  blame, 
reward  and  punishment,  are  only  unmeaning  words.  If  man  enjoys  or  suffers, 
it  is  only  in  the  same  way  as  a  shrub,  which  is  sometimes  breathed  upon  softly 
by  the  zephyrs,  and  sometimes^  blasted  by  the  north  wind.  How  different  it  is 
when  man  is  conscious  of  his  liberty !  Then  he  is  master  of  his  destiny  • 
good  and  evil,  life  and  death,  are  before  his  eyes ;  he  can  choose,  and  nothing 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY.  135 

can  violate  the  sanctuary  of  his  conscience.  There  the  soul  is  enthroned,  there 
she  is  seated,  full  of  dignity,  and  the  whole  world  raging  against  her,  the  uni- 
verse falling  upon  her  fragile  body,  cannot  force  her  will.  The  moral  order  is 
displayed  before  us  in  all  its  grandeur;  we  see  good  in  all  its  beauty,  and  evil 
in  all  its  deformity ;  the  desire  of  doing  well  stimulates,  and  the  fear  of  doing 
ill  restrains  us ;  the  sight  of  the  recompense  which  can  be  obtained  by  an  effort 
of  free  will,  and  which  appears  at  the  end  of  the  path  o^f  virtue,  renders  that 
path  more  sweet  and  peaceful,  and  communicates  activity  and  energy  to  the 
soul.  If  man  is  free,  there  remains  something  great  and  terrible,  even  in  his 
crime,  in  his  punishment,  and  even  in  the  despair  of  hell.  What  is  man  de- 
prived of  liberty  and  yet  punished  ?  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  absurd  pro- 
position, a  chief  dogma  of  the  founders  of  Protestantism  ?  This  man  is  a  weak 
and  miserable  victim,  in  whose  torture  a  cruel  omnipotence  delights;  a  God 
who  has  created  him  in  order  to  see  him  suffer ;  a  tyrant  with  infinite  power, 
that  is,  the  most  dreadful  of  monsters.  But  if  man  is  free,  when  he  suffers, 
he  suffers  because  he  has  deserved  it;  and  if  we  contemplate  him  in  the  midst 
of  despair,  plunged  into  an  ocean  of  horrors,  his  brow  furrowed  by  the  just 
lightnings  of  the  Eternal,  we  seem  to  hear  him  still  pronounce  those  terrible 
words  with  a  haughty  bearing  and  proud  look,  non  serviam,  I  will  not  obey. 

In  man,  as  in  the  universe,  all  is  wonderfully  united ;  all  the  faculties  of 
man  have  delicate  and  intimate  relations  with  each  other,  and  the  movement 
of  one  chord  in  the  soul  makes  all  the  others  vibrate.  It  is  necessary  to  call 
attention  to  this  reciprocal  dependence  of  all  our  faculties  on  each  other,  in 
order  to  anticipate  an  objection  which  may  be  made.  We  shall  be  told,  all  that 
has  been  said  only  proves  that  Catholicity  has  developed  the  individual  in  a 
mystical  sense.  No,  the  observations  which  I  have  made  show  something 
more  than  this ;  they  prove  that  we  owe  to  Catholicity  the  clear  idea  and  lively 
feeling  of  moral  order  in  all  its  greatness  and  beauty ;  they  prove  that  we  owe 
her  the  real  strength  of  what  we  call  conscience,  and  that  if  the  individual 
believes  himself  to  be  called  to  a  mighty  destiny,  confided  to  his  own  free  will, 
and  the  care  of  which  belongs  entirely  to  him,  it  is  to  Catholicity  he  owes  that 
belief;  they  prove  that  Catholicity  has  given  man  the  true  knowledge  which  he 
has  of  himself,  the  appreciation  of  his  dignity,  the  respect  which  is  paid  to  him 
as  man ;  they  prove  that  she  has  developed  in  our  souls  the  germs  of  the  noblest 
and  most  generous  feelings ;  for  she  has  raised  our  thoughts  by  the  loftiest  con- 
ceptions, dilated  our  hearts  by  the  assurance  of  a  liberty  which  nothing  can 
take  away,  by  the  promise  of  an  infinite  reward,  eternal  happiness,  while  she 
leaves  in  our  hands  life  and  death,  and  makes  us  in  a  certain  manner  the  arbiters 
of  our  own  destiny.  In  all  this  there  is  more  than  mere  mysticism ;  it  is  no- 
thing less  than  the  development  of  the  entire  man ;  nothing  less  than  the  true, 
the  only  noble,  just,  and  reasonable  individuality ;  nothing  less  than  the  collected 
powerful  impulses  which  urge  the  individual  towards  perfection  in  every  sense ; 
it  is  nothing  less  than  the  first,  the  most  indispensable,  the  most  fruitful  ele- 
ment of  real  civilization. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

OF    THE   FAMILY. MONOGAMY. INDISSOLUBILITY    OF   THE    CONJUGAL   TIE. 

WE  have  seen  what  the  individual  owes  to  Catholicity ;  let  us  now  see  what 
the  family  owes  her.     It  is  clear  that  the  individual,  being  the  first  element  of 
the  family,  if  it  is  Catholicity  which  has  tended  to  perfect  him,  the  improve- 
ment of  the  family  will  thus  have  been  very  much  her  work;  but  without  in 
sis  ting  on  this  inference,  I  wish  to  consider  the  conjugal  tie  in  itself,  for  which 


136  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

purpose  it  is  necessary  to  call  attention  to  woman.  I  will  not  repeat  here  what 
she  was  among  the  Romans,  and  what  she  is  still  among  the  nations  who  are 
not  Christians ;  history,  and  still  more  the  literature  of  Greece  and  Rome,  afford 
us  sad  or  rather  shameful  proofs  on  this  subject;  and  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  offer  us  too  many  evidences  of  the  truth  and  exactness  of  the  observa- 
tion of  Buchanan,  viz.  that  wherever  Christianity  does  not  prevail,  there  is 
a  tendency  to  the  degradation  of  woman.  Perhaps  on  this  point  Protestant- 
ism will  be  unwilling  to  give  way  to  Catholicity ;  it  will  assert  that  in  all  that 
affects  woman  the  Reformation  has  in  no  degree  prejudiced  the  civilization  of 
Europe.  We  will  not  now  inquire  what  evils  Protestantism  has  occasioned 
in  this  respect ;  this  question  will  be  discussed  in  another  part  of  the  work ; 
but  it  cannot  be  doubted,  that  when  Protestantism  appeared,  the  Catholic  religion 
had  already  completed  its  task  as  far  as  woman  is  concerned.  No  one,  indeed, 
is  ignorant  that  the  respect  and  consideration  which  are  given  to  women,  and 
the  influence  which  they  exercise  on  society,  date  further  back  than  the  first 
part  of  the  16th  century.  Hence  it  follows  that  Catholicity  cannot  have  had 
Protestantism  as  a  coadjutor;  it  acted  entirely  alone  in  this  point,  one  of  the 
most  important  of  all  true  civilization;  and  if  it  is  generally  acknowledged  that 
Christianity  has  placed  woman  in  the  rank  which  properly  belongs  to  her,  and 
which  is  most  conducive  to  the  good  of  the  family  and  of  society,  this  is  a  homage 
paid  to  Catholicity;  for  at  the  time  when  woman  was  raised  from  abjection, 
when  it  was  attempted  to  restore  her  to  the  rank  of  companion  of  man,  as  wor- 
thy of  him,  those  dissenting  sects  that  also  called  themselves  Christians  did  not 
exist,  and  there  was  no  other  Christianity  than  the  Catholic  Church. 

It  has  been  already  remarked  in  the  course  of  this  work,  that  when  I  give 
titles  and  honours  to  Catholicity,  I  avoid  having  recourse  to  vague  generalities, 
and  endeavour  to  support  my  assertions  by  facts.  The  reader  will  naturally 
expect  me  to  do  the  same  here,  and  to  point  out  to  him  what  are  the  means 
which  Catholicity  has  employed  to  give  respect  and  dignity  to  woman;  he  shall 
not  be  deceived  in  his  expectation.  First,  and  before  descending  to  details,  we 
must  observe  that  the  grand  ideas  of  Christianity  with  respect  to  humanity 
must  have  contributed,  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  to  the  improvement  of  the 
lot  of  woman.  These  ideas,  which  applied  without  any  difference  to  woman  as 
well  as  to  man,  were  an  energetic  protest  against  the  state  of  degradation  in 
which  one-half  of  the  human  race  was  placed.  The  Christian  doctrine  made 
the  existing  prejudices  against  woman  vanish  for  ever;  it  made  her  equal  to 
man  by  unity  of  origin  and  destiny,  and  in  the  participation  of  the  heavenly 
gifts ;  it  enrolled  her  in  the  universal  brotherhood  of  man,  with  his  fellows 
and  with  Jesus  Christ ;  it  considered  her  as  the  child  of  God,  the  coheiress  of 
Jesus  Christ ;  as  the  companion  of  man,  and  no  longer  as  a  slave  and  the  vile 
instrument  of  pleasure.  Henceforth  that  philosophy  which  had  attempted  to 
degrade  her,  was  silenced;  that  unblushing  literature  which  treated  women 
with  so  much  insolence  found  a  check  in  the  Christian  precepts,  and  a  repri- 
mand no  less  eloquent  than  severe  in  the  dignified  manner  in  which  all  the 
ecclesiastical  writers,  in  imitation  of  the  Scriptures,  expressed  themselves  on 
woman.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the  beneficent  influence  which  the  Christian  doctrines 
must  have  exercised  by  themselves,  the  desired  end  would  not  have  been  com- 
pletely attained,  had  not  the  Church  undertaken,  with  the  warmest  energy,  to 
accomplish  a  work  the  most  necessary,  the  most  indispensable  for  the  good 
organization  of  the  family  and  society,  I  mean  the  reformation  of  marriage. 
The  Christian  doctrine  on  this  point  is  very  simple  :  one  with  one  exclusively, 
and  for  ever.  But  the  doctrine  would  have  been  powerless,  if  the  Church  had 
not  undertaken  to  apply  ifc,  and  if  she  had  not  carried  on  this  task  with  invin- 
cible firmness ;  for  the  passions,  above  all  those  of  man,  rebel  against  such  a 
doctrine ;  and  they  would  undoubtedly  have  trodden  it  under  foot,  if  they  had 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  137 

not  met  with  an  insurmountable  barrier,  which  did  not  leave  them  the  most 
distant  hope  of  triumph.  Can  Protestantism,  which  applauded  with  such  sense- 
less joy  the  scandal  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  accommodated  itself  so  basely  to  the 
desires  of  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel,  boast  of  having  contributed  to 
strengthen  that  barrier  ?  What  a  surprising  difference !  During  many  cen- 
turies, amid  circumstances  the  most  various,  and  sometimes  the  most  terrible, 
the  Catholic  Church  struggles  with  intrepidity  against  the  passions  of  poten- 
tates, to  maintain  unsullied  the  sanctity  of  marriage.  Neither  promises  nor 
threats  could  move  Rome ;  no  means  could  obtain  from  her  any  thing  contrary 
to  the  instructions  of  her  Divine  Master :  Protestantism,  at  the  first  shock,  or 
rather  at  the  first  shadow  of  the  slightest  embarrassment,  at  the  mere  fear  of 
displeasing  a  prince  who  certainly  was  not  very  powerful,  yields,  humbles  itself, 
consents  to  polygamy,  betrays  its  own  conscience,  opens  a  wide  door  to  the  pas- 
sions, and  gives  up  to  them  the  sanctity  of  marriage,  the  first  pledge  for  the 
good  of  the  family,  the  foundation-stone  of  true  civilization. 

Protestant  society  on  this  point,  wiser  than  the  miscalled  reformers  who 
attempted  to  guide  it,  with  admirable  good  sense  repudiated  the  consequences 
of  the  conduct  of  its  chiefs ;  although  it  did  not  preserve  the  doctrines  of  Catho- 
licity, it  at  least  followed  the  salutary  impulse  which  it  had  received  from  them, 
and  polygamy  was  not  established  in  Europe.  But  history  records  facts  which 
show  the  weakness  of  the  pretended  reformation,  and  the  vivifying  power  of 
Catholicity.  It  tells  us  to  whom  it  is  owing  that  the  law  of  marriage,  that  pal- 
ladium of  society,  was  not  falsified,  perverted,  destroyed,  amid  the  barbarous 
ages,  amid  the  most  fearful  corruption,  violence,  and  ferocity,  which  prevailed 
everywhere,  as  well  at  the  time  when  invading  nations  passed '  pell-mell  over 
Europe,  as  in  that  of  feudality,  and  when  the  power  of  kings  had  already  been 
preponderant, — history  will  tell  what  tutelary  force  prevented  the  torrent  of 
sensuality  from  overflowing  with  all  its  violence,  with  all  its  caprices,  from 
bringing  about  the  most  profound  disorganization,  from  corrupting  the  character 
of  European  civilization,  and  precipitating  it  into  that  fearful  abyss  in  which 
the  nations  of  Asia  have  been  for  so  many  centuries. 

Prejudiced  writers  have  carefully  searched  the  annals  of  ecclesiastical  history 
for  the  differences  between  popes  and  kings,  and  have  taken  occasion  therein  to 
reproach  the  Court  of  Rome  with  its  intolerant  obstinacy  respecting  the  sanc- 
tity of  marriage ;  if  the  spirit  of  party  had  not  blinded  them,  they  would  have 
understood  that,  if  this  intolerant  obstinacy  had  been  relaxed  for  a  moment,  if 
the  Roman  Pontiff  had  given  way  one  step  before  the  impetuosity  of  the  pas- 
sions, this  first  step  once  made,  the  descent  into  the  abyss  would  have  been 
rapid ;  they  would  have  admired  the  spirit  of  truth,  the  deep  conviction,  the 
lively  faith  with  which  that  august  see  is  animated ;  no  consideration,  no  fear, 
has  been  able  to  silence  her,  when  she  had  occasion  to  remind  all,  and  espe- 
cially kings  and  potentates,  of  this  commandment:  "They  shall  be  two  in  one 
flesh;  man  shall  not  separate  what  God  has  joined."  By  showing  themselves 
inflexible  on  this  point,  even  at  the  risk  of  the  anger  of  kings,  not  only  have 
the  popes  performed  the  sacred  duty  which  was  imposed  on  them  by  their 
august  character  as  chiefs  of  Christianity,  but  they  have  executed  a  political 
chef  d'wuvre,  and  greatly  contributed  to  the  repose  and  well-being  of  nations. 
"  For,"  says  Voltaire,  "  the  marriages  of  princes  in  Europe  decide  the  destiny 
of  nations ;  and  never  has  there  been  a  court  entirely  devoted  to  debauchery, 
without  producing  revolutions  and  rebellions."  (Essai  sur  I'Histoire  yeneralc, 
t.  iii.  c.  101.) 

This  correct  remark  of  Voltaire  will  suffice  to  vindicate  the  pope,  together 
with  Catholicity,  from  the  calumnies  of  their  wretched  detractors :  it  becomes 
still  more  valuable,  and  acquires  an  immense  importance,  if  it  is  extended  be- 
yond *he  limits  of  the  political  order  to  the  social.  The  imagination  is  affrighted 

18  M2 


138  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

at  the  thought  of  what  would  have  happened,  if  these  barbarous  kings,  in  whom 
the  splendor  of  the  purple  ill  disguised  the  sons  of  the  forest,  if  those  haughty 
seigneurs,  fortified  in  their  castles,  clothed  in  mail,  and  surrounded  by  their 
timid  vassals,  had  not  found  a  check  in  the  authority  of  the  Church ;  if  at  the 
first  glance  at  a  new  beauty,  if  at  the  first  passion  which,  when  enkindled  in  their 
hearts,  would  have  inspired  them  with  a  disgust  for  their  legitimate  spouses, 
they  had  not  had  the  always-present  recollection  of  an  inflexible  authority. 
They  could,  it  is  true,  load  a  bishop  with  vexations ;  they  could  silence  him 
with  threats  or  promises ;  they  might  control  the  votes  of  a  particular  Council 
by  violence,  by  intrigue,  by  subornation ;  but,  in  the  distance,  the  power  of 
the  Vatican,  the  shadow  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  appeared  to  them  like  an 
alarming  vision ;  they  then  lost  all  hope ;  all  struggles  became  useless ;  the 
most  violent  endeavors  would  never  have  given  them  the  victory ;  the  most 
astute  intrigues,  the  most  humble  entreaties,  would  have  obtained  the  same 
reply  :  "  One  with  one  only,  and  for  ever." 

If  we  read  but  the  history  of  the  middle  ages,  of  that  immense  scene  of  vio- 
lence, where  the  barbarian,  striving  to  break  the  bonds  which  civilization 
attempted  to  impose  on  him,  appears  so  vividly  \  if  we  recollect  that  the  Church 
was  obliged  to  keep  guard  incessantly  and  vigilantly,  not  only  to  prevent  the 
ties  of  a  marriage  from  being  broken,  but  even  to  preserve  virgins  (and  even 
those  who  were  dedicated  to  Grod)  from  violence ;  we  shall  clearly  see  that,  if 
she  had  not  opposed  herself,  as  a  wall  of  brass,  to  the  torrent  of  sensuality,  the 
palaces  of  kings  and  the  castles  of  seigneurs  would  have  speedily  become  their 
seraglios  and  harems.  What  would  have  happened  in  the  other  classes? 
They  would  have  followed  the  same  course }  and  the  women  of  Europe  would 
have  remained  in  the  state  of  degradation  in  which  the  Mussulman  women  still 
are.  As  I  have  mentioned  the  followers  of  Mohammed,  I  will  reply  in  passing 
to  those  who  pretend  to  explain  monogamy  and  polygamy  by  climate  alone. 
Christians  and  Mohammedans  have  been  for  a  long  time  under  the  same  sky, 
and  their  religions  have  been  established,  by  the  vicissitudes  of  the  two  races, 
sometimes  in  cold  and  sometimes  in  mild  and  temperate  climates ;  and  yet  we 
have  not  seen  the  religions  accommodate  themselves  to  the  climates ;  but  rather, 
the  climates  have  been,  as  it  were,  forced  to  bend  to  the  religions.  European 
nations  owe  eternal  gratitude  to  Catholicity,  which  has  preserved  monogamy 
for  them,  one  of  the  causes  which  undoubtedly  have  contributed  the  most  to 
the  good  organization  of  the  family,  and  the  exaltation  of  woman.  What  would 
now  be  the  condition  of  Europe,  what  respect  would  woman  now  enjoy,  if 
Luther,  the  founder  of  Protestantism,  had  succeeded  in  inspiring  society  with 
the  indifference  which  he  shows  on  this  point  in  his  commentary  on  Genesis  ? 
"  As  to  whether  we  may  have  several  wives/'  says  Luther,  "  the  authority  of 
the  patriarchs  leaves  us  completely  free."  He  afterwards  adds  that  "  it  is  a 
thing  neither  permitted  nor  prohibited,  and  that  he  does  not  decide  any  thiny 
thereupon."  Unhappy  Europe  !  if  a  man,  who  had  whole  nations  as  followers, 
had  uttered  such  words  some  centuries  earlier,  at  the  time  when  civilization  had 
not  yet  received  an  impulse  strong  enough  to  make  it  take  a  decided  line  on 
the  most  important  points,  in  spite  of  false  doctrines.  Unhappy  Europe  !  if  at 
the  time  when  Luther  wjrote,  manners  had  not  been  already  formed,  if  the  good 
organization  given  to  the  family  by  Catholicity  had  not  been  too  deeply  rooted 
to  be  torn  up  by  the  hand  of  man.  Certainly  the  scandal  of  the  Landgrave 
of  Hesse-Cassel  would  not  then  have  remained  an  isolated  example,  and  the 
culpable  compliance  of  the  Lutheran  doctors  would  have  produced  bitter  fruits. 
What  would  that  vacillating  faith,  that  uncertainty,  that  cowardice  with  which 
the  Protestant  Church  was  seen  to  tremble  at  the  mere  demand  of  such  a  prince 
as  the  Landgrave,  have  availed,  to  control  the  fierce  impetuosity  of  barbarous 
and  corrupted  nations?  How  would  a  struggle,  lasting  for  ages,  have  been 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  139 

sustained  by  those  who,  at  the  first  menace  of  battle,  gave  way,  and  were  routed 
before  the  shock  ? 

Besides  monogamy,  it  may  be  said  that  there  is  nothing  more  important  than 
the  indissolubility  of  marriage.  Those  who,  departing  from  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church,  think  that  it  is  useful  in  certain  cases  to  allow  divorce,  so  as  to  dis- 
solve the  conjugal  tie,  and  permit  each  of  the  parties  to  marry  again,  still  will 
not  deny  that  they  regard  divorce  as  a  dangerous  remedy,  which  the  legislator 
only  avails  himself  of  with  regret,  and  only  on  account  of  crime  or  faithless- 
ness ;  they  will  see,  also,  that  a  great  number  of  divorces  would  produce  very 
great  evils,  and  that  in  order  to  prevent  these  in  countries  where  the  civil  laws 
allow  the  abuse  of  divorce,  it  is  necessary  to  surround  this  permission  with  all 
imaginable  precaution ;  they  will  consequently  grant  that  the  most  efficacious 
manner  of  preventing  corruption  of  manners,  of  guarantying  the  tranquillity 
of  families,  and  of  opposing  a  firm  barrier  to  the  torrent  of  evils  which  is  ready 
to  inundate  society,  is  to  establish  the  indissolubility  of  marriage  as  a  moral 
principle,  to  base  it  upon  motives  which  exercise  a  powerful  ascendency  over  the 
heart,  and  to  keep  a  constant  restraint  on  the  passions,  to  prevent  them  from 
slipping  down  so  dangerous  a  declivity.  It  is  clear  that  there  is  no  work  more 
worthy  of  being  the  object  of  the  care  and  zeal  of  the  true  religion.  Now, 
what  religion  but  the  Catholic  has  fulfilled  this  duty  ?  "What  other  religion  has 
more  perfectly  accomplished  so  salutary  and  difficult  a  task  ?  Certainly  not 
Protestantism,  for  it  did  not  even  know  how  to  penetrate  the  depth  of  the 
reasons  which  guided  the  conduct  of  the  Church  on  this  point.  I  have  taken 
care  to  do  justice  in  another  place  to  the  wisdom  which  Protestant  society  has 
displayed  in  not  giving  itself  up  entirely  to  the  impulse  which  its  chiefs  wished 
to  communicate  to  it.  But  it  must  not  be  supposed  from  this  that  Protestant 
doctrines  have  not  had  lamentable  consequences  in  countries  calling  themselves 
reformed.  Let  us  hear  what  a  Protestant  lady,  Madame  de  Stael,  says  in  her 
book  on  Germany,  speaking  of  a  country  which  she  loves  and  admires :  "  Love,"  } 
she  says,  "  is  a  religion  in  Germany,  but  a  poetical  religion  which  tolerates  very 
freely  all  that  sensibility  can  excuse.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  in  the  Protest- 
ant provinces  the  facility  of  divorce  is  injurious  to  the  sanctity  of  marriage. 
They  change  husbands  as  quietly  as  if  they  were  arranging  the  incidents  of  a 
drama :  the  good  nature  of  the  man  and  woman  prevents  the  mixture  of  any 
bitterness  with  their  easy  ruptures ;  and  as  there  is  among  the  Germans  more 
imagination  than  real  passion,  the  most  curious  events  take  place  with  singular 
tranquillity.  Yet  it  is  thus  that  manners  and  characters  lose  all  consistency; 
the  paradoxical  spirit  destroys  the  most  sacred  institutions,  and  there  are  no 
well  established  rules  on  any  subject/'  (J9e  VAllemagne,  p.  1,  c.  3.)  Misled 
by  their  hatred  against  the  Roman  Church,  and  excited  by  their  rage  for  inno- 
vation in  all  things,  the  Protestants  thought  they  had  made  a  great  reform  in 
secularizing  marriage,  if  I  may  so  speak,  and  in  rejecting  the  Catholic  doctrine, 
which  declared  it  a  real  sacrament.  This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  upon  a  dog- 
matical discussion  of  this  matter ;  I  shall  content  myself  with  observing,  that 
by  depriving  marriage  of  the  august  seal  of  a  sacrament,  Protestantism  showed 
that  it  had  little  knowledge  of  the  human  heart.  To  consider  marriage,  not  as 
a  simple  civil  contract,  but  as  a  real  sacrament,  was  to  place  it  under  the  august 
shade  of  religion,  and  to  raise  it  above  the  stormy  atmosphere  of  the  passions ; 
and  who  can  doubt  that  this  was  absolutely  necessary  to  restrain  the  most  active, 
capricious,  and  violent  passion  of  the  heart  of  man  ?  The  civil  laws  are  insuf- 
ficient to  produce  such  an  effect.  Motives  are  required,  which,  being  drawn 
from  a  higher  source,  exert  a  more  efficacious  influence.  The  Protestant  doc- 
trine overturned  the  power  of  the  Church  with  respect  to  marriage,  and  gave 
up  matters  of  this  kind  exclusively  to  the  civil  power.  Some  one  will  perhaps 
think  that  the  increase  of  the  secular  powpr  on  this  point  could  not  but  serve 


140  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

the  cause  of  civilization,  and  that  to  drive  the  ecclesiastical  authority  from  this 
ground  was  a  magnificent  triumph  gained  over  exploded  prejudices,  a  valuable 
victory  over  unjust  usurpation.  Deluded  man  !  If  your  mind  possessed  any 
lofty  thought,  if  your  heart  felt  the  vibration  of  those  harmonious  chords  which 
display  the  passions  of  man  with  so  much  delicacy  and  exactness,  and  teach  the 
best  means  of  directing  them,  you  would  see,  you  would  feel,  that  to  place 
marriage  under  the  mantle  of  religion,  and  to  withdraw  it  as  much  as  possible 
from  profane  interference,  was  to  purify,  to  embellish,  and  to  surround  it  with 
the  most  enchanting  beauty;  for  thus  is  that  precious  treasure,  which  is  blasted 
by  a  look,  and  tarnished  by  the  slightest  breath,  inviolably  preserved.  Would 
you  not  wish  to  have  the  nuptial  bed  veiled  and  strictly  guarded  by  religion  ? 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

OF   THE  PASSION   OP   LOVE. 

BUT  it  will  be  said  to  Catholics,  "  Do  you  not  see  that  your  doctrines  are 
too  hard  and  rigorous  ?  They  do  not  consider  the  weakness  and  inconstancy  of 
the  human  heart,  and  require  sacrifices  above  its  strength.  Is  it  not  cruel  to 
attempt  to  subject  the  most  tender  affections,  the  most  delicate  feelings,  to  the 
rigor  of  a  principle  ?  Cruel  doctrine,  which  endeavors  to  hold  together,  bound 
to  each  other  by  a  fatal  tie,  those  who  no  longer  love,  who  feel  a  mutual  disgust, 
who  perhaps  hate  each  other  with  a  profound  hatred  !  When  you  answer  these 
two  beings  who  long  to  be  separated,  who  would  rather  die  than  remain  united, 
with  an  eternal  Never,  showing  them  the  divine  seal  which  was  placed  upon 
their  union  at  the  solemn  moment,  do  you  not  forget  all  the  rules  of  prudence  ? 
Is  not  this  to  provoke  despair?  Protestantism,  accommodating  itself  to  our 
infirmity,  accedes  more  easily  to  the  demands,  sometimes  of  caprice,  but  often 
also  of  weakness;  its  indulgence  is  a  thousand  times  preferable  to  your  rigor." 
This  requires  an  answer ;  it  is  necessary  to  remove  the  delusion  which  produces 
these  arguments,  too  apt,  unhappily,  to  mislead  the  judgment,  because  they 
begin  by  seducing  the  heart.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  an  exaggeration  to  say 
that  the  Catholic  system  reduces  unhappy  couples  to  the  extremity  of  despair. 
There  are  cases  in  which  prudence  requires  that  they  should  separate,  and  then 
neither  the  doctrines  nor  the  practice  of  the  Catholic  Church  oppose  the  separa- 
tion. It  is  true  that  this  does  not  dissolve  the  conjugal  tie,  and  that  neither  of 
the  parties  can  marry  again.  But  it  cannot  be  said  that  one  of  them  is  subject 
to  tyranny;  they  are  not  compelled  to  live  together,  consequently  they  do  not 
suffer  the  intolerable  torment  of  remaining  united  when  they  abhor  each  other. 
Very  well,  we  shall  be  told,  the  separation  being  pronounced,  the  parties  are 
freed  from  the  punishment  of  living  together ;  but  they  cannot  contract  new 
ties,  consequently  they  are  forbidden  to  gratify  another  passion  which,  perhaps, 
their  heart  conceals,  and  which  may  have  been  the  cause  of  the  disgust  or  the 
hatred  whence  arose  the  unhappiness  or  discord  of  their  first  union.  Why  not 
consider  the  marriage  as  altogether  dissolved  ?  Why  should  not  the  parties 
become  entirely  free  ?  Permit  them  to  obey  the  feelings  of  their  hearts,  which, 
newly  fixed  on  another  object,  already  foresee  happier  days.  Here,  no  doubt, 
the  answer  seems  difficult,  and  the  force  of  the  difficulty  becomes  urgent ;  but, 
nevertheless,  it  is  here  that  Catholicity  obtains  the  most  signal  triumph ;  it  is 
here  it  clearly  shows  how  profound  is  its  knowledge  of  the  heart  of  man,  how 
prudent  its  doctrines,  and  how  wise  and  provident  its  conduct.  Its  rigor,  which 
seems  excessive,  is  only  necessary  severity;  this  conduct,  far  from  meriting  the 
reproach  of  cruelty,  is  a  guarantee  for  the  repose  and  well-being  of  man.  But 
it  is  a  thing  which  it  is  difficult  to  understand  at  first  sight ;  thus  we  are  com- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY.  141 

pelled  to  develope  this  matter  by  entering  into  a  profound  examination  of  the 
principles  which  justify  by  the  light  of  reason  the  conduct  pursued  by  the 
Catholic  Church;  let  us  examine  this  conduct,  not  only  in  respect  to  marriage, 
but  in  all  that  relates  to  the  direction  of  the  heart  of  man. 

In  the  direction  of  the  passions  there  are  two  systems,  the  one  of  compliance, 
the  other  of  resistance.  In  the  first  of  these  they  are  yielded  to  as  they  advance; 
an  invincible  obstacle  is  never  opposed  to  them ;  they  are  never  left  without 
hope.  A  line  is  traced  around  them  which,  it  is  true,  prevents  them  from  ex- 
ceeding a  certain  boundary;  but  they  are  given  to  understand  that  if  they  come 
to  place  their  foot  upon  this  limit,  it  will  retire  a  little  further ;  so  that  the 
compliance  is  in  proportion  to  the  energy  and  obstinacy  of  their  demands.  In 
the  second  system,  a  line  is  equally  marked  out  to  the  passions  which  they 
cannot  pass ;  but  it  is  a  line  fixed,  immovable,  and  everywhere  guarded  by  a 
wall  of  brass.  In  vain  do  they  attempt  to  pass  it;  they  have  not  even  the 
shadow  of  hope ;  the  principle  which  resists  them  will  never  change,  will  never 
consent  to  any  kind  of  compromise.  Therefore,  no  resource  remains  but  to  take 
that  course  which  is  always  open  to  man,  that  of  sin.  The  first  system  allows 
the  fire  to  break  out,  to  prevent  an  explosion ;  the  second  hinders  the  beginning 
of  it,  in  the  fear  of  being  compelled  to  arrest  its  progress.  In  the  first,  the 
passions  are  feared  and  regulated  at  their  birth,  and  hopes  of  restraining  them 
when  they  have  grown  up  are  entertained ;  in  the  second,  it  is  thought  that,  if 
it  is  difficult  to  restrain  them  when  they  are  feeble,  it  will  be  still  more  so  when 
they  are  strengthened.  In  the  one,  they  act  on  the  supposition  that  the  pas- 
sions are  weakened  by  indulgence ;  in  the  other,  it  is  believed  that  gratification, 
far  from  satiating,  only  renders  them  every  day  more  devouring. 

It  may  be  said,  generally  speaking,  that  Catholicity  follows  the  second  of 
these  systems ;  that  is  to  say,  with  respect  to  the  passions,  her  constant  rule  is 
to  check  them  at  the  first  step,  to  deprive  them  of  all  hope  from  the  first,  and 
to  stifle  them,  if  possible,  in  their  cradle.  It  must  be  observed,  that  we  speak 
here  of  the  severity  with  respect  to  the  passions  themselves,  not  with  respect  to 
man,  who  is  their  prey ;  it  is  very  consistent  to  give  no  truce  to  passion,  and  to 
be  indulgent  towards  the  person  under  its  influence ;  to  be  inexorable  towards 
the  offence,  and  to  treat  the  offender  with  extreme  mildness.  With  respect  to 
marriage,  this  system  has  been  acted  on  by  Catholicity  with  astonishing  firm- 
ness ;  Protestantism  has  taken  the  opposite  course.  Both  are  agreed  on  this 
point,  that  divorce,  followed  by  the  dissolution  of  the  conjugal  tie,  is  a  very 
great  evil ;  but  there  is  this  difference  between  them,  that  the  Catholic  system 
does  not  leave  even  the  hope,  of  a  conjuncture  in  which  this  dissolution  will  be 
permitted ;  it  forbids  it  absolutely,  without  any  restriction ;  it  declares  it  im- 
possible :  the  Protestant  system,  on  the  contrary,  consents  to  it  in  certain  cases. 
Protestantism  does  not  possess  the  divine  seal  which  guaranties  the  perpetuity 
of  marriage,  and  renders  it  sacred  and  inviolable ;  Catholicity  does  possess  this 
seal,  impresses  it  on  the  mysterious  tie,  and  from  that  moment  marriage  remains 
under  the  shadow  of  an  august  symbol.  Which  of  the  two  religions  is  the  most 
prudent  in  this  point  ?  Which  acts  with  the  most  wisdom  ?  To  answer  this 
question,  let  us  lay  aside  the  dogmatical  reasons,  and  the  intrinsical  morality  of 
the  human  actions  which  form  the  subject  of  the  laws  which  we  are  now  exa- 
mining ;  and  let  us  see  which  of  the  two  systems  is  the  most  conducive  to  the 
difficult  task  of  managing  and  directing  the  passions.  After  having  considered 
the  nature  of  the  human  heart,  and  consulted  the  experience  of  every  day,  it 
may  be  affirmed  that  the  best  way  to  repress  a  passion  is  to  leave  it  without 
hope ;  to  comply  with  it,  to  allow  it  continual  indulgences,  is  to  excite  it  more 
and  more ;  it  is  to  play  with  fire  amid  a  heap  of  combustibles,  by  allowing  the 
flame  to  be  lit,  from  time  to  time,  in  the  vain  confidence  of  being  always  able 
to  put  out  the  conflagration.  Let  us  take  a  rapid  glance  at  the  most  violent 


142  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

passions  of  the  heart  of  man,  and  observe  what  is  their  ordinary  course,  accord- 
ing to  the  system  which  is  pursued  in  their  regard.  Look  at  the  gambler,  who 
is  ruled  by  an  indefinable  restlessness,  which  is  made  up  of  an  insatiable  cupi- 
dity and  an  unbounded  prodigality,  at  the  same  time.  The  most  enormous  for- 
tune will  not  satisfy  him ;  and  yet  he  risks  all,  without  hesitation,  to  the  hazard 
of  a  moment.  The  man  who  still  dreams  of  immense  treasures  amid  the  most 
fearful  misery,  restlessly  pursues  an  object  which  resembles  gold,  but  which  is 
not  it,  for  the  possession  thereof  does  not  satisfy  him.  His  heart  can  only  exist 
amid  uncertainty,  chances,  and  perils.  Suspended  between  hope  and  fear,  he 
seems  to  be  pleased  with  the  rapid  succession  of  lively  emotions  which  unceas- 
ingly agitate  and  torment  him.  What  remedy  will  cure  this  malady — this  de- 
vouring fever  ?  Will  you  recommend  to  him  a  system  of  compliance  ?  will  you 
tell  him  to  gamble,  but  only  to  a  certain  amount,  at  certain  times,  and  in  cer- 
tain places  ?  What  will  you  gain  by  this  ?  Nothing  at  all.  If  these  means 
were  good  for  any  thing,  there  would  be  no  gambler  in  the  world  who  would 
not  be  cured  of  his  passion ;  for  there  is  no  one  who  has  not  often  marked  out 
for  himself  these  limits,  and  often  said  to  himself,  "  You  shall  only  play  till 
such  an  hour,  in  such  a  place,  and  to  such  an  amount."  What  is  the  effect  of 
these  palliations — of  these  impotent  precautions — on  the  unhappy  gambler? 
That  he  miserably  deceives  himself.  The  passion  consents,  only  in  order  to 
gain  strength,  and  the  better  to  secure  the  victory  :  thus  it  gains  ground ;  it  con- 
stantly enlarges  its  sphere ;  and  leads  its  victim  again  into  the  same,  or  into 
greater  excesses.  Do  you  wish  to  make  a  radical  cure  ?  If  there  be  a  remedy, 
it  must  be  to  abstain  completely ;  a  remedy  which  may  appear  difficult  at  first, 
but  will  be  found  the  easiest  in  practice.  When  the  passion  finds  itself  de- 
prived of  all  hope,  it  will  begin  to  diminish,  and  in  the  end  will  disappear. 
No  man  of  experience  will  raise  the  least  doubt  as  to  the  truth  of  what  I  have 
said ;  every  one  will  agree  with  me,  that  the  only  way  to  destroy  the  formidable 
passion  of  gambling  is  to  deprive  it  at  once  of  all  food,  to  leave  it  without  hope. 
Let  us  pass  to  another  example,  more  analogous  to  the  subject  which  I  intend 
to  explain.  Let  us  suppose  a  man  under  the  influence  of  love.  Do  you  believe 
that  the  best  way  to  cure  his  passion  will  be  to  give  him  opportunities,  even 
though  very  rare,  of  seeing  the  object  of  his  passion  ?  Do  you  think  that  it  will 
be  salutary  to  authorize  him  to  continue,  while  you  forbid  him  to  multiply,  these 
dangerous  interviews  ?  Will  such  a  precaution  quench  the  flame  which  burns 
in  his  heart  ?  You  may  be  sure  that  it  will  not.  The  limits  will  even  aug- 
ment its  force.  If  you  allow  it  any  food,  even  with  the  most  parsimonious  hand, 
if  you  permit  it  the  least  success,  you  see  it  constantly  increase,  until  it  upset 
every  thing  that  opposes  it.  But  take  away  all  hope,  send  the  lover  on  a  long 
journey,  or  place  before  him  an  impediment  which  precludes  the  probability,  or 
even  the  possibility,  of  success ;  then,  except  in  very  rare  cases,  you  will  obtain 
at  first  distraction,  and  then  forgetfulness.  Is  not  this  the  daily  teaching  of 
experience  ?  Is  it  not  the  remedy  which  necessity  every  day  suggests  to  the 
fathers  of  families  ?  The  passions  resemble  fire.  They  are  extinguished  by  a 
large  quantity  of  water ;  but  a  few  drops  only  render  them  more  ardent.  Let 
us  raise  our  thoughts  still  higher ;  let  us  observe  the  passions  acting  in  a  wider 
field,  in  more  extended  regions.  Whence  comes  it  that  so  many  strong  pas- 
sions are  awakened  at  times  of  public  disturbance  ?  It  is,  because  then  they 
all  hope  to  be  gratified ;  it  is,  because  the .  highest  ranks,  the  oldest  and  most 
powerful  institutions,  having  been  overturned,  and  replaced  by  others,  which 
were  hitherto  imperceptible,  all  the  passions  see  a  road  open  before  them,  amid 
the  tempest  and  confusion ;  the  barriers  apparently  insurmountable,  the  sight  of 
which  prevented  their  existence,  or  strangled  them  in  the  cradle,  do  not  exist ; 
as  all  is  then  unprotected  and  defenceless,  it  is  only  required  to  have  boldness 
and  intrepidity  enough  to  stand  amid  the  ruins  of  all  that  was  old. 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY.  143 

Regarding  things  in  the  abstract,  there  is  nothing  more  strikingly  absurd 
than  hereditary  monarchy,  the  succession  secured  to  a  family  which  may  at  any 
time  place  on  the  throne  a  child,  a  fool,  or  a  wretch :  and  yet  in  practice  there 
is  nothing  more  wise,  prudent,  and  provident.  This  has  been  taught  by  the 
long  experience  of  ages,  it  has  been  shown  by  reason,  and  proved  by  the  sad 
warnings  of  those  nations  who  have  tried  elective  monarchy.  Now,  what  is  the 
cause  of  this?  It  is  what  we  are  endeavoring  to  explain.  Hereditary  monar- 
chy precludes  all  the  hopes  of  irregular  ambition ;  without  that,  society  always 
contains  a  germ  of  trouble,  a  principle  of  revolt,  which  is  nourished  by  those 
who  conceive  a  hope  of  one  day  obtaining  the  command.  In  quiet  times,  and 
under  an  hereditary  monarchy,  a  subject,  however  rich,  however  distinguished 
he  may  be  for  his  talent  or  his  valour,  cannot,  without  madness,  hope  to  be 
king ;  and  such  a  thought  never  enters  his  head.  But  change  the  circumstances, 
— admit,  I  will  not  say,  the  probability,  but  the  possibility  of  such  an  event, 
and  you  will  see  that  there  will  immediately  be  ardent  candidates. 

It  would  be  easy  to  develope  this  doctrine  more  at  length,  and  apply  it  to  all 
the  passions  of  man ;  but  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  the  first  thing  to 
be  done  when  you  have  to  subdue  a  passion,  is  to  oppose  to  it  an  insurmountable 
barrier,  which  it  can  have  no  hope  of  passing.  Then  the  passion  rages  for  a 
little  time,  it  rebels  against  the  obstacle  that  resists  it ;  but  when  it  finds  that 
to  be  immovable,  it  recedes,  it  is  cast  down,  and,  like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  it 
falls  back  murmuring  to  the  level  which  has  been  marked  out  for  it. 

There  is  a  passion  in  the  heart  of  man,  a  passion  which  exerts  a  powerful 
influence  on  the  destinies  of  his  life,  and  too  often,  by  its  deceitful  illusions, 
forms  a  long  chain  of  sadness"  and  misfortuue.  This  passion,  which  has  for  its 
necessary  object  the  preservation  of  the  human  race,  is  found,  in  some  form,  in 
all  the  beings  of  nature ;  but,  inasmuch  as  it  resides  in  the  soul  of  an  intelli- 
gent being,  it  assumes  a  peculiar  character  in  man.  In  brutes,  it  is  only  an 
instinct,  limited  to  the  preservation  of  the  species  ;  in  man,  the  instinct  becomes 
a  passion;  and  that  passion,  enlivened  by  the  fire  of  imagination,  rendered  subtile 
by  the  powers  of  the  mind,  inconstant  and  capricious,  because  it  is  guided  by  a 
free  will,  which  can  indulge  in  as  many  whims  as  there  are  different  impressions 
for  the  senses  and  the  heart,  is  changed  into  a  vague,  fickle  feeling,  which  is 
never  contented,  and  which  nothing  can  satisfy.  Sometimes  it  is  the  restless- 
ness of  a  man  in  a  fever ;  sometimes  the  frenzy  of  a  madman ;  sometimes,  a 
dream,  which  ravishes  the  soul  into  regions  of  bliss;  sometimes  the  anguish 
and  the  convulsions  of  agony.  Who  can  describe  the  variety  of  forms  under 
which  this  deceitful  passion  presents  itself  ?  Who  can  tell  the  number  of  snares 
which  it  lays  for  the  steps  of  unhappy  mortals  ?  Observe  it  at  its  birth,  follow 
it  in  its  career,  up  to  the  moment  when  it  dies  out  like  an  expiring  lamp. 
Hardly  has  the  down  appeared  on  the  face  of  man,  when  there  arises  in  his 
heart  a  mysterious  feeling,  which  fills  him  with  trouble  and  uneasiness,  without 
his  being  aware  of  the  cause.  A  pleasing  melancholy  glides  into  his  heart, 
thoughts  before  unknown  enter  his  mind,  seductive  images  pervade  his  imagi- 
nation, a  secret  attraction  acts  on  his  soul,  unusual  gravity  appears  in  his 
features,  all  his  inclinations  take  a  new  direction.  The  games  of  childhood  no 
longer  please  him ;  every  thing  shows  a  new  life,  less  innocent,  less  tranquil ; 
the  tempest  does  not  yet  rage,  the  sky  is  not  darkened,  but  clouds,  tinged  with 
fire,  are  the  sad  presage  of  what  is  to  come.  When  he  becomes  adolescent,  that 
which  was  hitherto  a  feeling,  vague,  mysterious,  incomprehensible,  even  to  him- 
self, becomes,  from  that  time,  more  decided;  objects  are  seen  more  clearly,  they 
appear  in  their  real  nature ;  the  passion  sees,  and  seizes  on  them.  But  do  not 
imagine  that  it  becomes  more  constant  on  that  account.  It  is  as  vain,  as 
changeable,  as  capricious  as  the  multitude  of  objects  which  by  turns  present 
^themselves  to  it.  It  is  constantly  deluded,  it  pursues  fleeting  shadows,  seeks  a 


144  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

satisfaction  which  it  never  finds,  and  awaits  a  happiness  which  it  never  attains. 
With  an  excited  imagination,  a  burning  heart,  with  his  whole  soul  transported, 
and  all  his  faculties  subdued,  the  ardent  young  man  is  surrounded  by  a  brilliant 
chain  of  illusions ;  he  communicates  these  to  all  that  environs  him ;  he  gives 
greater  splendor  to  the  light  of  heaven,  he  clothes  the  earth  with  richer  ver- 
dure and  more  brilliant  coloring,  he  sheds  on  all  the  reflection  of  his  own  en- 
chantment. 

In  manhood,  when  the  thoughts  are  more  grave  and  fixed,  when  the  heart  is 
more  constant,  the  will  more  firm,  and  resolutions  more  lasting  j  when  the  con- 
duct which  governs  the  destinies  of  life  is  subjected  to  rule,  and,  as  it  were, 
confirmed  in  its  faith,  this  mysterious  passion  continues  to  agitate  the  heart  of 
man,  and  it  torments  him  with  unceasing  disquietude.  We  only  observe  that 
the  passion  is  become  stronger  and  more  energetic,  owing  to  the  development 
of  the  physical  organization ;  the  pride  which  inspires  man  with  independence 
of  life,  the  feeling  of  greater  strength,  and  the  abundance  of  new  powers,  render 
him  more  decided,  bold,  and  violent ;  while  the  warnings  and  lessons  of  expe- 
rience have  made  him  more  provident  and  crafty.  We  no  longer  see  the  candor 
of  his  earlier  years.  He  now  knows  how  to  calculate ;  he  is  able  to  approach 
his  object  by  covert  ways,  and  to  choose  the  surest  means.  Woe  to  the  man 
who  does  not  provide  in  time  against  such  an  enemy !  His  existence  will  be 
consumed  by  a  fever  of  agitation ;  amid  disquietudes  and  torments,  if  he  does 
not  die  in  the  flower  of  his  age,  he  will  grow  old  still  ruled  by  this  fatal  pas- 
sion ;  it  will  accompany  him  to  the  tomb,  surrounding  him,  in  his  last  days, 
with  those  repulsive  and  hideous  forms  which  are  exhibited  in  a  countenance 
furrowed  by  years,  and  in  eyes  which  are  already  veiled  by  the  shades  of 
death. 

What  plan  should  be  adopted  to  restrain  this  passion,  to  confine  it  within  just 
limits,  and  prevent  its  bringing  misfortune  to  individuals,  disorder  to  families, 
and  confusion  to  society?  The  invariable  rule  of  Catholicity,  in  the  morality 
which  she  teaches,  as  well  as  in  the  institutions  which  she  establishes,  is  repres- 
sion; Catholicism  does  not  allow  a  desire  she  declares  to  be  culpable  in  the  eyes  of 
God  ;  even  a  look,  when  accompanied  by  an  impure  thought.  Why  this  severity  ? 
For  two  reasons ;  on  account  of  the  intrinsic  morality  which  there  is  in  this 
prohibition ;  and  also,  because  there  is  profound  wisdom  in  stifling  the  evil  at 
its  birth.  It  is  certainly  easier  to  prevent  a  man's  consenting  to  evil  desires, 
than  it  is  to  hinder  his  gratifying  them  when  he  has  allowed  them  to  enter  his 
inflamed  heart.  There  is  profound  reason  in  securing  tranquillity  to  the  soul, 
by  not  allowing  it  to  remain,  like  Tantalus,  with  the  water  at  his  burning  lips. 
"  Quid  vis  videre,  quod  non  licet  habere  ?"  Why  do  you  wish  to  see  that  which 
you  are  forbidden  to  possess  ?  is  the  wise  observation  of  the  author  of  the  admi- 
rable Imitation  of  Christ ;  thus  summing  up,  in  a  few  words,  all  the  prudence 
which  is  contained  in  the  holy  severity  of  'the  Christian  doctrine. 

The  ties  of  marriage,  by  assigning  a  legitimate  object  to  the  passions,  still  do 
not  dry  up  the  source  of  agitation  and  the  capricious  restlessness  which  the 
heart  conceals.  Possession  cloys  and  disgusts,  beauty  fades  and  decays,  the 
illusions  vanish,  and  the  charms  disappear ;  man,  in  the  presence  of  a  reality 
which  is  far  from  reaching  the  beauty  of  the  dreams  inspired  by  his  ardent 
imagination,  feels  new  desires  arise  in  his  heart;  tired  with  what  he  possesses, 
he  entertains  new  illusions ;  he  seeks  elsewhere  the  ideal  happiness  which  he 
thought  he  had  found,  and  quits  the  unpleasing  reality  which  thus  deceives  his 
brightest  hopes. 

Give,  then,  the  reins  to  the  passions  of  man ;  allow  him  in  any  way  to  enter- 
tain the  illusion  that  he  can  make  himself  any  new  ties }  permit  him  to  believe 
that  he  is  not  attached  for  ever,  and  without  recall,  to  the  companion  of  his  life ; 
and  you  will  see  that  disgust  will  soon  take  possession  of  him,  that  discord  will 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  145 

be  more  violent  and  striking,  that  the  ties  will  begin  to  wear  out  before  they 
are  contracted,  and  will  break  at  the  first  shock.  Proclaim,  on  the  contrary,  a 
law  which  makes  no  exception  of  poor  or  rich,  weak  or  powerful,  vassals  or 
kings,  which  makes  no  allowance  for  difference  of  situation,  of  character,  health, 
or  any  of  those  numberless  motives  which,  in  the  hands  of  passions,  and  espe- 
cially those  of  powerful  men,  are  easily  changed  into  pretexts ;  proclaim  that 
this  law  is  from  heaven,  show  a  divine  seal  on  the  marriage  tie,  tell  the  mur- 
muring passions  that  if  they  will  gratify  themselves  they  must  do  so  by  immo- 
rality ;  tell  them  that  the  power  which  is  charged  with  the  preservation  of  this 
divine  law  will  never  make  criminal  compliances,  that  it  will  never  dispense 
with  the  infraction  of  the  divine  law,  and  that  the  crime  will  never  be  without 
remorse;  you  will  then  see  the  passions  become  calm  and  resigned;  the  law 
will  be  diffused  and  strengthened,  will  take  root  in  customs;  you  will  have 
secured  the  good  order  and  tranquillity  of  families  for  ever,  and  society  will  be 
indebted  to  you  for  an  immense  benefit.  Now  this  is  exactly  what  Catholicity 
has  done,  by  efforts  which  lasted  for  ages ;  it  is  what  Protestantism  would  have 
destroyed,  if  Europe  had  generally  followed  its  doctrine  and  example,  if  the 
people  had  not  been  wiser  than  their  deceitful  guides. 

Protestants  and  false  philosophers,  examining  the  doctrines  and  institutions 
of  the  Catholic  Church  through  their  prejudices  and  animosity,  have  not  under- 
stood the  admirable  power  of  the  two  characteristics  impressed  at  all  times  and 
in  all  places  on  the  ideas  and  works  of  Catholicity,  viz.  unity  and  fixity,  unity 
in  doctrines,  ittd.  fixity  in  conduct.  Catholicity  points  out  an  object,  and  wishes 
us  to  pursue  it  straight  forward.  It  is  a  reproach  to  philosophers  and  Protest- 
ants, that  after  having  declaimed  against  unity  of  doctrine,  they  also  declaimed 
against  fixity  of  conduct.  If  they  had  reflected  on  man,  they  would  have  un- 
derstood that  this  fixity  is  the  secret  of  guiding  and  ruling  him,  and,  when  desi- 
rable of  restraining  his  passions,  of  exalting  his  mind  when  necessary,  and  of  ren- 
dering him  capable  of  great  sacrifices  and  heroic  actions.  There  is  nothing  worse 
for  man  than  uncertainty  and  indecision ;  nothing  that  weakens  and  tends  more  to 
make  him  useless.  Indecision  is  to  the  will  what  skepticism  is  to  the  mind. 
Give  a  man  a  definite  object,  and  if  he  will  devote  himself  to  it,  he  will  attain  it. 
Let  him  hesitate  between  two  different  ways,  without  a  fixed  rule  to  guide  his  con- 
duct ;  let  him  be  ignorant  of  his  intention ;  let  him  not  know  whither  he  is  going, 
and  you  will  see  his  energy  relax,  his  strength  diminish,  and  he  will  stop.  Do 
you  know  by  what  secret  great  minds  govern  the  world  ?  Do  you  know  what  ren- 
ders them  capable  of  heroic  actions  ?  And  how  all  those  who  surround  them  are 
rendered  so  ?  It  is  that  they,  have  a  fixed  object,  both  for  themselves  and  for 
others ;  it  is  that  they  see  that  object  clearly,  desire  it  ardently,  strive  after  it 
directly,  with  firm  hope  and  lively  faith,  without  allowing  any  hesitation  in  them- 
selves or  in  others.  Alexander,  Caesar,  Napoleon,  and  the  other  heroes  of  ancient 
and  modern  times,  no  doubt  exercised  a  fascinating  influence  by  the  ascendency 
of  their  genius ;  but  the  secret  of  this  ascendency,  the  secret  of  their  power,  and 
of  that  force  of  impulse  by  which  they  surmounted  all,  was  the  unity  of  thought, 
the  fixity  of  plan,  which  produced  in  them  that  invincible,  irresistible  character 
which  gave  them  an  immense  superiority  over  other  men.  Thus  Alexander 
passed  the  Granicus,  undertook  and  completed  his  wonderful  conquest  of  Asia; 
thus  Caesar  passed  the  Rubicon,  put  Pompey  to  flight,  triumphed  at  Pharsalia, 
and  made  himself  master  of  the  world ;  thus  did  Napoleon  disperse  those  who 
parleyed  about  the  fate  of  France,  conquered  his  enemies  at  Marengo,  obtained 
the  crown  of  Charlemagne,  alarmed  and  astonished  the  world  by  the  victories 
of  Austerlitz  and  Jena. 

Without  unity  there  is  no  order,  without  fixity  there  is  no  stability ;  and  in 
the  moral  as  in  the  physical  world,  without  order  and  stability  nothing  prospers. 
Protestantism }  which  has  pretended  to  advance  the  individual  and  society  by 
19  N 


146  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

destroying  religious  unity,  has  introduced  into  creeds  and  institutions  the  mul- 
tiplicity and  fickleness  of  private  judgment;  it  has  everywhere  spread  confusion 
and  disorder,  and  has  altered  the  nature  of  European  civilization  by  inoculating 
it  with  a  disastrous  principle  which  has  caused  and  will  continue  to  cause  lament- 
able evils.  And  let  it  not  be  supposed,  that  Catholicity,  on  account  of  the 
unity  of  her  doctrines  and  the  fixity  of  her  conduct,  is  opposed  to  the  progress 
of  ages.  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  that  which  is  one  from  advancing,  and 
there  may  be  movement  in  a  system  which  has  some  fixed  points.  The  uni- 
verse whose  grandeur  astonishes  us,  whose  prodigies  fill  us  with  admiration, 
whose  beauty  and  variety  enchant  us,  is  united,  is  ruled  by  laws  constant  and 
fixed.  Behold  some  of  the  reasons  which  justify  the  strictness  of  Catholicity, 
behold  why  she  has  not  been  able  to  comply  with  the  demands  of  a  passion 
which,  once  let  loose,  has  no  boundary  or  barrier,  introduces  trouble  into  hearts, 
disorder  into  families,  takes  away  the  dignity  of  manners,  dishonors  the  modesty 
of  women,  and  lowers  them  from  the  noble  rank  of  the  companions  of  men.  I 
do  not  deny  that  Catholicity  is  strict  on  this  point ;  but  she  could  not  give  up 
this  strictness  without  renouncing  at  the  same  time  the  sublime  functions  of  the 
depository  of  sound  morality,  the  vigilant  sentinel  which  guards  the  destinies 
of  humanity.  (17) 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

VIRGINITY   IN   ITS   SOCIAL   ASPECT. 

WE  have  seen,  in  the  fifteenth  chapter,  with  what  jealousy  Catholicity  endea- 
vors to  veil  the  secrets  of  modesty ;  with  what  perseverance  she  imposes  the 
restraint  of  morality  on  the  most  impetuous  passion  of  the  human  heart.  She 
shows  us  all  the  importance  which  belongs  to  the  contrary  virtue,  by  crowning 
with  peerless  splendor  the  total  abstinence  from  sensual  pleasure,  viz.  virginity. 
Frivolous  minds,  and  principally  those  who  are  inspired  by  a  voluptuous  heart, 
do  not  understand  how  much  Catholicity  has  thus  contributed  to  the  elevation  of 
woman  j  but  such  will  not  be  the  case  with  reflecting  men  who  are  capable  of  seeing 
tthat  all  that  tends  to  raise  to  the  highest  degree  of  delicacy  the  feeling  of  modesty, 
all  that  fortifies  morality,  all  that  contributes  to  make  a  considerable  number  of 
women  models  of  the  most  heroic  virtue,  equally  tends  to  place  women  above 
the  atmosphere  of  gross  passion.  Woman  then  ceases  to  be  presented  to  the 
eyes  <of  man  as  the  mere  instrument  of  pleasure ;  none  of  the  attractions  with 
which  nature  has  endowed  her  are  lost  or  diminished,  and  she  has  no  longer  to 
dread  becoming  an  object  of  contempt  and  disgust,  after  having  been  the  un- 
happy victim  of  profligacy. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  profoundly  acquainted  with  these  truths ;  and  while 
she  watched  over  the  sanctity  of  the  conjugal  tie,  while  she  created  in  the  bosom 
of  the  family  this  admirable  dignity  of  the  matron,  she  covered  with  a  myste- 
rious veil  the  countenance  of  the  Christian  virgin,  and  she  carefully  guarded 
the  spouses  of  the  Lord  in  the  seclusion  of  the  sanctuary.  It  was  reserved  for 
Luther,  the  gross  profaner  of  Catharine  de  Bore,  to  act  in  defiance  of  the  pro- 
found and  delicate  wisdom  of  the  Church  on  this  point.  After  the  apostate 
monk  had  violated  the  sacred  seal  set  by  religion  on  the  nuptial  bed,  his  was 
the  unchaste  hand  to  tear  away  the  sacred  veil  of  virgins  consecrated  to  God : 
it  was  worthy  of  his  hard  heart  to  excite  the  cupidity  of  princes,  to  induce  them 
to  seize  upon  the  possessions  of  these  defenceless  virgins,  and  expel  them  from 
their  abodes.  See  him  everywhere  excite  the  flame  of  sensuality,  and  break 
through  all  control.  What  will  become  of  virgins  devoted  to  the  sanctuary? 
Like  timid  doves,  will  they  not  fall  into  the  snares  of  the  libertine  ?  Is  this 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  147 

the  way  to  increase  the  respect  paid  to  the  female  sex  ?  Is  this  the  way  to 
increase  the  feeling  of  modesty  and  to  advance  humanity?  Was  this  the  way 
in  which  Luther  gave  a  generous  impulse  to  future  generations,  perfected  the 
human  mind,  and  gave  vigor  and  splendor  to  refinement  and  civilization  ?  What 
man  with  a  tender  and  sensitive  heart  can  endure  the  shameless  declamation 
of  Luther,  especially  if  he  has  read  the  Cyprians,  the  Ambroses,  the  Jeromes, 
and  the  other  shining  lights  of  the  Catholic  Church,  on  the  sublime  honor  of 
the  Christian  virgin  ?  Who,  then,  will  object  to  see,  during  ages  when  the 
most  savage  barbarism  prevailed,  those  secluded  dwellings  where  the  spouses  of 
the  Lord  secured  themselves  from  the  dangers  of  the  world,  incessantly  em- 
ployed in  raising  their  hands  to  heaven,  to  draw  down  upon  the  earth  the  dews 
of  divine  mercy  ?  In  times  and  countries  the  most  civilized,  how  sad  is  the 
contrast  between  the  asylums  of  the  purest  and  loftiest  virtue,  and  the  ocean  of 
dissipation  and  profligacy !  Were  these  abodes  a  remnant  of  ignorance,  a  mo- 
nument of  fanaticism,  which  the  coryphaei  of  Protestantism  did  well  to  sweep 
from  the  earth  ?  If  this  be  so,  let  us  protest  against  all  that  is  noble  and  dis- 
interested j  let  us  stifle  in  our  hearts  all  enthusiasm  for  virtue ;  let  every  thing 
be  reduced  to  the  grossest  sensuality;  let  the  painter  throw  away  his  pencil,  the 
poet  his  lyre ;  let  us  forget  our  greatness  and  our  dignity ;  let  us  degrade  our- 
selves, saying,  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die !" 

No ;  true  civilization  can  never  forgive  Protestantism  for  this  immoral  and 
impious  work ;  true  civilization  can  never  forgive  it  for  having  violated  the 
sanctuary  of  modesty  and  innocence,  for  having  employed  all  its  efforts  to 
destroy  respect  for  virginity ;  thus  treading  under  foot  a  doctrine  professed  by 
all  the  human  race.  It  did  not  respect  what  was  venerated  by  the  Greeks  in 
the  priestesses  of  Ceres,  by  the  Romans  in  their  vestals,  by  the  Gauls  in  their 
druidesses,  by  the  Germans  in  their  prophetesses.  It  has  carried  the  want  of 
respect  for  modesty  farther  than  was  ever  done  by  the  dissolute  nations  of  Asia, 
and  the  barbarians  of  the  new  world.  It  is  certainly  a  disgrace  for  Europe  to 
have  attacked  what  was  respected  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  to  have  treated  as  a 
mistaken  prejudice  the  universal  belief  of  the  human  race,  sanctioned,  more- 
over, by  Christianity.  What  invasion  of  barbarians  was  equal  to  this  attack 
of  Protestantism  on  all  that  ought  to  be  most  inviolable  among  men  ?  It  has 
set  the  fatal  example  in  modern  revolutions  of  the  crimes  which  have  been  com- 
mitted. 

When  we  see,  in  warlike  rage,  the  barbarity  of  the  conquerors  remove  all 
restraint  from  a  licentious  soldiery,  and  let  them  loose  against  the  abodes  of 
virgins  consecrated  to  God,  th,ere  is  nothing  but  what  may  be  conceived.  But 
when  these  holy  institutions  are  persecuted  by  system,  when  the  passions  of  the 
populace  are  excited  against  them,  by  grossly  assailing  their  origin  and  object, 
this  is  more  than  brutal  and  inhuman.  It  is  a  thing  which  cannot  be  described, 
when  those -who  act  in  this  way  boast  of  being  Reformers,  followers  of  the  pure 
Gospel,  and  proclaim  themselves  the  disciples  of  Him  who,  in  His  sublime 
councils,  has  pointed  out  virginity  as  one  of  the  noblest  virtues  that  can  adorn 
the  Christian's  crown.  Now,  who  is  ignorant  that  this  was  one  of  the  works  to 
which  Protestantism  devoted  itself  with  the  greatest  ardor  ? 

Woman  without  modesty  will  'be  an  incentive  to  sensuality,  but  will  never 
attract  the  soul  by  the  mysterious  feeling  which  is  called  love.  It  is  very  re- 
markable, that  although  the  most  urgent  desire  of  the  heart  of  woman  is  to 
please,  yet  as  soon  as  she  forgets  modesty  she  becomes  displeasing  and  disgust- 
ing. Thus  it  is  wisely  ordained  that  what  wounds  her  heart  the  most  sharply, 
becomes  the  punishment  of  her  fault.  Hence,  every  thing  that  maintains  in 
woman  the  delicate  feeling  of  modesty,  elevates  her,  adorns  her,  gives  her  greater 
ascendency  over  the  heart  of  man,  and  creates  for  her  a  distinguished  place  in 
the  domestic  as  well  as  in  the  social  order.  These  truths  were  not  understood 


148  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

by  Protestantism  when  it  condemned  virginity.  It  is  true  this  virtue  is  not  a 
necessary  condition  of  modesty,  but  it  is  its  beau  ideal  and  type  of  perfection ; 
and  certainly  we  cannot  destroy  this  model,  by  denying  its  beauty,  by  condemn- 
ing its  imitation  as  injurious,  without  doing  great  injury  to  modesty  itself,  which, 
continually  struggling  against  the  most  powerful  passion  of  the  heart  of  man, 
cannot  be  preserved  in  all  its  purity,  unless  it  be  accompanied  by  the  greatest 
precautions.  Like  a  flower  of  infinite  delicacy,  of  ravishing  colours,  of  the 
sweetest  perfume,  it  can  scarcely  support  the  slightest  breath  of  wind  ;  its  beauty 
is  destroyed  with  extreme  facility,  and  its  perfume  readily  evaporates. 

But  you  will  perhaps  urge  against  virginity  the  injury  which  it  does  to  popu- 
lation ;  you  will  consider  the  offerings  which  are  made  on  the  altar  by  this  vir- 
tue as  so  much  taken  from  the  multiplication  of  the  human  race.  Fortunately 
the  observations  of  the  most  distinguished  political  economists  have  destroyed 
this  delusion,  originated  by  Protestantism,  and  supported  by  the  incredulous 
philosophy  of  the  18th  century.  Facts  have  shown,  in  a  convincing  manner, 
two  truths  of  equal  importance  in  vindicating  Catholic  doctrines  and  institu- 
tions ;  1,  that  the  happiness  of  nations  is  not  necessarily  in  proportion  to  the 
increase  of  their  population  ;  2,  that  the  augmentation  and  diminution  of  the 
population  depend  on  many  concurrent  causes ;  that  religious  celibacy,  if  it  be 
among  them,  has  an  insignificant  influence. 

A  false  religion  and  an  illegitimate  and  egotistical  philosophy  have  attempted 
to  assimilate  the  secrets  of  this  increase  of  the  human  race  to  that  of  other  liv- 
ing beings.  All  idea  of  religion  has  been  taken  away;  they  have  seen  in 
humanity  only  a  vast  field  where  nothing  was  to  be  left  sterile.  Thus  they  have 
prepared  the  way  for  the  doctrine  which  considers  individuals  as  machines  from 
which  all  possible  profit  should  be  drawn.  No  more  was  thought  of  charity,  or 
the  sublime  instructions  of  religion  with  respect  to  the  dignity  and  destinies  of 
man ;  thus  industry  has  become  cruel,  and  the  organization  of  labor,  established 
on  a  basis  purely  material,  increases  the  present,  but  fearfully  menaces  the 
future  well-being  of  the  rich. 

How  profound  are  the  designs  of  Providence  !  The  nation  which  has  carried 
these  fatal  principles  to  the  fullest  extent  now  finds  itself  overcharged  with  men 
and  products.  Frightful  misery  devours  her  most  numerous  classes,  and  all  the 
ability  of  her  rulers  will  not  be  able  to  avoid  the  rock  she  is  running  on,  urged 
by  the  power  of  the  elements  to  which  she  has  abandoned  herself.  The  emi- 
nent professors  of  Oxford  who,  it  seems,  begin  to  see  the  radical  vices  of  Pro- 
testantism, would  find  here  a  rich  subject  for  meditation,  if  they  would  examine 
how  far  the  pretended  reformers  of  the  16th  century  have  contributed,  in  pre- 
paring the  critical  situation  in  which  England  finds  herself,  in  spite  of  her  im- 
mense progress. 

In  the  physical  world  all  is  disposed  by  number,  weight,  and  measure ;  the 
laws  of  the  universe  show  infinite  calculation — infinite  geometry  -f  but  let  us 
not  imagine  that  we  can  express  all  by  our  imperfect  signs,  and  include  every 
thing  in  our  limited  combinations ;  let  us,  above  all,  avoid  the  foolish  error  of 
assimilating  too  much  the  moral  and  the  physical  world — of  applying  indiscrimi- 
nately to  the  first  what  only  belongs  to  the  second,  and  of  upsetting  by  our  pride 
the  mysterious  harmony  of  the  creation.  Man  is  not  born  simply  for  multipli- 
cation of  his  species;  this  is  not  the  only  part  which  he  is  intended  to  perform 
in  the  great  machine  of  the  universe ;  he  is  a  being  according  to  the  image  and 
likeness  of  Grod — a  being  who  has  his  proper  destiny — a  destiny  superior  to  all 
that  surrounds  him  on  earth.  Do  not  debase  him,  do  not  level  him  with  the 
earth,  by  inspiring  him  with  earthly  thoughts  alone ;  do  not  oppress  his  heart, 
by  depriving  him  of  noble  and  elevated  sentiments — by  leaving  him  no  taste 
for  any  but  material  enjoyments.  If  religious  thoughts  lead  him  to  an  austere 
life — if  the  inclination  to  sacrifice  the  pleasures  of  this  life  on  the  altar  of  the 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  149 

God  whom  he  adores  takes  possession  of  his  heart — why  should  you  hinder 
him  ?  What  right  have  you  to  despise  a  feeling  which  certainly  requires  greater 
strength  of  mind  than  is  necessary  for  abandoning  one's  self  to  pleasure  ? 

These  considerations,  which  affect  both  sexes,  have  still  greater  force  when 
they  are  applied  to  the  female.  With  her  lively  imagination,  her  feeling  heart, 
and  ardent  mind,  she  has  greater  need  than  man  of  serious  inspiration,  of  grave, 
solemn  thoughts,  to  counterbalance  the  activity  with  which  she  flies  from  object 
to  object,  receiving  with  extreme  facility  impressions  of  every  thing  she  touches, 
and,  like  a  magnetic  agent,  communicating  them  in  her  turn  to  all  that  sur- 
rounds her.  Allow,  then,  a  portion  of  that  sex  to  devote  itself  to  a  life  of  con- 
templation and  austerity ;  allow  young  girls  and  matrons  to  have  always  before 
their  eyes  a  model  of  all  the  virtues — a  sublime  type  of  their  noblest  ornament, 
which  is  modesty.  This  will  certainly  not  be  without  utility.  Be  assured,  these 
virgins  are  not  taken  away  from  their  families,  nor  from  society — both  will 
recover  with  usury  what  you  imagine  they  have  lost. 

In  fact,  who  can  measure  the  salutary  influence  which  the  sacred  ceremonies 
with  which  the  Catholic  Church  celebrates  the  consecration  of  a  virgin  to  God, 
must  have  exercised  on  female  morals !  Who  can  calculate  the  holy  thoughts, 
the  chaste  inspirations  which  have  gone  forth  from  those  silent  abodes  of  modesty, 
erected  sometimes  in  solitary  places,  and  sometimes  in  crowded  cities !  Do  you 
not  believe  that  the  virgin  whose  heart  begins  to  be  agitated  by  an  ardent  pas- 
'sion,  that  the  matron  who  has  allowed  dangerous  feelings  to  enter  her  soul,  have 
not  often  found  their  passions  restrained  by  the  remembrance  of  a  sister,  a  rela- 
tive, a  friend,  who,  in  one  of  these  silent  abodes,  raises  her  pure  heart  to 
Heaven,  offering  as  a  holocaust  to  the  Divine  Son  of  the  blessed  Virgin  all  the 
enchantments  of  youth  and  beauty  ?  All  this  cannot  be  calculated,  it  is  true ; 
but  this,  at  least,  is  certain,  that  no  thought  of  levity,  no  inclination  to  sensu- 
ality has  arisen  therefrom.  All  this  cannot  be  estimated ;  but  can  we  estimate 
the  salutary  influence  exercised  by  the  morning  dew  upon  plants  ?  can  we  esti- 
mate the  vivifying  effect  of  light  upon  nature  ?  and  can  we  understand  how  the 
water  which  filters  through  the  bowels  of  the  earth  fertilizes  it  by  producing 
fruits  and  flowers  ? 

There  is,  then,  an  infinity  of  causes  of  which  we  cannot  deny  the  existence 
and  the  power,  but  which  it  is  nevertheless  impossible  to  submit  to  rigorous 
examination.  The  cause  of  the  impotence  of  every  work  exclusively  emanat- 
ing from  the  mind  of  man  is,  that  his  mind  is  incapable  of  embracing  the  ensem- 
ble of  the  relations  which  exist  in  facts  of  this  kind ;  it  is  impossible  for  him 
to  appreciate  properly  the  indirect  influences — sometimes  hidden,  sometimes 
imperceptible — which  act  there  with  an  infinite  delicacy.  This  is  the  reason  why 
time  dispels  so  many  illusions,  belies  so  many  prognostics,  proves  the  weakness 
of  what  was  reckoned  strong,  and  the  strength  of  what  was  considered  weak. 
Indeed,  time  brings  to  light  a  thousand  relations,  the  existence  of  which  was 
not  suspected,  and  puts  into  action  a  thousand  causes  which  were  either  unknown 
or  despised  :  the  results  advance  in  their  development,  appearing  every  day  in 
a  more  evident  manner,  until  at  length  we  find  ourselves  in  such  a  situation 
that  we  can  no  longer  shut  our  eyes  to  the  evidence  of  facts,  or  any  longer  evade 
their  force. 

One  of  the  greatest  mistakes  made  by  the  opponents  of  Catholicity  is  this. 
They  can  only  see  things  under  one  aspect ;  they  do  not  understand  how  a  force 
can  act  otherwise  than  in  a  straight  line ;  they  do  not  see  that  the  moral  world, 
as  well  as  the  physical,  is  composed  of  relations  infinitely  varied,  and  of  indi- 
rect influences,  sometimes  acting  with  more  force  than  if  they  were  direct.  All 
form  a  system  correlative  and  harmonious,  the  parts  of  which  it  is  necessary  to 
avoid  separating,  more  than  is  absolutely  needful  for  becoming  acquainted  with 
the  hidden  and  delicate  ties  which  connect  the  whole.  It  is  necessary,  more- 

N2 


150  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

over,  to  allow  for  the  action  of  time,  that  indispensable  element  in  all  complete 
development,  in  every  lasting  work. 

I  trust  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  this  short  digression,  necessary  for  the  incul- 
cation of  the  great  truths  which  have  not  been  sufficiently  attended  to  in  exa- 
mining the  great  institutions  founded  by  Catholicity.  Philosophy  is  now  com- 
pelled to  withdraw  propositions  advanced  too  boldly,  and  to  modify  principles 
applied  too  generally.  It  would  have  avoided  this  trouble  and  mortification  by 
being  cautious  and  circumspect  in  its  investigations.  In  league  with  Protest- 
antism, it  declared  deadly  war  against  the  great  Catholic  institutions ;  it  loudly 
appealed  against  moral  and  religious  centralization.  And  now  a  unanimous 
shout  is  raised  from  all  quarters  of  the  world  in  favour  of  the  principle  of  unity. 
The  instinct  of  nations  seeks  for  it;  philosophers  examine  the  secrets  of  science 
to  discover  it.  Vain  efforts  !  No  other  foundation  can  be  established  than 
that  which  is  already  laid ;  duration  depends  upon  solidity. 


CHAPTER  XXVIL 

OP    CHIVALRY  AND  BARBARIAN    MANNERS,    IN   THEIR    INFLUENCE    ON    THE 
CONDITION    OP   WOMEN. 

AN  indefatigable  zeal  for  the  sanctity  of  marriage,  and  an  anxious  solicitude' 
to  carry  the  principle  of  modesty  to  the  highest  degree  of  delicacy,  are  the  two 
rules  which  have  guided  Catholicity  in  her  efforts  for  the  elevation  of  woman. 
These  are  the  two  great  means  she  has  employed  in  attaining  her  object,  and 
hence  comes  the  influence  and  importance  of  women  in  Europe.  M.  Gruizot  is, 
therefore,  wrong  in  saying  that  "  it  is  to  the  development,  to  the  necessary  pre- 
ponderance of  domestic  manners  in  the  feudal  system,  that  this  change,  this 
improvement  in  their  condition  is  chiefly  owing."  I  will  not  discuss  the  greater 
or  less  influence  of  the  feudal  system  on  the  development  of  European  mari- 
ners. Undoubtedly  when  the  feudal  lord  "  shall  have  his  wife,  his  children, 
and  scarcely  any  others  in  his  house,  they  alone  will  form  his  permanent  so- 
ciety ;  they  alone  will  share  his  interests,  his  destiny.  It  is  impossible  for 
domestic  influence  not  to  acquire  great  power."  (Le$on  4.)  But  if  the  lord, 
returning  to  his  castle,  found  one  wife  there,  and  not  many,  to  what  was  that 
owing  ?  Who  forbade  him  to  abuse  his  power  by  turning  his  house  into  a 
harem  ?  Who  bridled  his  passions  and  prevented  his  making  victims  of  his 
timid  vassals  ?  Surely  these  were  the  doctrines  and  morals  introduced  into 
Europe,  and  deeply  rooted  there  by  the  Catholic  Church ;  it  was  the  strict  laws 
which  she  imposed  as  a  barrier  to  the  invasions  of  the  passions ;  therefore,  even 
if  we  suppose  that  feudality  did  produce  this  good,  it  is  still  owing  to  the 
Catholic  Church. 

That  which  has  no  doubt  tended  to  exaggerate  the  influence  of  feudality  in 
all  that  raises  and  ennobles  women,  is  a  fact  that  appears  very  evidently  at  that 
period,  and  is  dazzling  at  first  sight.  This  is  the  brilliant  spirit  of  chivalry, 
which,  rising  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  feudal  system,  and  rapidly  diffusing  itself, 
produced  the  most  heroic  actions,  gave  birth  to  a  literature  rich  in  imagination 
and  feeling,  and  contributed  in  great  measure  to  soften  and  humanize  the  savage 
manners  of  the  feudal  lords.  This  period  is  particularly  distinguished  for  the 
spirit  of  gallantry;  not  the  gallantry  which  consists  generally  in  the  tender 
relations  of  the  two  sexes,  but  a  greatly  exaggerated  gallantry  on  the  part  of 
man,  combining,  in  a  remarkable  way,  the  most  heroic  courage  with  the  most 
lively  faith  and  the  most  ardent  religion.  Grod  and  his  lady;  such  is  the  con- 
4tant  thought  of  the  knight ;  this  absorbs  all  his  faculties,  occupies  all  his  time, 
ind  fills  up  all  his  existence.  As  long  as  he  can  obtain  a  victory  over  the  infi- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  151 

dels,  and  is  supported  by  the  hope  of  offering  at  the  feet  of  his  lady  the  tro- 
phies of  his  triumph,  no  sacrifice  costs  him  any  thing,  no  journey  fatigues,  no 
danger  affrights,  no  enterprise  discourages  him.  His  excited  imagination  trans- 
ports him  into  a  world  of  fancy ;  his  heart  is  on  fire ;  he  undertakes  all,  he 
finishes  all;  and  the  man  who  has  just  fought  like  a  lion  on  the  plains  of  Spain, 
or  of  Palestine,  melts  like  wax  at  the  name  of  the  idol  of  his  heart ;  then  he 
turns  his  eyes  amorously  towards  his  country,  and  is  intoxicated  with  the  idea 
that  one  day,  sighing  under  the  castle  of  his  beloved,  he  may  obtain  a  pledge 
of  her  affection,  or  a  promise  of  love.  Woe  to  any  one  who  is  bold  enough  to 
dispute  his  treasure,  or  indiscreet  enough  to  fix  his  eyes  on  those  battlements. 
The  lioness  who  has  been  robbed  of  her  cubs  is  not  more  terrible,  the  forest  torn 
to  pieces  by  the  hurricane  is  not  more  agitated  than  his  heart ;  nothing  can 
stop  his  vengeance,  he  must  destroy  his  rival  or  die.  In  examining  this  mix- 
ture of  mildness  and  ferocity,  of  religion  and  passion,  which,  no  doubt,  has  been 
exaggerated  by  the  fancies  of  chroniclers  and  troubadours,  but  which  must  have 
had  a  real  type,  we  shall  observe  that  it  was  very  natural  at  that  time,  and  that 
it  is  not  so  contradictory  as  it  appears  at  first  sight.  Indeed,  nothing  was  more 
natural  than  violent  passions  among  men  whose  ancestors,  not  long  before,  had 
come  from  the  forests  of  the  north  to  pitch  their  bloody  tents  on  the  site  of 
ruined  cities ;  nothing  was  more  natural  than  that  there  should  be  no  other 
judge  than  strength  of  arm  among  men  whose  only  profession  was  war,  and 
who  lived  in  an  embryo  society,  where  there  was  no  public  law  strong  enough 
to  restrain  private  passions.  Nothing,  too,  was  more  natural  to  those  men  than 
a  lively  sense  of  religion,  for  religion  was  the  only  power  which  they  acknow- 
ledged ;  she  had  enchanted  their  imaginations  by  the  splendour  and  magnifi- 
cence of  her  temples,  by  the  majesty  and  pomp  of  her  worship.  She  had  filled 
them  with  astonishment,  by  placing  before  their  eyes  the  most  sublime  virtue, 
by  addressing  them  in  language  as  lofty  as  it  was  sweet  and  insinuating ;  lan- 
guage, no  doubt,  imperfectly  understood  by  them,  but  which,  nevertheless,  con- 
vinced them  of  the  holiness  and  divinity  of  the  Christian  mysteries  and  pre- 
cepts, inspired  them  with  respect  and  admiration,  and  also  exercising  a  powerful 
influence  on  their  minds,  enkindled  enthusiasm  and  produced  heroism.  Thus 
we  see  that  all  that  was  good  in  this  exalted  sentiment  emanated  from  religion ; 
if  we  take  away  faith,  we  shall  find  nothing  but  the  barbarian,  who  knew  no 
other  law  than  his  spear,  arid  no  other  rule  of  conduct  than  the  inspirations  of 
his  fiery  soul. 

The  more  we  penetrate  into  the  spirit  of  chivalry  and  examine  in  particular 
the  feelings  which  it  professed  towards  women,  the  more  we  shall  see  that, 
instead  of  raising  them,  it  supposes  them  already  raised  and  surrounded  by 
respect.  Chivalry  does  not  give  a  new  place  to  women ;  it  finds  them  already 
honoured  and  respected ;  and  indeed,  if  it  were  not  so,  how  could  it  imagine  a 
gallantry  so  exaggerated,  so  fantastical  ?  But  if  we  imagine  to  ourselves  the  beauty 
of  a  virgin  covered  by  the  veil  of  Christian  modesty;  if  we  imagine  this  charm  in- 
creased by  illusion,  we  shall  then  understand  the  madness  of  the  knight.  If  we 
imagine,  at  the  same  time,  the  virtuous  matron,  the  companion  of  man,  the  mother 
of  a  family,  the  only  woman  in  whom  were  concentrated  all  the  affections  of  hus- 
band and  children,  the  Christian  wife,  we  shall  understand  why  the  knight  was 
intoxicated  at  the  mere  idea  of  obtaining  so  much  happiness,  why  his  love  was 
more  than  a  sensual  feeling,  it  was  a  respect,  a  veneration,  a  worship. 

It  has  been  attempted  to  find  the  origin  of  this  kind  of  worship  in  the  man- 
ners of  the  Germans ;  on  the  strength  of  some  expressions  of  Tacitus,  the 
social  amelioration  of  woman's  lot  has  been  attributed  to  the  respect  with  which 
the  barbarians  surrounded  her.  M.  Guizot  rejects  this  assertion,  and  justly 
combats  it  by  observing  that  what  Tacitus  tells  us  of  the  Germans  was  not  ex- 
clusively applicable  to  them,  since  "  phrases  similar  to  those  of  Tacitus,  and 


152  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

sentiments  and  customs  analogous  to  those  of  the  ancient  Germans,  are  met 
with  in  the  statements  of  many  observers  of  savage  or  barbarous  nations." 
Yet  in  spite  of  this  wise  remark,  the  same  opinion  has  been  maintained :  it  is 
necessary,  then,  to  combat  it  again. 

The  passage  of  Tacitus  is  this  :  "  Inesse  quin  etiam  sanctum  aliquid  et  provi- 
dum  putant,  nee  aut  consilia  eorum  aspernantur,  aut  responsa  negligunt.  Vidi- 
mus sub  Divo  Vespasiano  Velledam  diu  apud  plerosque  numinis  loco  habitare." 
(De  Mor.  Germ.]  "  They  go  so  far  as  to  think  that  there  is  in  women  some- 
thing holy  and  prophetical ;  they  do  not  despise  their  counsels,  and  they 
listen  to  their  predictions.  In  the  time  of  the  divine  Vespasian,  we  have  seen 
the  greater  part  of  them  for  a  long  time  regard  Velleda  as  a  goddess/'  It  seems 
to  me  that  it  is  mistaking  the  passage  of  Tacitus,  to  extend  its  meaning  to  do- 
mestic manners,  and  to  see  in  it  a  trait  of  married  life.  If  we  attend  to  the 
historian's  words,  we  shall  see  that  such  an  explanation  is  far  from  his  idea. 
His  words  only  relate  to  the  superstition  which  made  the  people  attribute  to 
some  women  the  prophetic  character.  Even  the  example  chosen  by  Tacitus 
serves  to  show  the  truth  and  justness  of  this  observation.  "  Velleda,"  he  says, 
"  was  regarded  as  a  goddess."  In  another  part  of  his  works,  Tacitus  explains 
his  idea  by  telling  us,  of  this  same  Velleda,  "  that  this  girl  of  the  nation  of 
Bructeres  enjoyed  great  power,  owing  to  an  ancient  custom  among  the  Ger- 
mans, which  made  them  look  upon  many  women  as  prophetesses,  and,  in  fine, 
with  the  progress  of  superstition,  as  real  divinities."  "  Ea  virgo  nationis  Bruc- 
terse  late  imperitabat,  vetere  apud  Germanos  more  quo  plerasque  foeminarum 
fatidicas  et  augescente  superstitione  arbitrantur  deas."  (Ilist.  4.)  The  text 
which  I  have  just  quoted  proves  to  demonstration  that  Tacitus  speaks  of  super- 
stition and  not  of  family  regulations,  very  different  things;  as  it  might  easily 
happen  that  some  women  were  regarded  as  divinities,  while  the  rest  of  their  sex 
only  occupied  a  place  in  society  inferior  to  that  which  belonged  to  them.  At 
Athens,  great  importance  was  given  to  the  priestesses  of  Ceres ;  at  Rome  to  the 
Vestals,  the  Pythonesses ;  and  the  history  of  the  Sibyls  shows  that  it  was  not 
peculiar  to  the  Germans  to  attribute  the  prophetical  character  to  women.  It  is 
not  for  me  now  to  explain  the  cause  of  these  facts  \  it  is  enough  for  my  pur- 
pose to  state  them  j  perhaps,  on  this  point,  physiology  might  throw  light  on  the 
philosophy  of  history. 

When  Tacitus,  in  the  same  work,  describes  the  severity  of  the  manners  of  the 
Germans  with  respect  to  marriage,  it  is  easy  to  observe  that  the  order  of  super- 
stition and  the  order  of  the  family  were  among  them  very  different.  We  have 
no  longer  here  any  thing  of  the  sanctum  et  providum ;  we  find  only  a  jealous 
austerity  in  maintaining  the  line  of  duty ;  and  we  see  woman,  instead  of  being 
regarded  as  a  goddess,  given  up  to  the  vengeance  of  the  husband,  if  she  has 
been  unfaithful.  This  curious  passage  proves  that  the  power  of  man  over 
woman  was  not  much  limited  by  the  customs  of  the  Germans.  "  Accisis  crini- 
bus,"  says  Tacitus,  "  nudatam  coram  propinquis  expellit  domo  maritus,  ac  per 
omnem  vicum  verbere  agit."  "  After  having  cut  off  her  hair,  the  husband 
drives  her  from  his  house  in  presence  of  her  relations,  and  beats  her  with  rods 
ignominiously  through  the  village."  Certainly  this  punishment  gives  us  an 
idea  of  the  infamy  which  was  attached  to  adultery  among  the  Germans ;  but  it 
was  little  calculated  to  increase  the  respect  entertained  for  them  publicly ;  this 
would  have  been  greater  had  they  been  stoned  to  death. 

When  we  read  in  Tacitus  the  description  of  the  social  state  of  the  Germans, 
we  must  not  forget  that  some  traits  of  their  manners  are  purposely  embellished 
by  him,  which  is  very  natural  for  a  writer  of  his  sentiments.  We  must  not 
forget  that  Tacitus  was  indignant  and  afflicted  at  the  sight  of  the  fearful  cor- 
ruption of  manners  at  that  time  in  Rome.  He  paints,  it  is  true,  in  glowing 
colours,  the  sanctity  of  marriage  among  the  Germans  j  but  who  does  not  see 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY.  153 

that,  when  doing  so,  he  had  before  his  eyes  matrons  who,  according  to  Seneca, 
reckoned  their  years  not  by  the  succession  of  consuls,  but  by  change  of  hus- 
bands, and  women  without  a  shadow  of  modesty,  given  up  to  the  greatest  pro- 
fligacy ?  We  can  easily  see  to  whom  he  alludes  when  he  makes  these  severe 
remarks :  "  Nemo  enim  illic  vitia  ridet,  nee  corrumpere  et  corrumpi  sseculum 
vocatur."  "  There  vice  is  not  laughed  at,  and  corruption  is  not  called  the 
fashion."  A  strong  expression,  which  describes  the  age,  and  explains  to  us  the 
secret  joy  with  which  Tacitus  cast  in  the  face  of  Rome,  so  refined  and  so  cor- 
rupted, the  pure  image  of  German  manners.  That  which  sharpened  the  rail- 
lery of  Juvenal  and  evenomed  his  bitter  satires,  excited  the  indignation  of  '.Ta- 
citus, and  drew  from  his  grave  philosophy  these  severe  reprimands.  Other  in- 
formation which  we  possess  shows  us  that  the  pictures  of  Tacitus  are  embellished, 
and  that  the  manners  of  this  people  were  far  from  being  as  pure  as  he  wishes 
to  persuade  us.  Perhaps  they  may  have  been  strict  with  respect  to  marriage ; 
but  it  is  certain  that  polygamy  was  not  unknown  among  them.  Caesar,  an  eye- 
witness, relates,  that  the  German  king  Ariovistus  had  two  wives  (de  Bello  Gal- 
lico,  1.  i.);  and  this  was  not  a  solitary  instance,  for  Tacitus  himself  tells  us  that 
a  few  of  them  had  several  wives  at  once,  not  on  account  of  sensuality,  but  for 
distinction.  "  Exceptis  admodum  paucis,  qui  non  libidine,  sed  ob  nobilitatem, 
pluribus  nuptiis  ambiuntur."  This  distinction,  non  libidine  sed  ob  nobilitatem) 
is  amusing ;  but  it  is  clear  that  the  kings  and  nobles,  under  one  pretence  or 
another,  allowed  themselves  greater  liberty  than  the  severe  historian  would 
have  approved  of. 

Who  can  tell  what  was  the  state  of  morality  among  those  forests  ?  If  we 
may  be  allowed  to  conjecture  by  analogy,  from  the  resemblance  which  may 
naturally  be  supposed  to  exist  among  the  different  nations  of  the  North,  what 
an  idea  might  we  conceive  of  it  from  certain  customs  of  the  Britons,  who,  in 
bodies  of  ten  or  twelve,  had  their  wives  in  common;  chiefly  brothers  with 
brothers,  and  fathers  with  sons ;  so  that  they  were  compelled  to  distinguish  the 
families  conventionally,  by  giving  the  children  to  him  who  had  first  married 
the  woman  !  It  is  from  Caesar,  an  eye-witness,  that  we  also  learn  this  :  "  Uxores 
habent  (Britanni)  deni  duodenique  inter  se  communes,  et  maxime  fratres  cum 
fratribus  et  parentes  cum  liberis ;  sed  si  qui  sunt  ex  his  nati,  eorum  habentur 
liberi  a  quibus  primum  virgines  quseque  ductae  sunt."  (De  Bello  Gallico,  1.  v.) 

However  this  may  have  been,  it  is  at  least  certain  that  the  principle  of  mono- 
gamy was  not  so  much  respected  among  the  Germans  as  people  have  been  will- 
ing to  suppose ;  an  exception  was  made  in  favour  of  the  nobles,  that  is,  of  the 
powerful  ]  and  that  was  enough  to  deprive  the  principle  of  all  its  force,  and  to 
prepare  its  ruin.  In  such  a  matter,  to  establish  an  exception  to  the  law  in 
favour  of  the  powerful,  is  almost  to  abrogate  it.  It  may  be  said,  I  admit,  that 
the  powerful  will  never  want  means  of  violating  it ;  but  it  is  one  thing  for 
the  powerful  to  violate  the  law,  and  another  for  the  law  itself  to  retire  before 
them,  leaving  the  way  open :  in  the  first  case,  the  employment  of  force  does 
not  destroy  the  law — the  very  shock  which  breaks  it,  makes  its  existence  felt, 
and  visibly  shows  the  wrong  and  injustice ;  in  the  second  case,  the  law  prosti- 
tutes itself,  if  I  may  so  speak ;  the  passions  have  no  need  of  force  to  open  for 
themselves  a  passage,  the  law  itself  opens  the  door  for  them.  From  that  time 
it  remains  degraded  and  disgraced ;  its  own  baseness  has  undermined  the  moral 
principle  on  which  it  was  founded ;  and,  owing  to  its  own  fault,  it  becomes  itself 
the  subject  of  animadversion  to  those  who  are  still  compelled  to  observe  it. 
Thus  the  right  of  polygamy,  once  recognised  among  the  Germans  in  favour  of 
the  great,  must,  with  time,  have  become  general  among  the  other  classes  of  the 
people ;  and  it  is  very  probable  that  this  was  the  case  when  the  conquest  of 
more  productive  countries,  the  enjoyment  of  more  genial  climates,  and  some 
improvement  in  their  social  condition  furnished  them  more  abundantly  with 
20 


154  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

the  means  of  gratifying  their  inclinations.  An  evil  so  great  could  only  be  with- 
stood by  the  inflexible  severity  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Nobles  and  kings  still 
had  a  strong  inclination  towards  the  privileges  which  we  have  seen  their  prede- 
cessors enjoying  before  they  embraced  the  Christian  religion.  Thence  it  came 
that,  in  the  first  centuries  after  the  irruption  of  the  barbarians,  the  Church  had 
so  much  trouble  in  restraining  their  violent  inclinations.  Would  not  those  who 
have  endeavored  to  find  among  the  Germans  so  large  a  portion  of  the  constitu- 
tive elements  of  modern  civilization  have  shown  more  wisdom,  if  they  had 
recognised,  in  the  manners  which  we  have  been  examining,  one  of  the  causes 
which  made  the  struggles  between  the  secular  princes  and  the  Church  so  frequent  ? 
I  do  not  see  why  we  should  seek  in  the  forests  of  the  barbarians  for  the  origin 
of  one  of  the  finest  attributes  of  our  civilization,  or  why  we  should  give  to  those 
nations  virtues  of  which  they  showed  so  little  evidence  when  they  invaded  the 
countries  of  the  south. 

Without  monuments,  without  history — almost  without  any  index  as  to  their 
social  condition — it  is  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  to  know  any  thing  certain 
with  respect  to  their  manners ;  but  I  ask,  what  must  have  been  their  morality, 
in  the  midst  of  such  ignorance,  such  superstition,  and  such  barbarism  ? 

The  little  that  we  know  about  these  nations  has  been  necessarily  taken  from 
the  Roman  historians ;  and  unfortunately  this  is  not  one  of  the  purest  sources. 
It  almost  always  happens  that  observers,  especially  when  they  are  conquerors, 
only  give  some  slight  notions  with  regard  to  the  political  state  of  a  people,  and 
are  almost  silent  as  to  their  social  and  domestic  condition.  In  order  to  form  an 
idea  of  this  part  of  the  condition  of  a  nation,  it  is  necessary  to  mingle  with 
them,  and  be  intimate  with  them ;  now  this  is  generally  prevented  by  their  dif- 
ferent states  of  civilization,  especially  when  the  observers  and  the  observed  are 
exasperated  against  each  other  by  long  years  of  war  and  slaughter.  Add  to 
this,  that,  in  such  cases,  the  attention  is  particularly  attracted  by  what  favors 
or  opposes  the  designs  of  the  conquerors,  who  for  the  most  part  attach  no  great 
importance  to  moral  subjects ;  this  will  show  us  how  it  is  that  nations  who  are 
observed  in  this  way  are  only  superficially  known,  and  why  such  statements 
with  respect  to  religion  and  manners  are  unworthy  of  much  confidence. 

The  reader  will  judge  whether  these  reflections  are  out  of  place  in  estimating 
the  value  of  what  the  Romans  have  told  us  about  the  state  of  the  barbarians. 
It  is  enough  to  fix  our  eyes  on  the  scenes  of  blood  and  horror  prevailing  for 
centuries,  which  show  us,  on  the  one  hand,  the  ambition  of  Rome,  which,  not 
content  with  the  empire  of  the  then  known  world,  wished  to  extend  its  power 
over  the  most  distant  forests  of  the  North ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  indomitable 
spirit  of  barbarian  independence,  breaking  in  pieces  the  chains  which  were 
attempted  to  be  imposed  upon  them,  and  destroying,  by  their  bold  incursions, 
the  ramparts  which  the  skill  of  the  Roman  generals  labored  to  raise  against 
them.  See,  then,  what  we  ought  to  think  of  barbarian  society,  as  described  by 
Roman  historians.  What  shall  we  think,  if  we  consult  the  few  traits  which  the 
barbarians  themselves  have  left  us,  of  their  manners  and  maxims  with  respect 
to  their  social  condition  ?  It  is  always  risking  much  to  seek  in  barbarism  for 
the  origin  of  one  of  the  most  beautiful  results  of  civilization,  and  to  attribute 
to  vague  and  superstitious  feelings  what,  during  centuries,  forms  the  normal 
state  of  the  most  advanced  nations.  If  these  noble  sentiments,  which  are 
represented  to  us  as  emanating  from  the  barbarians,  really  existed  among  them, 
how  did  they  avoid  perishing  in  the  midst  of  their  migrations  and  revolutions  ? 
How  did  they  alone  remain,  when  every  thing  relating  to  the  social  condition 
of  the  barbarians  disappeared  ? 

These  sentiments  would  not  have  been  preserved  in  a  stationary  state,  but 
we  should  have  seen  them  stripped  of  their  superstition  and  grossness,  purified, 
ennobled,  and  made  reasonable,  just,  salutary,  chivalrous,  and  worthy  of  civi- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  155 

lized  nations.  Such  assertions  have,  from  the  first  sight,  the  character  of  bold 
paradoxes.  Certainly,  when  we  have  to  explain  great  phenomena  in  the  social 
order,  it  is  rather  more  philosophical  to  seek  for  their  origin  in  ideas  which  for 
a  long  time  have  exercised  a  powerful  influence  on  society,  in  manners  and  insti- 
tutions emanating  from  them,  in  laws,  in  fine,  which  have  been  recognised  and 
respected  for  many  centuries  as  established  by  Divine  power. 

Why,  then,  attempt  to  explain  the  respect  in  which  women  are  held  in  Eu- 
rope, by  the  superstitious  veneration  which  barbarous  nations  offered  in  their 
forests  to  Velleda,  Aurinia,  and  Gauna?  Reason  and  good  sense  tell  us  that 
the  real  origin  of  this  wonderful  phenomenon  is  not  to  be  found  there,  and  that 
we  must  seek  elsewhere  for  the  causes  which  have  contributed  to  produce  it. 
History  reveals  to  us  these  causes,  and  renders  them  palpable  to  us,  by  showing 
us  facts  which  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  source  whence  this  powerful  and  salutary 
influence  emanated.  Before  Christianity,  woman,  oppressed  by  the  tyranny  of 
man,  was  scarcely  raised  above  the  rank  of  slavery;  her  weakness  condemned 
her  to  be  the  victim  of  the  strong.  The  Christian  religion,  by  its  doctrines  of 
fraternity  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  equality  before  God,  destroys  the  evil  in  its  root, 
by  teaching  man  that  woman  ought  not  to  be  his  slave,  but  his  companion. 
From  that  moment  the  amelioration  of  woman's  lot  was  felt  wherever  Chris- 
tianity was  spread ;  and  woman,  as  far  as  the  degradation  of  ancient  manners 
allowed,  began  to  gather  the  fruit  of  a  doctrine  which  was  to  make  a  complete 
change  in  her  condition,  by  giving  her  a  new  existence.  This  is  one  of  the 
principal  causes  of  the  amelioration  of  woman's  lot :  a  sensible,  palpable  cause, 
which  is  easily  shown  without  making  any  gratuitous  supposition,  a  cause 
which  is  not  founded  on  conjecture,  but  which  appears  evident  on  the  first 
glance  at  the  most  notorious  facts  of  history. 

Moreover,  Catholicity,  by  the  severity  of  its  morality,  by  the  lofty  protection 
which  it  affords  to  the  delicate  feeling  of  modesty,  corrected  and  purified  man- 
ners ;  thus  it  very  much  elevated  woman,  whose  dignity  is  incompatible  with 
corruption  and  licentiousness.  In  fine,  Catholicity  itself,  or  the  Catholic  Church, 
(and  observe,  I  do  not  say  Christianity,)  by  its  firmness  in  establishing  and  pre- 
serving monogamy  and  the  indissolubility  of  the  marriage  tie,  restrained  the 
caprices  of  man,  and  made  him  concentrate  his  affections  on  one  wife,  who  could 
not  be  divorced.  Thus  woman  passed  from  a  state  of  slavery  to  that  of  the 
companion  of  man.  The  instrument  of  pleasure  was  changed  into  the  mother 
of  a  family,  respected  by  her  children  and  servants.  Thus  was  created  in  the 
family  identity  of  interests;  thus  was  guarantied  the  education  of  children, 
which  produced  the  close  intimacy  which  among  us  unites  husband  and  wife, 
parents  and  children.  The  atrocious  right  of  life  and  death  was  destroyed;  the 
father  had  not  even  the  right  to  inflict  punishments  too  severe ;  and  all  this 
admirable  system  was  strengthened  by  ties  strong  but  mild,  was  based  on  the 
principles  of  sound  morality,  sustained  by  prevailing  manners,  guarantied  and 
protected  by  the  laws,  fortified  by  reciprocal  interests,  sanctioned  by  time,  and 
endeared  by  love.  This  is  the  truly  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  enigma; 
this  is  the  origin  of  the  honor  and  dignity  of  woman  in  Europe ;  thence  we 
have  derived  the  organization  of  the  family, — an  inestimable  benefit  which 
Europeans  possess  without  appreciating  it,  without  being  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  it,  and  watching  over  its  preservation  as  they  ought. 

In  treating  of  this  important  matter,  I  have  purposely  distinguished  between 
Christianity  and  Catholicity,  in  order  to  avoid  a  confusion  in  words,  which 
would  have  entailed  a  confusion  in  things.  In  reality,  the  true,  the  only  Chris- 
tianity is" Catholicity;  but,  unfortunately,  we  cannot  now  employ  these  words 
indiscriminately,  not  only  on  account  of  Protestantism,  but  also  on  account  of 
the  monstrous  philosophico-Christian  nomenclature  which  ranks  Christianity 
among  philosophical  sects,  as  if  it  were  nothing  more  than  a  system  imagined 


156  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

by  man.  As  the  principle  of  charity  plays  a  great  part  wherever  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  found,  and  as  this  principle  is  evident  even  to  the  eyes  of  the 
incredulous,  philosophers  who  have  wished  to  persevere  in  their  incredulity 
without  incurring  the  scandalous  epithet  of  disciples  of  Voltaire,  have  adopted 
the  words  fraternity  and  humanity,  to  make  them  the  theme  of  their  instruc- 
tions ;  they  have  consented  to  give  to  Christianity  the  chief  glory  of  originat- 
ing its  sublime  ideas  and  generous  sentiments  :  thus  they  appear  not  to  contra- 
dict the  history  of  the  past  as  the  philosophy  of  the  age  gone  by  in  its  madness 
did ;  but  they  pretend  to  accommodate  all  to  the  present  time,  and  prepare  the 
way  for  a  greater  and  happier  future.  For  these  philosophers  Christianity  is 
not  a  divine  religion  ;  by  no  means.  With  them  it  is  an  idea,  fortunate,  mag- 
nificent, and  fruitful  in  grand  results,  but  purely  human ;  it  is  the  result  of  long 
and  painful  human  labors.  Polytheism,  Judaism,  the  philosophy  of  the  East, 
of  Egypt,  of  Greece,  were  all  preparatory  to  that  great  work.  Jesus  Christ, 
according  to  them,  only  moulded  into  form  an  idea  which  was  in  embryo  in  the 
bosom  of  humanity.  He  fixed  and  developed  it,  and,  by  reducing  it  to  practice, 
made  the  human  race  to  take  a  step  of  great  importance  in  the  path  of  progress 
into  which  it  has  entered.  But,  He  is  always,  in  the  eyes  of  these  philosophers, 
nothing  more  than  a  philosopher  of  Judea,  as  Socrates  was  of  Greece,  and 
Seneca  of  Rome.  Still  we  should  rejoice  that  they  grant  to  Him  this  human 
existence,  and  do  not  transform  Him  into  a  mythological  being,  by  considering 
the  Gospel  narrative  as  a  mere  allegory. 

Thus,  at  the  present  time,  it  is  of  the  first  importance  to  distinguish  between 
Christianity  and  Catholicity,  whenever  we  have  to  bring  to  light  and  present  to 
the  gratitude  of  mankind  the  unspeakable  benefits  for  which  they  are  indebted 
to  the  Christian  religion.  It  is  necessary  to  show  that  what  has  regenerated  the 
world  was  not  an  idea  thrown  at  hazard  among  all  those  who  have  struggled  for 
preference  and  pre-eminence ;  but  that  it  was  a  collection  of  truths  sent  from 
Heaven,  transmitted  to  the  human  race  by  a  God  made  Man,  by  means  of  a 
society  formed  and  authorized  by  Himself,  in  order  to  perpetuate  to  the  end  of 
time  the  work  which  His  word  had  established,  which  His  miracles  had  sanc- 
tioned, and  which  He  had  sealed  with  His  blood.  It  is  consequently  necessary 
to  exhibit  this  society,  that  is,  the  Catholic  Church,  realizing  in  her  laws  and 
institutions  the  inspirations  and  instructions  of  her  Divine  Master,  and  accom- 
plishing the  lofty  mission  of  leading  men  towards  eternal  happiness,  while  ame- 
liorating their  condition  here  below,  and  consoling  them  in  this  land  of  misfor- 
tune. In  this  way  we  form  a  correct  idea  of  Christianity,  if  we  may  so  speak, 
or  rather  we  show  it  as  it  really  is,  not  as  men  vainly  represent  it.  And  observe, 
that  we  ought  never  to  fear  for  the  truth,  when  the  facts  of  history  are  fully 
and  searchingly  examined.  If  in  the  vast  field  into  which  our  investigations 
lead  us,  we  sometimes  find  ourselves  in  obscurity,  walking  for  a  long  time  in 
dark  vaults  which  the  rays  of  the  sun  do  not  visit,  and  where  the  soil  under 
our  feet  threatens  to  swallow  us  up,  let  us  fear  nothing,  let  us  advance  with 
courage  and  confidence ;  amid  the  darkest  windings  we  shall  discover  at  a  dis- 
tance the  light  that  shines  upon  the  end  of  our  journey;  we  shall  see  truth 
seated  on  the  threshold,  placidly  smiling  at  our  terrors  and  anxieties. 

To  philosophers,  as  well  as  to  Protestants,  we  would  say,  if  Christianity 
were  not  realized  in  a  visible  society,  always  in  contact  with  man,  and  provided 
with  the  authority  necessary  for  teaching  and  guiding  him,  it  would  be  only  a 
theory,  like  all  others  that  have  been  and  still  are  seen  on  the  earth;  conse- 
quently it  would  be  either  altogether  sterile,  or  at  least  unable  to  produce  any 
of  those  great  works  which  endure  unimpaired  for  ages.  Now  one  of  these  is 
undoubtedly  Christian  marriage,  and  the  family  organization  which  has  been  its 
immediate  consequence.  It  would  have  been  vain  to  advance  notions  favorable 
to  the  dignity  of  woman  and  tending  to  improve  her  lot,  if  the  sanctity  of  mar- 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY.  157 

riage  had  not  been  guarantied  by  a  power  generally  acknowledged  and  revered. 
That  power  is  continually  struggling  against  the  passions  which  labor  to  over- 
come it;  what  would  have  happened  if  they  had  had  to  contend  with  no  other 
obstacle  than  a  philosophic  theory,  or  a  religious  idea  without  reality  in  society, 
and  without  power  to  obtain  submission  and  obedience  ? 

We  have,  then,  no  need  of  recurring  to  that  extravagant  philosophy  which 
seeks  for  light  in  the  midst  of  darkness,  and  which,  on  seeing  order  arise  out  of 
chaos,  has  conceived  the  singular  notion  of  affirming  that  it  was  produced  by  it. 
If  we  find  in  the  doctrines,  in  the  laws  of  the  Catholic  Church  the  origin  of  the 
sanctity  of  marriage  and  the  dignity  of  woman,  why  should  we  seek  for  it  in 
the  manners  of  brutal  barbarians,  who  had  no  veil  for  modesty  and  the  privacy 
of  the  nuptial  couch?  Let  us  hear  Caesar  speaking  of  the  Germans:  "Nulla 
est  occultatio,  quod  et  promiscui  in  fluminibus  perluuntur,  et  pellibus  aut 
rhenorum  tegumentis  utuntur,  magna  corporis  parte  nuda."  (De  Bello 
Gall  1.  vi.) 

I  have  been  obliged  to  oppose  authority  to  authority;  I  was  under  the  neces- 
sity of  destroying  the  fantastical  systems  into  which  men  have  been  seduced  by 
an  over  love  of  subtilty,  by  the  mania  of  finding  extraordinary  causes  for  phe- 
nomena, the  origin  of  which  may  easily  be  discovered  when  we  have  recourse, 
in  good  faith  and  sincerity,  to  the  concurring  instructions  of  philosophy  and 
history.  It  was  highly  necessary,  in  order  to  clear  up  one  of  the  most  delicate 
questions  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  and  to  find  the  source  of  one  of  the 
most  fruitful  elements  of  European  civilization.  My  task  was  nothing  less  than 
to  explain  the  organization  of  families,  that  is,  to  fix  one  of  the  poles  on  which 
the  axis  of  society  turns. 

Let  Protestantism  boast  of  having  introduced  divorce,  of  having  deprived 
marriage  of  the  beautiful  and  sublime  character  of  a  sacrament,  of  having  with- 
drawn from  the  care  and  protection  of  the  Church  the  most  important  act  of 
human  life;  let  it  rejoice  in  having  destroyed  the  sacred  asylums  of  virgins 
consecrated  to  God;  let  it  declaim  against  the  most  angelic  and  heroic  virtue; 
let  us,  after  having  defended  the  doctrine  and  conduct  of  the  Catholic  Church 
at  the  tribunal  of  philosophy  and  history,  conclude  by  appealing  to  the  judg- 
ment, not  indeed  of  high  philosophy,  but  of  good  sense  and  feeling.  (18) 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

OP   THE   PUBLIC   CONSCIENCE   IN   GENERAL. 

WHEN  enumerating,  in  the  twentieth  chapter,  the  characteristics  which  mark 
European  civilization,  I  pointed  out,  as  one  of  them,  "an  admirable  public 
conscience,  rich  in  sublime  maxims  of  morality,  in  rules  of  justice  and  equity, 
in  sentiments  of  honor  and  dignity,  a  conscience  which  survives  the  shipwreck 
of  private  morality,  and  does  not  allow  the  open  corruption  to  go  so  far  as  it 
did  in  ancient  times."  We  must  now  explain  more  at  length  in  what  this 
public  conscience  consists,  what  is  its  origin,  what  are  its  results,  showing  at 
the  same  time  what  share  Catholicity  and  Protestantism  have  had  in  its  forma- 
tion. This  delicate  and  important  question  is,  I  will  venture  to  say,  untouched; 
at  least  I  do  not  know  that  it  has  yet  been  attempted.  Men  constantly  speak 
of  the  excellence  of  Christian  morality,  and  on  this  point  all  the  sects,  all  the 
schools  of  Europe  are  agreed;  but  they  do  not  pay  sufficient  attention  to  the 
way  in  which  that  morality  has  become  predominant,  by  first  destroying  Pagan 
corruption,  then  by  maintaining  itself  for  centuries  in  spite  of  the  ravages  of 
infidelity,  so  as  to  form  an  admirable  public  conscience ;  a  benefit  which  we 
now  enjoy  without  appreciating  it  as  we  ought,  and  without  even  thinking  of  it. 

0 


158  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

In  order  fully  to  comprehend  this  matter,  it  is  above  all  necessary  to  form  a 
clear  idea  of  what  is  meant  by  conscience.  Conscience  in  the  general,  or  rather 
idealogical  sense  of  the  word,  means  the  knowledge  which  each  man  has  of  his 
own  acts.  Thus  we  say  that  the  soul  is  conscious  of  its  thoughts,  of  the  acts 
of  its  will,  and  of  its  sensations;  so  that  the  word  conscience,  taken  in  this 
sense,  expresses  a  perception  of  what  we  do  and  feel.  Applied  to  the  moral 
order,  this  word  signifies  the  judgment  which  we  ourselves  form  of  our  actions 
as  good  or  evil.  Thus,  when  we  are  about  to  perform  an  action,  conscience 
points  it  out  to  us  as  good  or  bad,  and  consequently  lawful  or  unlawful ;  and  it 
thus  directs  our  conduct.  The  action  being  performed,  it  tells  us  whether  we 
have  done  well  or  ill,  it  excuses  or  condemns  us,  it  rewards  us  with  peace  of 
mind,  or  punishes  us  with  remorse. 

This  explanation  being  given,  we  shall  easily  understand  what  is  meant  by 
public  conscience ;  it  is  nothing  but  the  judgment  formed  of  their  actions  by 
the  generality  of  men.  It  results  from  this  that,  like  private  conscience,  the 
public  conscience  may  be  right  or  wrong,  strict  or  relaxed ;  and  that  there  must 
be  differences  on  this  point  among  societies  of  men,  the  same  as  there  are 
among  individuals ;  that  is  to  say,  that,  as  in  the  same  society  we  find  men 
whose  consciences  are  more  or  less  right  or  wrong,  more  or  less  strict  or 
relaxed,  we  must  also  find  societies  superior  to  others  in  the  justice  of  the 
judgment  which  they  form  on  actions,  and  in  the  delicacy  of  their  moral  appre- 
ciation. 

If  we  observe  closely,  we  shall  see  that  individual  conscience  is  the  result  of 
widely  different  causes.  It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  conscience  resides  solely 
in  the  intelligence ;  it  is  also  rooted  in  the  heart.  It  is  a  judgment,  it  is  true ; 
but  we  judge  of  things  in  a  very  different  way  according  to  the  manner  in 
which  we  feel  them.  Add  to  this,  that  the  feelings  have  an  immense  influence 
on  moral  ideas  and  actions ;  the  result  is,  that  conscience  is  formed  under  the 
influence  of  all  the  causes  which  forcibly  act  on  our  hearts.  Communicate  to 
two  children  the  same  moral  principles,  by  teaching  them  from  the  same  book 
and  under  the  same  master ;  but  suppose  that  one  in  his  own  family  sees  what 
he  is  taught  constantly  practised,  while  the  other  sees  there  nothing  but 
indifference  to  it;  suppose,  moreover,  that  these  two  children  grow  up  with 
the  same  moral  and  religious  conviction,  so  that  as  far  as  the  intellect  is  con- 
cerned there  is  no  difference  between  them ;  nevertheless,  do  you  believe  that 
their  judgment  of  the  morality  of  actions  will  be  the  same  ?  By  no  means ; 
and  why  ?  Because  the  one  has  only  convictions,  while  the  other  has  also  feel- 
ings. In  thi*  one,  the  doctrine  enlightens  the  mind ;  while,  in  the  other, 
example  engraves  it  constantly  on  the  heart.  Thus  what  one  regards  with 
indifference,  the  other  looks  upon  with  horror;  what  the  one  does  with  negli- 
gence, the  other  performs  with  the  greatest  care ;  and  the  same  subject  that  to 
one  is  of  slight  interest,  is  to  the  other  of  the  highest  importance. 

Public  conscience,  which,  in  fact,  is  the  sum  of  private  consciences,  is  subject 
to  the  same  influences  as  they  are ;  so  that  mere  instruction  is  not  enough  for 
it,  and  it  requires  the  concurrence  of  other  causes  to  act  on  the  heart,  as  well  as 
the  mind.  When  we  compare  Christian  with  pagan  society,  we  instantly  see 
that  the  former  must  be  infinitely  superior  to  the  latter  on  this  point;  not  only 
on  account  of  the  purity  of  its  morality,  and  the  strength  of  the  principles  and 
motives  sanctioning  it,  but  also  because  it  follows  the  wise  course  of  continually 
inculcating  this  morality,  and  impressing  it  strongly  on  the  mind  by  constant 
repetition.  By  this  constant  repetition  of  the  same  truths,  Christianity  has 
done  what  other  religions  never  could  do ;  none  of  them,  indeed,  have  ever  suc- 
ceeded in  organizing  and  putting  into  practice  so  important  a  system.  But  I 
have  said  enough  on  this  point  in  the  fourteenth  chapter;  it  is  useless  to  repeat 
it  here;  I  pass  on  to  some  observations  on  the  public  conscience  in  Europe. 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  ,159 

It  cannot  be  denied  that,  generally  speaking,  reason  and  justice  prevail  in  that 
public  conscience.  If  you  examine  laws  and  actions,  you  will  not  find  those 
shocking  acts  of  injustice  or  those  revolting  immoralities  which  are  to  be  met 
with  among  other  nations.  There  are  certainly  evils,  and  very  grave  ones,  but 
they  are  at  least  acknowledged,  and  called  by  their  right  names.  We  do  not 
hear  good  called  evil,  or  evil  good ;  that  is  to  say,  society,  in  certain  things,  is 
like  those  persons  of  good  principles  and  bad  morals  who  are  the  first  to  acknow- 
ledge that  their  conduct  is  blamable,  and  that  their  words  and  deeds  contradict 
each  other.  We  often  lament  the  corruption  of  morals,  the  profligacy  of  our 
large  towns;  but  what  is  all  the  corruption  and  profligacy  of  modern  society 
compared  with  the  debauchery  of  the  ancients  ?  It  certainly  cannot  be  denied 
that  there  is  a  fearful  extent  of  dissoluteness  in  some  of  the  capitals  of  Europe. 
The  records  of  the  police,  as  well  as  those  of  the  benevolent  establishments 
where  the  fruits  of  crime  are  received,  show  shocking  demoralization.  In  the 
highest  classes  dreadful  ravages  are  caused  by  conjugal  infidelity,  and  all  sorts 
of  dissipation  and  disorder ;  yet  these  excesses  are  very  far  from  reaching  the 
extent  which  they  did  among  the  best-governed  nations  of  antiquity,  the  Greeks 
and  Romans.  So  that  our  society,  which  we  so  bitterly  lament,  would  have  ap- 
peared to  them  a  model  of  modesty  and  decorum.  Need  we  call  to  mind  the 
infamous  vices  then  so  common  and  so  public,  and  which  have  scarcely  a  name 
among  us  now,  whether  it  be  because  they  are  so  rarely  committed,  or  because 
the  fear  of  public  conscience  forces  them  to  hide  themselves  in  the  dark  places, 
and,  so  to  speak,  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  ?  Need  we  recall  to  mind  the  infa- 
mies which  stain  the  writings  of  the  ancients  as  often  as  they  describe  the  man- 
ners of  their  times  ?  Names  illustrious  in  science  and  in  arms  have  passed  down 
to  posterity  with  stains  so  black  that  we  cannot  consent  to  describe  them.  Now, 
how  corrupt  must  have  been  the  state  of  the  other  classes,  when  such  degra- 
dation was  attributed  to  men  who,  by  their  elevated  positions  or  other  circum- 
stances, were  the  lights  of  society  ! 

You  talk  of  the  avarice  which  is  so  prevalent  now-a-days;  but  look  at  the 
usurers  of  antiquity  who  sucked  the  blood  of  the  people  everywhere ;  read  the 
satirical  poets,  and  you  will  see  what  was  the  state  of  manners  on  this  point ; 
consult,  in  fine,  the  annals  of  the  Church,  and  you  will  see  what  pains  she  took 
to  diminish  the  effects  of  this  vice;  read  the  history  of  ancient  Rome,  and  you 
will  find  the  cursed  thirst  for  gold,  and  lenders  without  mercy,  who,  after  having 
impudently  robbed,  carried  in  triumph  the  fruits  of  their  rapine  to  live  with 
scandalous  ostentation,  and  buy  votes  again  to  raise  them  to  command.  No,  in 
European  civilization,  among  nations  taught  and  elevated  by  Chi^tiamty,  such 
evils  would  not  be  long  tolerated.  If  we  suppose  administrative  disorder,  tyranny, 
and  corruption  of  morals  carried  as  far  as  you  please,  still  public  opinion  would 
raise  its  voice  and  frown  on  the  oppressors.  Partial  injustice  may  be  committed, 
but  rapine  will  never  be  formed  into  a  shameless  system,  or  be  regarded  as  the 
rule  of  government.  Rely  upon  it,  the  words  justice,  morality,  humanity,  which 
constantly  resound  in  our  midst,  are  not  vain  words ;  this  language  produces 
great  results;  it  destroys  immense  evils.  These  ideas  impregnate  the  atmo- 
sphere we  breathe  ;  they  frequently  restrain  the  arm  of  criminals,  and  resist  with 
incredible  force  materialistic  and  utilitarian  doctrines ;  they  continue  to  exert  an 
incalculable  influence  on  society.  We  have  among  us  a  feeling  of  morality 
which  mollifies  and  governs  all ;  which  is  so  powerful  that  vice  is  compelled  to 
assume  the  appearance  of  virtue,  and  cover  itself  with  many  veils,  in  order  to 
escape  becoming  the  subject  of  public  execration. 

Modern  society,  it  would  seem,  ought  to  have  inherited  the  corruption  of  the 
old,  since  it  was  formed  out  of  its  ruins,  at  a  time  when  its  morals  were  most 
dissolute.  We  must  observe,  that  the  irruption  of  the  barbarians,  far  from  im- 
proving society,  contributed,  on  the  contrary,  to  make  it  worse ;  and  this,  not 


160  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

only  on  account  of  the  corruption  belonging  to  their  fierce  and  brutal  manners, 
but  also  on  account  of  the  disorder  introduced  among  the  nations  they  invaded, 
by  violating  laws,  throwing  their  manners  and  customs  into  confusion,  and  de- 
stroying all  authority.  Whence  it  follows,  that  the  improvement  of  public 
opinion  among  modern  nations  is  a  very  singular  fact ;  and  that  this  progress 
can  only  be  attributed  to  the  influence  of  the  active  and  energetic  principle  which 
has  existed  in  the  bosom  of  Europe  for  so  many  centuries. 

Let  us  observe  the  conduct  of  the  Church  on  this  point — it  is  perhaps  one  of 
the  most  important  facts  in  the  history  of  the  middle  ages.  Imagine  an  age 
when  corruption  and  injustice  most  unblushingly  raised  their  heads,  and  you 
will  see  that,  however  impure  and  disgusting  the  fact  may  be,  the  law  is  always 
pure ;  that  is  to  say,  that  reason  and  justice  always  found  some  one  to  proclaim 
them,  even  when  they  appeared  to  be  listened  to  by  nobody.  The  state  of  igno- 
rance was  the  darkest,  licentious  passions  were  uncontrolled ;  but  the  instruc- 
tions and  admonitions  of  the  Church  were  never  wanting ;  it  is  thus  that,  amidst 
the  darkest  night,  the  lighthouse  shines  from  afar,  to  guide  the  mariners  in 
safety. 

When  in  reading  the  history  of  the  Church  we  see  on  all  sides  assembled 
councils  proclaiming  the  principles  of  the  gospel  morality,  while  at  every  step 
we  meet  with  the  most  scandalous  proceedings;  when  we  constantly  hear  incul- 
cated the  laws  which  are  so  often  trodden  under  foot,  it  is  natural  to  ask,  of 
what  use  was  all  this,  and  of  what  benefit  were  instructions  thus  unheeded  ? 
Let  us  not  believe  that  these  proclamations  were  useless,  nor  lose  courage  if  we 
have  to  wait  long  for  their  fruits. 

A  principle  which  is  proclaimed  for  a  long  time  in  society  will  in  the  end 
acquire  influence ;  if  it  is  true,  and  consequently  contains  an  element  of  life,  it 
will  prevail  in  the  end  over  all  that  opposes  it,  and  will  rule  over  all  around  it. 
Allow,  then,  the  truth  to  speak — allow  it  to  protest  continually ;  this  will  pre- 
vent the  prescription  of  vice.  Thus  vice  will  preserve  its  proper  name ;  and 
you  will  prevent  misguided  men  from  deifying  their  passions,  and  placing  them 
on  their  altars  after  having  adored  them  in  their  hearts.  Be  confident  that  this 
protest  will  not  be  useless.  Truth  in  the  end  will  be  victorious  and  triumphant; 
for  the  protests  of  truth  are  the  voice  of  God  condemning  the  usurpations  of  His 
creatures.  This  is  what  really  happened ;  Christian  morality,  first  contending 
with  the  corrupt  manners  of  the  empire,  and  afterwards  with  the  brutality  of 
the  barbarians,  had  for  centuries  rude  shocks  to  sustain  ;  but  at  last  it  triumphed 
over  all,  and  succeeded  in  governing  legislation  and  public  morals.  We  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  it  succeeded  in  raising  law  and  morals  to  the  degree  of  per- 
fection which  the  purity  of  the  gospel  morality  required,  but  at  least  it  did 
away  the  most  shocking  injustice;  it  banished  the  most  savage  customs;  it 
restrained  the  license  of  the  most  shameless  manners;  it  everywhere  gave  vice 
its  proper  name ;  it  painted  it  in  its  real  colors,  and  prevented  its  being  deified 
as  impudently  as  it  was  among  the  ancients.  In  modern  times,  it  has  had  to 
contend  against  the  school  which  proclaims  that  private  interest  is  the  only  prin- 
ciple of  morals ;  it  has  not  been  able,  it  is  true,  to  prevent  this  fatal  doctrine 
from  causing  great  evils,  but  at  least  it  has  sensibly  diminished  them.  Unhappy 
for  the  world  will  be  the  day  when  men  shall  say  without  disguise,  "  My  own 
advantage  is  my  virtue ;  my  honor  is  what  is  useful  to  myself  ;  all  is  good  or 
evil,  according  as  it  is  pleasing  or  displeasing  to  me."  Unhappy  for  the  world 
will  be  the  day  when  such  language  will  no  longer  be  repudiated  by  public  con- 
science. The  opportunity  now  presenting  itself,  and  wishing  to  explain  so  im- 
portant a  matter  as  fully  as  possible,  I  will  make  some  observations  on  an  opinion 
of  Montesquieu  respecting  the  censors  of  Greece  and  Rome.  This  digression 
will  not  be  foreign  to  the  purpose. 


161 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

OP   THE   PRINCIPLE  OF   PUBLIC   CONSCIENCE    ACCORDING   TO    MONTESQUIEU — 

HONOR — VIRTUE. 

MONTESQUIEU  has  said  that  republics  are  preserved  by  virtue,  and  monar- 
chies by  honor.  He  observes,  moreover,  that  honor  renders  the  censors,  who  were 
required  among  the  ancients,  unnecessary  among  us.  True  it  is,  that  in  mo- 
dern times  there  are  no  censors  charged  with  watching  over  the  public  morals ; 
but  the  cause  of  this  is  not  as  stated  by  this  famous  publicist.  Among  Chris- 
tian nations,  the  ministers  of  religion  are  the  natural  censors  of  public  morals. 
The  plenitude  of  this  office  belongs  to  the  Church,  with  this  difference,  that  the 
censorial  power  of  the  ancients  was  purely  civil,  while  that  of  the  Church  is  a 
religious  power,  which  has  its  origin  and  sanction  in  divine  authority.  The 
religion  of  Greece  and  Rome  neither  did,  nor  could,  exercise  this  censorial 
power  over  morals.  To  be  convinced  of  this,  it  is  enough  to  read  the  passage 
from  St.  Augustine,  quoted  in  the  fourteenth  chapter — a  passage  so  interesting 
on  this  matter,  that  I  will  venture  to  ask  the  reader  to  peruse  it  again.  This  is 
the  reason  why  we  find  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans  censors  who  are  not  seen 
among  Christian  nations.  These  censors  were  an  addition  to  the  Pagan  reli- 
gion, the  impotence  of  which  they  clearly  showed — a  religion  which  was  mis- 
tress of  society,  and  yet  could  not  fulfil  one  of  the  first  duties  of  all  religions — 
that  of  watching  over  the  public  morals.  What  I  assert  is  so  perfectly  true, 
that  in  proportion  as  the  influence  of  religion  and  the  ascendency  of  its  minis- 
ters have  been  lowered  among  modern  nations,  the  ancient  censors  have  reap- 
peared in  some  sort  in  the  institution  of  police.  When  moral  means  are  want- 
ing, it  is  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  physical  ones ;  violence  is  substituted 
for  persuasion,  and  instead  of  a  zealous  and  charitable  missionary,  delinquents 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  ministers  of  public  justice. 

Much  has  been  already  written  of  the  system  of  Montesquieu,  with  respect 
to  the  principles  on  which  the  different  forms  of  government  are  based ;  but 
perhaps  sufficient  attention  has  not  been  paid  to  the  phenomenon  which  has 
served  to  mislead  him.  As  this  question  is  intimately  connected  with  the  point 
which  I  have  just  touched  upon,  in  relation  to  the  existence  of  the  censorial 
authority,  I  shall  explain  myself  at  some  length.  In  the  time  of  Montesquieu,, 
the  Christian  religion  was  not  so  fully  understood  as  it  now  is  with  respect  to 
its  social  importance ;  and  although  on  this  point  the  author  of  the  Esprit  des 
Lois  has  done  homage  to  her,\  it  is  well  to  remember  what  were  his  antichris- 
tian  prejudices  during  his  youth,  and  also  that  this  work  is  still  far  from  ren- 
dering to  the  true  religion  what  is  due  to  her.  The  ideas  of  an  irreligious  phi- 
losophy which,  some  years  later,  misled  so  many  fine  intellects,  had  begun  at 
that  time  to  gain  the  ascendant,  and  Montesquieu  had  not  sufficient  strength  of 
mind  to  make  a  decided  opposition  to  the  prejudices  which  threatened  universal 
dominion.  To  this  cause  we  must  add  another,  which,  although  distinct  from 
the  last,  yet  had  the  same  origin,  viz.  a  prejudice  in  favor  of  all  that  was  old, 
and  a  blind  admiration  for  every  thing  Roman  or  Grecian.  It  seemed  to  the 
philosophers  of  that  time,  that  social  and  political  perfection  had  reached  their 
greatest  height  among  the  ancients,  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  added  to  or 
taken  from  it,  and  that  even  in  religion  the  fables  and  festivals  of  antiquity- 
were  a  thousand  times  preferable  to  the  faith  and  worship  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion. In  the  eyes  of  the  new  philosophers,  the  heaven  of  the  Apocalypse  could 
not  sustain  a  comparison  with  that  of  the  Elysian  fields ;  the  majesty  of  Jeho- 
vah was  inferior  to  that  of  Jupiter ;  all  the  loftiest  Christian  institutions  were 
a  legacy  of  ignorance  and  fanaticism ;  the  most  holy  and  beneficent  institutions 
were  the  work  of  tortuous  and  interested  views — the  vehicle  and  expression  of 
21  o2 


162  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

sordid  interests ;  public  authority  was  only  an  atrocious  tyranny ;  and  the  only 
noble,  just,  and  salutary  institutions  were  those  of  Paganism.  There  every 
thing  was  wise,  and  evinced  profound  designs  highly  advantageous  to  society ; 
the  ancients  alone  had  enjoyed  social  advantages,  and  had  succeeded  in  organiz- 
ing public  authority,  with  guarantees  for  the  liberty  of  citizens.  Modern  nations 
should  bitterly  lament  not  being  able  to  mingle  in  the  agitation  of  the  forum, 
being  deprived  of  such  orators  as  Demosthenes  and  Cicero, — having  no  Olym- 
pic games,  or  contests  of  athletse ;  in  fine,  they  must  always  regret  a  religion 
which,  although  full  of  illusion  and  falsehood,  gave  to  all  nature  a  dramatic 
interest,  gave  life  to  fountains,  rivers,  cascades,  and  seas,  peopled  the  fields,  the 
meadows,  and  the  woods  with  beautiful  nymphs,  gave  to  man  gods  as  the  com- 
panions of  his  hearth,  and  above  all,  knew  how  to  render  life  pleasant  and 
charming,  by  giving  full  scope  to  all  the  passions,  and  deifying  them  under  the 
most  enchanting  forms. 

How,  in  the  midst  of  such  prejudices,  was  it  possible  to  discover  the  truth 
in  modern  institutions  ?  Every  thing  was  in  the  most  deplorable  state  of  con- 
fusion ;  all  that  was  established  was  condemned  without  appeal,  and  every  one 
who  attempted  to  defend  it  was  considered  a  fool  or  a  knave.  Religion  and  poli- 
tical constitutions,  which  seemed  destined  soon  to  disappear,  could  reckon  on 
no  other  support  than  the  prejudices  or  the  interests  of  governments.  Lament- 
able aberration  of  the  human  mind  !  What  would  these  writers  now  say  if  they 
could  arise  from  their  tombs  ?  And  yet  a  century  has  not  yet  elapsed  since 
the  epoch  when  their  school  began  to  acquire  its  influence.  They  have,  for  a 
long  time,  ruled  the  world  at  their  pleasure ;  and  they  have  only  shed  torrents 
of  blood,  heaping  lesson  upon  lesson,  and  deception  upon  deception,  in  the  history 
of  humanity. 

But  let  us  return  to  Montesquieu.  This  publicist,  who  was  so  much  affected 
fry  the  atmosphere  in  which  he  lived,  and  who  had  no  small  share  in  perverting 
the  age,  saw  the  facts  which  are  here  so  apparent;  he  recognised  the  results  of 
ihat  public  opinion  which  has  been  created  among  European  nations  by  the  in- 
:fluence  of  Christianity.  But  while  observing  the  effects,  he  did  not  ascertain 
the  real  causes,  and  labored  in  every  way  to  accommodate  them  to  his  own  sys- 
item.  In  comparing  ancient  with  modern  society,  he  discovered  between  them 
A  remarkable  difference  in  the  conduct  of  men ;  he  observed  that  we  see  accom- 
plished among  us  the  noblest  and  most  heroic  actions,  while  we  avoid  a  great 
part  of  the  vices  which  defile  the  ancients ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  Montesquieu, 
like  others,  could  not  help  seeing  that  men  among  us  have  not  always  that 
high  moral  aim  which  ought  to  be  the  motive  of  their  laudable  conduct.  Ava- 
rice, ambition,  love  of  pleasure,  and  other  passions,  still  reign  in  the  world,  and 
are  easily  discovered  everywhere.  Still  these  passions  do  not  reach  the  excess 
they  did  among  the  ancients ;  there  is  a  mysterious  power  which  restrains  them ; 
before  giving  way  to  their  impulses,  they  throw  a  cautious  glance  around  them, 
and  do  not  indulge  in  certain  excesses  unless  they  are  sure  of  being  able  to  do 
so  in  secret.  They  have  great  dread  of  being  seen  by  man ;  they  can  only  live 
in  solitude  and  darkness.  The  author  of  the  Esprit  des  Lois  asked  himself 
what  is  the  cause  of  this  phenomenon.  Men,  he  said  to  himself,  often  act,  not 
from  moral  virtue,  but  from  respect  for  the  judgment  which  other  men  will  pass 
upon  their  actions ;  this  is  to  act  from  honor.  Now,  this  is  the  case  in  France 
and  in  the  other  monarchies  of  Europe ;  it  must  be,  therefore,  the  distinctive 
characteristic  of  monarchical  governments ;  it  must  be  the  base  of  that  form  of 
government,  the  distinction  between  a  republic  and  despotism.  Let  us  hear  the 
author  himself:  " Dans  quel  governement,"  says  he,  " faut  il  des  censeurs  ?  II 
en  faut  dans  une  republique,  ou  le  principe  du  governement  est  la  vertu.  Ce  ne 
sont  pas  seulement  les  crimes  qui  detruisent  la  vertu,  mais  encore  les  negli- 
gences, les  fautes,  une  certaine  ti4deur  dans  1' amour  de  la  patrie,  des  exemples 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  163 

dangereux,  des  semences  de  corruption ;  ce  qui  ne  cheque  point  les  lois,  mais 
les  elude ;  ce  qui  ne  les  de*truit  pas,  mais  les  affaiblit.  Tout  cela  doit  etre  cor- 
rige*  par  les  censeurs.  *  *  *  Dans  les  monarchies  il  ne  faut  point  de  cen- 
seurs, elles  sont  fondees  sur  1'honneur ;  et  la  nature  de  Fhonneur  est  d'avoir  pour 
censeur  tout  1'univers.  Tout  homme  qui  y  manque  est  soumis  aux  reproches 
de  ceux  memes  qui  n'en  ont  point."  (I)e  V Esprit  des  Lois,  liv.  v.  chap.  19.) 
Such  is  the  opinion  of  this  publicist.  But  if  we  reflect  on  the  matter,  we  shall  see 
that  he  was  wrong  in  transferring  to  politics,  and  explaining  by  simply  political 
causes,  a  fact  purely  social.  Montesquieu  points  out,  as  the  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic of  monarchies,  what  is  the  general  characteristic  of  all  modern  European 
society ;  he  seems  not  to  have  understood  why  the  institution  of  censors  was  not 
necessary  in  Europe,  any  more  than  he  did  the  real  reason  why  they  were  required 
among  the  ancients.  Monarchical  forms  have  not  exclusively  prevailed  in  Europe. 
Powerful  republics  have  existed  there ;  and  there  are  still  some  not  to  be  despised. 
Monarchy  itself  has  undergone  numerous  modifications ;  it  has  been  allied  some- 
times with  democracy,  sometimes  with  aristocracy ;  sometimes  its  power  has  been 
very  limited,  and  sometimes  it  has  been  unbounded ;  and  yet  we  always  find  this 
restraint  which  Montesquieu  speaks  of,  and  which  he  calls  honor ;  that  is,  a 
powerful  influence  stimulating  to  good  deeds  and  deterring  from  bad,  and  all 
this  from  respect  for  the  judgments  which  other  men  will  pass. 

"Dans  les  monarchies/'  says  Montesquieu,  "il  ne  faut  point  de  censeurs,  elles 
sont  fondees  sur  1'honneur;  et  la  nature  de  1'honneur  est  d'avoir  pour  censeur 
tout  1'univers ;"  remarkable  words,  which  reveal  to  us  the  ideas  of  the  writer, 
and  at  the  same  time  show  us  the  origin  of  his  mistake.  They  will  assist  us  in 
solving  the  enigma.  In  order  to  explain  this  point  as  fully  as  the  importance 
of  the  subject  requires,  and  with  as  much  clearness  as  the  multitude  and  intri- 
cacy of  its  relations  demand,  I  shall  endeavour  to  convey  my  ideas  with  as 
much  precision  as  possible. 

Respect  for  the  judgment  of  others  is  a  feeling  innate  in  man;  consequently 
it  is  in  his  nature  to  do  or  avoid  many  things  on  account  of  this  judgment.  All 
this  is  founded  on  the  simple  fact  of  self-love :  this  is  nothing  but  love  of  our 
own  good  fame,  the  desire  of  appearing  to  advantage,  and  the  fear  of  appearing 
to  disadvantage,  in  the  eyes  of  our  fellows.  These  things  are  so  simple  and  clear, 
that  they  do  not  require  or  even  admit  of  proofs  or  comments.  Honor  is  a  stimu- 
lant more  or  less  active,  or  a  restraint  more  or  less  powerful,  according  to  the  de- 
gree of  severity  which  we  expect  in  the  judgments  of  others.  Thus  it  is  that  the 
miser,  when  among  the  generous,  makes  an  effort  to  appear  liberal ;  the  prodigal 
restrains  himself  in  the  presence^  of  the  lovers  of  strict  economy;  in  meetings  where 
decorum  generally  reigns  we  see  that  even  libertines  control  themselves,  while  men 
whose  manners  are  usually  correct  allow  themselves  certain  freedoms  in  licen- 
tious societies.  Now  the  society  in  which  we  live  is,  as  it  were,  one  vast  com- 
pany. If  we  know  that  strict  principles  prevail  there,  if  we  hear  everywhere 
proclaimed  the  rules  of  sound  morality,  if  we  think  that  the  generality  of  the ' 
men  with  whom  we  live  give  the  right  name  to  every  action,  without  allowing 
the  irregularity  of  their  conduct  to  falsify  their  judgment,  we  see  ourselves 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  witnesses  and  judges  who  cannot  be  corrupted ;  and 
this  checks  us  at  every  step  when  we  wish  to  do  evil,  and  urges  us  on  when  we 
wish  to  do  good.  It  will  be  far  otherwise  if  we  have  reason  to  expect  indul- 
gence from  the  society  in  which  we  move.  In  this  case,  and  supposing  us  all 
to  entertain  the  same  convictions,  vice  will  not  appear  to  us  so  horrible,  crime 
so  detestable,  or  corruption  so  disgusting ;  our  ideas  with  regard  to  the  morality 
of  our  conduct  will  be  very  different,  and  in  the  end  our  actions  will  show  the 
fatal  influence  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  we  live.  It  follows  from  this,  that, 
in  order  to  infuse  into  our  hearts  a  feeling  of  honor  strong  enough  to  produce 
good,  it  is  necessary  that  principles  of  sound  morality  should  regulate  society, 


164  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

and  that  they  should  be  generally  and  fully  believed.  This  being  granted, 
social  habits  will  be  formed,  which  will  regulate  manners ;  and  even  if  these 
habits  do  not  succeed  in  hindering  the  corruption  of  a  great  number  of  indivi- 
duals, they  will,  nevertheless,  be  sufficient  to  compel  vice  to  adopt  certain  dis- 
guises, which,  although  hypocritical,  will  not  fail  to  add  to  the  decorum  of  man- 
ners. The  salutary  effects  of  these  habits  will  still  continue  after  the  faith  on 
which  their  moral  principles  are  based  has  been  considerably  weakened,  and 
society  will  still  gather  in  abundance  the  beneficent  fruits  of  the  despised  or 
forgotten  tree.  This  is  the  history  of  the  morality  of  modern  nations :  although 
lamentably  corrupt,  they  are  still  not  so  bad  as  the  ancients.  They  preserve  in 
their  legislation,  and  in  their  morals,  a  fund  of  morality  and  dignity  which  the 
ravages  of  irreligion  have  not  been  able  to  destroy.  Public  opinion  never  dies ; 
every  day  it  censures  vice,  and  extols  the  beauty  and  advantages  of  virtue ;  it 
reigns  over  governments  and  nations,  and  exercises  the  powerful  ascendency  of 
an  element  which  is  found  universally  diffused. 

"Outre  rAre"opage,"  says  Montesquieu,  "il  y  avait  a  Athenes  des  gar- 
diens  des  mceurs  et  des  gardiens  des  lois.  A  Lace*de"mone,  tous  les  vieil- 
lards  e"taient  censeurs.  A  Rome,  deux  magistrats  particuliers  avaient  la  cen- 
sure. Comme  le  Senat  veille  sur  le  peuple,  il  faut  que  des  censeurs  aient  les 
yeux  sur  le  peuple  et  sur  le  Senat.  II  faut  qu'ils  r6tablissent  dans  la  republique 
tout  ce  qui  a  e"te"  corrumpu,  qu'ils  notent  la  tieMeur,  jugent  les  negligences, 
et  corrigent  les  fautes,  comme  les  lois  punissent  les  crimes."  (J)e  V Esprit  des 
Lois,  liv.  v.  chap.  7.)  In  describing  the  duties  of  the  censors  of  antiquity,  the 
author  seems  to  state  the  functions  of  religious  authority.  To  penetrate  where 
the  civil  laws  do  not  extend ;  to  correct,  and  in  some  measure  to  chastise,  what 
they  leave  unpunished ;  to  exercise  over  society  an  influence  more  delicate  and 
minute  than  that  which  belongs  to  legislation, — such  are  the  objects  of  the 
censorial  power  j  and  who  does  not  see  that  that  power  has  been  replaced  by 
religious  authority  ?  and  that  if  the  former  has  been  unnecessary  among  modern 
nations,  it  is  owing  to  the  existence  of  the  latter,  or  to  the  influence  which  it 
has  exercised  for  many  centuries  ? 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  religious  authority  has  for  a  long  time  gained  a 
decided  ascendency  over  men's  minds  and  hearts ;  this  fact  is  written  in  every 
page  of  the  history  of  Europe.  As  to  the  results  of  that  influence,  so  calum- 
niated and  ill  understood,  we  meet  with  them  every  day, — we  who  see  the  prin- 
ciples of  justice  and  sound  morality  still  reigning  over  public  conscience,  in 
spite  of  the  ravages  which  irreligion  and  immorality  have  committed  among 
individuals. 

The  powerful  influence  of  public  conscience  will  be  best  explained  by  some 
examples.  Let  us  suppose  that  the  richest  of  nobles,  or  the  most  powerful  of 
monarchs,  indulged  in  the  abominable  excesses  of  a  Tiberius,  a  Nero,  or  the 
other  monsters  who  disgraced  the  imperial  throne,  what  would  happen  ?  We 
.will  not  predict }  but  we  are  confident  that  the  universal  shout  of  indignation 
and  horror  would  be  so  loud,  and  the  monster  would  be  so  crushed  under  the 
load  of  public  execration,  that  it  appears  to  us  impossible  for  him  to  exist.  It 
seems  to  us  an  anachronism,  an  impossibility  at  this  time.  Even  if  we  admit 
that  there  might  be  men  immoral  enough  to  commit  such  enormities,  sufficiently 
perverted  in  mind  and  heart  to  exhibit  such  depravity,  we  see  that  it  would  be 
an  outrage  against  universal  morals,  and  that  such  a  spectacle  could  not  stand 
for  a  moment  in  presence  of  public  opinion.  I  could  draw  numberless  con- 
trasts, but  I  shall  content  myself  with  one,  which,  while  it  reminds  us  of  a  fine 
trait  in  ancient  history,  exhibits,  with  the  virtue  of  a  hero,  the  manners  of  the 
time  and  the  melancholy  condition  of  the  public  conscience.  Let  us  suppose  that 
a  general  of  modern  Europe  captures  by  assault  a  town  in  which  a  distinguished 
lady,  the  wife  of  one  of  the  principal  leaders  of  the  enemy,  falls  into  the  hands 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  165 

of  the  soldiers.  The  beautiful  prisoner  is  brought  to  the  general;  what 
should  be  his  conduct?  Every  one  will  immediately  say,  that  she  ought 
to  be  treated  with  the  most  delicate  attention,  that  she  ought  to  be  imme- 
diately set  at  liberty  and  allowed  to  rejoin  her  husband.  Such  conduct 
appears  to  us  so  strictly  obligatory,  so  much  according  to  the  order  of  things, 
and  so  conformable  to  our  ideas  and  sentiments,  that  there  certainly  does 
not  appear  to  us  to  be  any  peculiar  merit  in  adopting  it.  We  should  say 
that  the  general  had  performed  a  strict  and  sacred  duty,  which  he  could  not 
evade  without  covering  himself  with  shame  and  ignominy.  We  certainly 
should  not  immortalize  such  an  action  in  history;  we  should  allow  it  to  pass 
unnoticed  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events.  Now,  this  is  what  Scipio  did  with 
respect  to  the  wife  of  Mardonius  at  the  taking  of  Carthagena;  and  ancient 
history  records  this  generosity  as  an  eternal  monument  of  his  virtues.  This 
parallel  explains  better  than  any  commentary  the  immense  progress  of  morality 
and  public  conscience  under  the  influence  of  Christianity.  Now,  such  conduct, 
which  among  us  is  considered  as  simple,  natural,  and  strictly  obligatory,  does 
not  flow  from  the  honor  belonging  to  monarchies,  as  Montesquieu  asserts,  but 
from  more  lofty  notions  of  human  dignity,  from  a  clearer  knowledge  of  the  true 
state  of  society,  from  a  morality  the  purer  .and  more  powerful  because  it  is  esta- 
blished on  eternal  foundations.  This,  indeed,  is  found  and  felt  everywhere,  it 
governs  the  good  and  is  respected  even  by  the  bad ;  this  is  what  would  stop  the 
licentious  man,  who,  in  a  case  of  this  sort,  would  be  inclined  to  indulge  his 
cruelty  or  his  other  passions.  The  author  of  the  Esprit  des  Lois  would  doubt- 
less have  perceived  these  truths  if  he  had  not  been  prejudiced  by  the  favorite 
distinction  established  at  the  beginning  of  his  work,  and  which  throughout 
bound  him  to  an  inflexible  system.  We  know  what  a  preconceived  system  is — 
one  that  serves  as  the  mould  for  a  work.  Like  the  bed  of  Procrustus,  ideas  and 
facts,  right  or  wrong,  are  accommodated  to  the  system ;  what  is  too  much  is 
taken  away,  and  what  is  wanting  is  added.  Thus  Montesquieu  finds  in  political 
motives,  founded  on  the  republican  form  of  government,  the  reason  for  the 
power  exercised  over  Roman  women  by  their  husbands.  The  cruel  rights 
given  to  fathers  over  their  children,  the  unlimited  paternal  power  established 
by  the  Roman  laws,  also  appeared  to  him  to  flow  from  political  causes,  as  if  it 
were  not  evident  that  these  two  regulations  of  the  ancient  Roman  law  were 
owing  to  causes  purely  domestic  and  social,  altogether  independent  of  the  form 
of  government.  (19) 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

ON   THE   DIFFERENT  INFLUENCE   OF  PROTESTANTISM   AND   CATHOLICITY  ON" 
THE  PUBLIC   CONSCIENCE. 

WE  have  defined  the  nature  of  public  conscience ;  we  have  pointed  out  its 
origin  and  effects.  It  now  remains  to  examine  whether  Protestantism  has  had 
any  share  in  forming  it,  and  whether  it  is  fairly  entitled  to  the  glory  of  having 
been  of  any  service  to  European  civilization  on  this  point.  We  have  already 
shown  that  the  origin  of  this  public  conscience  is  to  be  found  in  Christianity. 
Now  Christianity  may  be  considered  under  two  aspects — as  a  doctrine,  and  as 
an  institution  intended  to  realize  that  doctrine ;  that  is  to  say,  Christian  moral- 
ity may  be  considered  in  itself,  or  as  taught  and  inculcated  by  the  Church.  To 
form  the  public  conscience,  and  make  Christian  morality  regulate  it,  it  was  not 
enough  to  announce  this  doctrine ;  there  was  still  required  a  society,  not  only 
to  preserve  it  in  all  its  purity,  that  it  might  be  transmitted  from  generation  to 
generation,  but  to  preach  it  incessantly  to  man,  and  apply  it  continually  to  all 


166  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

the  acts  of  life.  We  must  observe  that  ideas,  however  powerful  they  may  be, 
have  only  a  precarious  existence  until  they  are  realized,  and  become  embodied, 
as  it  were,  in  an  institution  which,  while  it  is  animated,  moved,  and  guided  by 
them,  serves  them  as  a  rampart  against  the  attacks  of  other  ideas  and  other 
interests.  Man  is  formed  of  body  and  soul ;  the  whole  world  is  a  collection  of 
spiritual  and  corporeal  beings — a  system  of  moral  and  physical  relations ;  thus 
it  is  that  all  ideas,  even  the  greatest  and  the  loftiest,  begin  to  fall  into  oblivion 
when  they  have  no  outward  expression — no  organ  by  which  they  make  them- 
selves heard  and  respected.  They  are  then  confounded  and  overwhelmed  amid 
the  confusion  of  the  world,  and  in  the  end  disappear  altogether.  Therefore,  all 
ideas  that  are  to  have  a  lasting  influence  on  society,  necessarily  tend  to  create 
an  institution  to  represent  them,  in  which  they  may  be  personified;  not  satisfied 
with  addressing  themselves  to  the  mind,  and  with  descending  to  practice  by 
indirect  means,  they  seek  to  give  form  to  matter,  they  present  themselves  to  the 
eyes  of  humanity  in  a  palpable  manner.  These  observations,  which  I  submit 
with  confidence  to  the  judgment  of  sensible  men,  contain  a  condemnation  of  the 
Protestant  system.  So  far  from  the  pretended  Reformation  being  able  to  claim 
any  part  in  the  salutary  events  which  we  are  explaining,  we  should  rather  say 
that,  by  its  principles  and  conduct,  it  would  have  been  an  obstacle  in  their  way, 
if,  as  was  happily  the  case,  Europe  had  not  been  of  adult  age  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  consequently  almost  incapable  of  losing  the  doctrines,  feelings, 
habits,  and  tendencies  which  the  Catholic  Church  had  communicated  to  it  during 
an  education  of  so  many  centuries.  Indeed,  the  first  thing  that  Protestantism 
did  was  to  attack  authority,  not  by  a  mere  act  of  resistance,  but  by  proclaiming 
resistance  to  be  a  real  right,  by  establishing  private  judgment  as  a  dogma.  From 
that  moment  Christian  morality  remained  without  support,  for  there  was  no 
longer  a  society  which  could  claim  the  right  of  explaining  and  teaching  it ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  was  reduced  to  the  level  of  those  ideas  which,  not  being  repre- 
sented or  supported  by  an  institution,  and  not  having  any  authorized  organ  to 
explain  them,  possessed  no  direct  means  of  acting  on  society,  and  had  no  means 
of  protection  when  attacked. 

But  I  shall  be  told  that  Protestantism  has  preserved  the  institution  which 
realizes  this  idea ;  for  it  has  preserved  its  ministers,  worship,  and  preaching — 
in  a  word,  all  that  truth  requires  in  dealing  with  man. 

I  will  not  deny  that  there  is  some  truth  in  this,  and  I  will  repeat  what  I  have 
not  hesitated  to  affirm  in  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  this  work,  "  That  we  ought 
to  regard  it  as  a  great  good,  that  the  first  Protestants,  in  spite  of  their  desire  to 
upset  all  the  practices  of  the  Church,  have  yet  preserved  that  of  preaching."  I 
added  in  the  same  place  :  "  It  is  not  necessary  to  deny  on  this  account  the  evils 
produced  at  certain  times  by  the  declamation  of  some  ministers,  either  furious 
or  fanatical ;  but  as  unity  was  broken,  and  as  the  people  had  been  hurried  into 
the  perilous  path  of  schism,  we  say  that  it  must  have  been  very  conducive  to 
the  preservation  of  the  most  important  ideas  concerning  God  and  man,  and  the 
fundamental  maxims  of  morality,  for  such  truths  to  be  frequently  explained  to 
the  people  by  men  who  had  long  studied  them  in  the  Holy  Scriptures."  I  repeat 
here  what  I  there  said :  preaching  practised  among  Protestants  must  have  had 
very  good  effects ;  but  this  only  amounts  to  saying,  that  it  did  not  do  so  much 
mischief  as  was  to  be  feared  from  its  own  principles.  On  this  point,  they  were 
like  men  of  immoral  opinions,  who  are  not  so  bad  as  they  would  be,  were  their 
hearts  in  accordance  with  their  minds :  they  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  incon- 
sistent. Protestantism  had  proclaimed  the  abolition  of  authority,  and  the  right 
of  private  judgment  without  limit;  but  in  practice  it  did  not  quite  act  up  to 
these  doctrines.  Thus,  it  devoted  itself  with  ardor  to  what  it  called  gospel 
preaching,  and  its  ministers  were  called  gospellers.  So  that,  at  the  very  time 
when  they  just  established  the  principle  that  every  individual  had  the  free  right 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  167 

of  private  judgment,  and  ought  to  be  guided  by  reason  or  private  inspiration 
alone,  without  listening  to  any  external  authority,  Protestant  ministers  were  seen 
spreading  themselves  everywhere,  and  claiming  to  be  the  legitimate  organs  of 
the  divine  word. 

The  better  to  understand  the  strange  nature  of  such  a  doctrine,  we  must  re- 
member the  maxims  of  Luther  with  respect  to  the  priesthood.  We  know  that 
this  heresiarch,  embarrassed  by  the  hierarchy  which  constitutes  the  ministry 
of  the  Church,  pretended  to  overturn  it  at  one  blow,  by  maintaining  that  all 
Christians  are  priests,  and  that,  to  exercise  the  sacred  ministry,  a  simple  ap- 
pointment is  necessary,  which  adds  nothing  essential  or  characteristic  to  the 
quality  of  priests,  which  is  the  universal  patrimony  of  all  Christians.  It  follows 
from  this  doctrine,  that  the  Protestant  preacher  wanting  a  mission  is  not  distin- 
guished from  other  Christians  by  any  characteristic ;  he  cannot,  consequently, 
speak  to  them  with  any  authority;  he  is  not  allowed,  like  Jesus  Christ,  to  speak 
quasi potestatem  habens  (as  having  authority) ;  he  is  nothing  more  than  an  orator 
who  addresses  the  people  with  no  other  right  than  what  he  derives  from  his 
education,  knowledge,  or  eloquence. 

This  preaching  without  authority,  which,  in  reality  and  according  to  the 
preacher's  own  principles,  was  only  human,  although  it  committed  the  glaring 
inconsistency  of  pretending  to  be  divine,  may,  no  doubt,  have  contributed  some- 
thing to  the  preservation  of  good  moral  principles  when  they  were  already 
everywhere  established ;  but  it  would  certainly  have  been  unable  to  establish 
them  in  a  society  where  they  were  unknown,  especially  if  it  had  had  to  struggle 
with  other  principles  directly  opposed  to  it,  and  supported  by  ancient  prejudices, 
by  deeply  rooted  passions,  and  by  strong  interests. 

Yes,  we  repeat  it,  this  preaching  would  have  been  unable  to  introduce  its 
principles  into  such  a  society;  unable  to  preserve  them  in  safety  amid  the  most 
alarming  revolutions  and  the  most  unexampled  catastrophes ;  unable  to  impart 
them  to  barbarous  nations,  who,  proud  of  their  triumph,  listened  to  no  other 
voice  than  that  of  their  ferocious  instinct ;  unable  to  make  the  conquerors  and 
the  conquered  bow  before  these  principles,  to  mould  the  most  different  nations 
into  one  people,  by  stamping  on  their  laws,  institutions,  and  manners  the  same 
seal,  in  order  to  form  from  them  that  admirable  society,  that  assemblage  of 
nations,  or  rather  that  one  great  nation,  which  is  called  Europe.  In  a  word, 
Protestantism,  from  its  very  constitution,  would  have  been  incapable  of  realizing 
what  the  Catholic  Church  has  done. 

Moreover,  this  attempted  preaching  preserved  by  Protestantism  is,  at  bottom, 
an  effort  to  imitate  the  Church)  that  it  may  not  remain  unarmed  in  the  presence 
of  so  redoubtable  an  adversary.  It  required  a  means  of  influencing  the  people, 
— a  channel  open  to  communicate,  at  the  will  of  each  usurper  of  religious 
authority,  different  interpretations  of  the  Bible;  this  is  the  reason  why,  in  spite 
of  violent  declamation  against  all  that  emanated  from  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  it 
preserved  the  valuable  practice  of  preaching. 

But  the  best  way  to  feel  the  inferiority  of  Protestantism  in  regard  to  the 
knowledge  and  comprehension  of  the  means  proper  to  extend  and  strengthen 
morality,  and  make  it  prevail  in  all  the  acts  of  life,  is  to  observe,  that  it  has 
interrupted  all  communication  between  the  conscience  of  the  faithful  and  the 
direction  of  the  priest;  it  only  leaves  to  the  latter  a  general  direction,  which, 
owing  to  its  being  extended  over  all  at  the  same  time,  is  exerted  with  effect  over 
none.  If  we  confine  ourselves  to  the  consideration  of  the  abolition  of  the  sacra- 
ment of  Penance  among  Protestants,  we  may  rest  assured  that  they  have  thereby 
given  up  one  of  the  most  legitimate,  powerful,  and  gentle  means  of  rendering 
human  conduct  conformable  to  the  principles  of  sound  morality.  Its  action  is 
legitimate;  for  nothing  can  be  more  legitimate  than  direct  and  intimate  com- 
munication between  the  conscience  of  man  who  is  to  be  judged  by  Grod,  and  the 


168  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

conscience  of  the  man  who  represents  God  on  earth; — an  action  which  is 
powerful,  because  this  intimate  communication,  established  between  man  and 
man,  between  soul  and  soul,  identifies,  as  it  were,  the  thoughts  and  affections; 
because,  in  the  presence  of  God  alone,  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other  witness, 
admonitions  have  more  force,  precepts  more  authority,  and  advice  more  unction 
and  sweetness  to  penetrate  into  the  inmost  soul; — an  action  full  of  gentleness, 
for  it  supposes  the  voluntary  manifestation  of  the  conscience  which  seeks 
guidance — a  manifestation  which  is  commanded,  it  is  true,  by  authority,  but 
which  cannot  be  enforced  by  violence,  as  God  alone  is  the  judge  of  its  sincerity; 
— an  action,  I  repeat,  which  is  gentle,  for  the  minister  is  compelled  to  the 
strictest  secrecy;  all  imaginable  precautions  have  been  taken  by  the  Church  to 
prevent  a  betrayal,  and  man  may  rest  with  tranquillity  in  the  assurance  that 
the  secrets  of  his  conscience  will  never  be  revealed. 

But  you  will  ask  me,  do  you  believe  all  this  is  necessary  to  establish  and  pre- 
serve a  good  state  of  morality  ?  If  morality  is  to  be  any  thing  more  than  a 
mere  worldly  probity,  which  is  exposed  to  destruction  at  the  first  shock  of 
interest,  or  easily  seduced  by  the  passions ;  if  it  is  to  be  a  morality  delicate, 
strict,  and  profound,  extending  over  all  the  acts  of  life,  guiding  and  ruling  the 
heart  of  man,  and  transforming  it  into  that  leau  idtal  which  we  admire  in  Ca- 
tholics who  are  really  devoted  to.  the  observances  and  practices  of  their  religion; 
if  this  is  the  morality  which  you  mean,  it  is  necessary,  undoubtedly,  that, 
placed  under  the  inspection  of  religious  authority,  it  should  be  directed  and 
guided  by  a  minister  of  the  sanctuary,  by  a  faithful  communication  of  the  secrets 
of  our  hearts  and  the  numberless  temptations  which  continually  assail  our  weak 
nature.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church ;  and  I  will  add,  that  it  is 
pointed  out  by  experience  and  taught  by  philosophy.  I  do  not  mean  to  say, 
that  Catholics  alone  are  capable  of  performing  virtuous  actions;  this  would  be 
to  contradict  the  experience  of  every  day.  I  only  wish  to  prove  the  efficacy  of 
a  Catholic  institution  which  is  despised  by  Protestants.  I  speak  of  the  great 
influence  which  this  institution  has  in  infusing  into  our  hearts,  and  preserving 
in  them,  a  morality  which  is  cordial,  constant,  and  applicable  to  all  the  acts  of 
our  souls. 

No  doubt,  there  is  in  man  a  monstrous  mixture  of  good  and  evil ;  I  know 
that  it  is  not  given  him  to  attain  in  this  life  to  that  ineffable  degree  of  perfec- 
tion which  consists  in  a  perfect  conformity  with  Divine  truth  and  holiness — a 
perfection  which  he  will  not  be  able  even  to  conceive  until  the  moment  when, 
stripped  of  his  mortal  body,  he  will  be  plunged  into  the  pure  ocean  of  light  and 
love.  But  we  cannot  be  permitted  to  doubt  that  man,  in  this  earthly  abode,  in 
the  land  of  misery  and  darkness,  can,  nevertheless,  attain  to  the  universal, 
delicate,  and  profound  state  of  morality  which  I  have  just  described;  and, 
however  much  the  present  corruption  of  the  world  may  be  a  too  legitimate  sub- 
ject of  affliction,  it  must  be  allowed  that  we  still  find,  in  our  own  days,  a  con- 
siderable number  of  honorable  exceptions  in  the  multitude  of  persons  who 
co'nform  to  the  strict  rule  of  gospel  morality  in  their  conduct,  their  wishes,  and 
even  in  their  thoughts  and  inmost  affections.  To  attain  to  this  degree  of 
morality  (and  observe,  I  do  not  say  of  evangelical  perfection,  but  of  mere 
morality),  it  is  necessary  that  the  religious  principle  should  be  visibly  present 
to  the  eyes  of  the  soul,  that  it  should  act  continually  upon  her,  urging  on  or 
restraining  her  in  an  infinite  variety  of  circumstances  which,  in  the  course  of 
life,  occur  to  mislead  from  the  path  of  duty.  The  life  of  man  is,  as  it  were,  a 
chain  composed  of  an  infinite  variety  of  acts,  which  cannot  be  constantly  in 
accordance  with  reason  and  the  eternal  law,  unless  it  remains  constantly  in  the 
hands  of  a  fixed  and  universal  regulator.  And  let  it  not  be  said  that  such  a 
state  of  morality  is  a  beau  ideal,  the  existence  of  which  would  bring  such  con- 
fusion into  the  acts  of  the  soul,  and  complication  of  the  whole  life,  as  in  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  169 

end  to  make  it  insupportable.  No,  this  is  not  a  mere  fancy;  it  is  a  reality 
which  is  frequently  seen  by  our  eyes,  not  only  in  the  cloister  and  the  sanctuary, 
but  amid  the  confusion  and  distractions  of  the  world.  That  which  establishes  a 
fixed  rule  cannot  bring  confusion  into  the  acts  of  the  soul,  or  complicate  the 
affairs  of  life.  Quite  the  contrary;  instead  of  confusion,  it  serves  to  distinguish 
and  illuminate;  instead  of  complicating,  it  puts  in  order  and  simplifies.  Esta- 
blish this  rule,  and  you  will  have  unity;  and  with  unity  general  order. 

Catholicity  is  always  distinguished  by  its  extreme  vigilance  with  respect  to 
morality,  by  its  care  in  regulating  all  the  acts  of  life,  and  even  the  most  secret 
movements  of  the  heart.  Superficial  observers  have  declaimed  against  the 
prolixity  of  moralists — against  the  minute  and  detailed  study  which  they  make 
of  human  actions  considered  under  a  moral  aspect;  they  should  have  observed, 
that  if  Catholicity  is  the  religion  in  the  bosom  of  which  has  appeared  so  great  a 
number  of  moralists,  by  whom  all  human  actions  have  been  examined  in  the 
greatest  detail,  it  is  because  this  religion  has  for  its  object  to  moralize  for  the 
whole  man,  as  it  were,  in  all  his  relations  with  Grod,  with  his  neighbor,  and 
with  himself.  It  is  clear  that  such  an  enterprise  requires  a  more  profound  and 
attentive  examination  than  would  be  necessary,  if  it  had  only  to  give  to  man  an 
imperfect  morality,  stopping  at  the  surface  of  actions,  and  not  penetrating  to 
the  bottom  of  the  heart.  With  respect  to  Catholic  moralists,  and  without 
attempting  to  excuse  the  excess  into  which  some  among  them  have  fallen, 
either  by  too  great  subtility,  or  by  a  spirit  of  party  and  dispute  (excesses  which 
cannot  be  imputed  to  the  Catholic  Church,  since  she  has  testified  her  displeasure 
when  she  has  not  expressly  condemned  them),  it  must  be  observed,  that  this 
abundance,  this  superfluity,  if  you  will,  of  moral  studies,  has  contributed  more 
than  people  think  to  direct  minds  to  the  intimate  study  of  man,  by  furnishing  a 
multitude  of  facts  and  observations  to  those  who  have  subsequently  wished  to 
devote  themselves  to  this  important  science.  Now,  can  there  be  a  more  worthy 
or  more  useful  object  for  our  labors?  In  another  part  of  this  work,  I  propose 
to  develope  the  relations  of  Catholicity  with  the  progress  of  science  and  litera- 
ture ;  I  shall  not,  therefore,  enter  more  fully  on  the  matter  now.  Still  I  may 
be  allowed  briefly  to  observe,  that  the  development  and  education  of  the  human 
mind  have  been  principally  theological ;  and  that  on  this  point,  as  well  as  on 
many  others,  philosophers  are  more  indebted  to  theologians  than  they  seem  to 
imagine. 

Let  us  return  to  the  comparison  of  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  influence  on 
the  formation  and  preservation  of  a  sound  public  conscience.  We  have  showed 
that  Catholicity,  having  constantly  maintained  the  principle  of  authority  which 
Protestantism  rejects,  has  given  to  moral  ideas  a  force  and  influence  which  Pro- 
testantism could  not.  Protestantism,  indeed,  by  its  nature  and  fundamental 
principles,  has  never  given  to  these  ideas  any  other  support  than  they  might 
have  derived  from  a  school  of  philosophy.  But  you  will  perhaps  ask  me,  do 
you  not  acknowledge  the  force  of  these  ideas ;  a  force  peculiar  to  them,  and 
inherent  in  their  nature,  and  which  frequently  changes  the  face  of  the  world,  by 
deciding  its  doctrines  ?  Do  you  not  know  that  they  always,  in  the  end,  force  a 
passage,  in  spite  of  every  obstacle,  and  of  all  resistance  ?  Have  you  forgotten 
the  teaching  of  all  history ;  and  do  you  pretend  to  deprive  human  thought  of 
that  vital,  creative  force,  which  renders  man  superior  to  all  that  surrounds  him  ? 
Such  is  the  common  panegyric  on  the  strength  of  ideas ;  thus  we  see  them 
transformed  every  moment  into  all-powerful  beings,  whose  magical  wand  is 
capable  of  changing  every  thing  at  their  pleasure. 

However  this  may  be,  I  am  full  of  respect  for  human  thought,  and  allow 

that  there  is  much  truth  in  what  is  called  the  force  of  an  idea ;  yet  I  must  beg 

leave  to  offer  a  few  observations  to  these  enthusiasts,  not  directly  to  combat  their 

opinion,  but  to  make  some  necessary  modifications.     In  the  first  place,  ideas,  in 

22  P 


170  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

the  point  of  view  in  which  we  are  now  considering  them,  must  be  divided  into 
two  orders ;  some  flattering  our  passions,  the  others  checking  them.     It  cannot 
be  denied  that  the  former  have  an  immense  expansive  force.     They  have  a 
motion  of  their  own  ;  they  act  in  all  places  ;  they  exert  a  rapid,  violent  power ; 
one  would  say  that  they  overflow  with  life  and  activity.     The  latter  have  great 
difficulty  in  making  their  way ;  they  advance  slowly,  they  cannot  pursue  their 
career  without  an  institution  to  secure  their  stability.     And  why  ?     Because  it 
is  not  the  ideas  themselves  which  act  in  the  former  case,  but  the  passions  which 
accompany  them,  and  assume  their  names ;  thus  masking  what  is  repulsive  in 
them  at  first  sight.     In  the  latter  case,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  the  truth  that 
speaks.     Now,  in  this  land  of  misfortune,  the  truth  is  but  little  attended  to  ;  for 
it  leads  to  good ;  and  the  heart  of  man,  as  the  Scripture  says,  is  inclined  to  evil 
from  his  youth.     Those  who  vaunt  so  much  the  native  force  of  ideas,  should 
point  out  to  us,  in  ancient  or  modern  history,  one  idea  which,  without  going  out 
of  its  own  circle,  that  of  the  purely  philosophical  order,  is  entitled  to  the  glory 
of  having  materially  contributed  to  the  amelioration  of  individuals  and  society. 
It  is  commonly  said  that  the  force  of  ideas  is  immense ;    that  once  shown 
among  men,  they  will  fructify  sooner  or  later ;  that  once  deposited  in  the  bosom 
of  humanity,  they  will  remain  there  as  a  precious  legacy,  and  contribute  won- 
derfully to  the  improvement  of  the  world,  to  the  perfection  towards  which  the 
human  race  advances.     No  doubt  these  assertions  contain  some  truth ;  as  man 
is  an  intelligent  being,  all  that  immediately  affects  his  mind  must  certainly 
influence  his  destiny.     Thus  no  great  change  is  worked  in  society  without  being 
first  realized  in  the  order  of  ideas ;  all  that  is  established  contrary  to  our  ideas, 
or  without  them,  must  be  weak  and  passing.     But  it  is  by  no  means  to  be  sup- 
posed that  every  useful  idea  contains  in  itself  a  conservative  force  capable  of 
dispensing  with  all   institutions;   that   is  to   say,  with  support  and  defence, 
even  during  times  of  social  disorder :  between  these  two  propositions  there  is  a 
gulf  which  cannot  be  closed  without  contradicting  all  history.     Now  humanity, 
considered  by  itself,  and  given  up  to  its  own  strength,  as  it  appears  to  philoso- 
phers, is  not  so  safe  a  depositary  as  people  wish  to  suppose.     Urihappily  we 
have  melancholy  proofs  of  this  truth :  we  see  too  clearly  that  the  human  race, 
far  from  being  a  faithful  trustee,  has  but  too  much  imitated  the  conduct  of  a 
foolish  spendthrift.     In  the  cradle  of  the  human  race,  we  find  great  ideas  on  the 
unity  of  God,  on  man,  on  relations  of  man  with  God  and  their  fellow-men. 
These  ideas  were  certainly  true,  salutary,  and  fruitful :  and  yet,  what  did  man 
do  with  them  ?     Did  he  not  lose  them  by  modifying,  mutilating,  and  distorting 
them  in  the  most  deplorable  way  ?     Where  were  they  when  Jesus  Christ  came 
into  the  world  ?     What  had  humanity  done  with  them  ?     One  nation  alone 
preserved  them  ;  but  in  what  way  ?     Fix  your  attention  on  the  chosen  people, 
the  Jews,  and  you  will  see  that  there  was  a  continual  struggle  between  truth 
and  error ;  you  will  see  that,  by  an  inconceivable  blindness,  they  incessantly 
inclined  to  idolatry  ;  they  had  a  constant  tendency  to  substitute  the  abominations 
of  the  Gentiles  for  the  sublime  law  of  Mount  Sinai.     And  do  you  know  how  the 
truth  was  preserved  among  this  people  ?     Observe  it  well ;  it  was  supported  by 
the  strongest  institutions  that  can  be  imagined ;  it  was  armed  with  all  the  means 
of  defence  with  which  an  inspired  legislator  could  surround  it.     It  will  be  said 
that  they  were  a  hard-hearted  nation,  in  the  Janguage  of  the  Scriptures  ;  unhap- 
pily, since  the  fall  of  our  first  parent,  this  hardness  of  heart  is  become  the  patri- 
mony of  humanity ;  the  heart  of  man  is  inclined  to  evil  from  his  youth  ;  ages 
before  the  existence  of  the  Jews,  God  had  covered  the  earth  with  the  waters  of 
heaven,  and  had  blotted  out  man  from  the  face  of  the  world ;  for  all  flesh  had  cor- 
rupted its  way.     We  must  conclude  from  this,  that  the  preservation  of  great  moral 
ideas  requires  powerful  institutions ;  it  is  evident,  therefore,  that  they  cannot  be 
abandoned  to  the  fickleness  of  the  human  mind  without  being  disfigured,  or  even 


PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY.  171 

lost.  I  will  say,  moreover,  that  institutions  are  not  only  necessary  to  teach,  but 
also  to  apply  them.  Moral  ideas,  especially  those  which  openly  contradict  the 
passions,  are  never  reduced  to  practice  without  great  efforts;  now  the  ideas 
themselves  do  not  suffice  to  make  these  great  efforts,  and  means  of  action  are 
required  capable  of  connecting  ideas  with  facts ;  this  is  one  of  the  reasons  of  the 
impotence  of  philosophical  schools  when  they  attempt  to  construct  any  thing. 
They  are  often  powerful  in  destroying ;  momentary  action  is  enough  for  this, 
and  this  action  may  be  easily  acquired  in  a  moment  of  enthusiasm.  But  when 
they  wish  to  establish  and  reduce  their  conceptions  to  practice,  they  are  impo- 
tent ;  their  only  resource  is  what  is  called  the  force  of  ideas.  Now,  as  ideas 
constantly  vary  and  change — an  inconstancy  of  which  these  schools  themselves 
afford  the  first  example — it  happens  that  what  we  hear  them  announce  one  mo- 
ment as  an  infallible  means  of  human  progress,  is  the  next  reduced  to  a  mere 
object  of  curiosity. 

These  last  observations  anticipate  the  objection  that  may  be  urged  against  us 
with  respect  to  the  immense  force  which  printing  has  given  to  ideas.  But  this 
is  so  far  from  being  a  preserver,  that  it  may  be  said  to  be  the  best  destroyer  of 
all  opinions.  If  we  measure  the  immense  orbit  which  the  human  mind  has 
passed  through  since  that  important  discovery,  we  shall  see  that  the  consum- 
mation of  opinions  (if  I  may  be  allowed  the  expression)  is  increased  in  a  pro- 
digious degree.  The  history  of  the  human  race,  especially  since  the  press  has 
become  periodical,  appears  to  be  the  representation  of  a  rapid  drama,  where  the 
decorations  change  every  moment,  where  the  scenes  succeed  each  other,  scarcely 
allowing  the  spectator  to  catch  any  of  the  author's  words.  Half  of  this  century 
has  not  yet  passed  away,  and  already  it  seems  as  if  many  centuries  had  elapsed, 
so  great  has  been  the  number  of  schools  which  have  been  born  and  are  dead, 
of  reputations  which,  after  being  raised  to  the  highest  pitch  of  renown,  have 
been  soon  forgotten.  This  rapid  succession  of  ideas,  so  far  from  contributing  to 
increase  their  force,  necessarily  renders  them  weak  and  unproductive.  The  na- 
tural order  in  the  progress  of  ideas  is  this  :  at  first  to  make  their  appearance, 
then  to  be  realized  in  an  institution  representing  them,  and  in  fine  to  exert  their 
influence  on  facts  by  means  of  an  institution  in  which  they  are  personified. 
Now,  it  is  necessary  that  during  these  transformations,  which  essentially  require 
time,  ideas  should  preserve  their  credit,  if  they  are  to  produce  any  favorable 
result.  But  when  they  succeed  each  other  too  rapidly,  time  is  wanting  for  their 
successive  transformations ;  new  ideas  strive  to  discredit  the  old  ones,  and  con- 
sequently to  render  them  useless.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  strength  of  ideas, 
that  is,  of  philosophy,  was  nevef  so  little  to  be  relied  on  as  now,  to  produce 
any  thing  durable  and  consistent  in  the  moral  order :  in  this  respect,  the  gain  to 
modern  society  may  well  be  questioned.  More  is  conceived,  but  less  matured ; 
what  the  mind  gains  in  extent,  it  loses  in  depth,  and  the  pretension  in  theory 
makes  a  sad  contrast  with  the  impotence  of  practice.  Of  what  importance  is  it 
that  our  predecessors  were  not  so  ready  as  we  are  in  improvising  a  discussion  on 
great  social  and  political  questions,  if  they  nevertheless  organized  and  founded 
such  admirable  institutions  ?  The  architects  who  raised  the  astonishing  monu- 
ments of  ages  which  we  call  barbarous,  were  certainly  not  so  learned  or  so  culti- 
vated as  those  of  our  time ;  and  yet  who  has  the  boldness  even  to  commence 
what  they  have  finished  ?  Thus  it  is  in  the  social  and  political  order.  Let  us 
remember  that  great  thoughts  are  produced  rather  by  intuition  than  by  reason- 
ing ;  in  practice,  success  depends  more  upon  the  invaluable  quality  called  tact, 
than  upon  enlightened  reflection ;  and  experience  often  teaches  that  he  who 
knows  much,  sees  little.  The  genius  of  Plato  would  not  have  been  the  best 
guide  for  Solon  or  Lycurgus ;  and  all  the  knowledge  of  Cicero  would  not  have 
succeeded  in  doing  what  was  done  by  the  tact  and  good  sense  of  two  unlettered 
men  like  Komulus  and  Numa.  (20) 


172 
CHAPTER  XXXI. 

ON   GENTLENESS   OP   MANNERS  IN   GENERAL. 

A  CERTAIN  general  gentleness  of  manners,  which  in  war  prevents  great  atro- 
cities, and  in  peace  renders  life  more  quiet  and  agreeable : — such  is  one  of  the 
valuable  qualities  which  I  have  pointed  out  as  forming  the  distinguishing  cha- 
racteristics of  European  civilization.  This  is  a  fact  which  does  not  require 
proof;  we  see  and  feel  it  everywhere  when  we  look  around;  it  is  evident  to  all 
who  open  the  pages  of  history,  and  compare  our  times  with  any  others.  Wherein 
does  this  gentleness  of  manners  in  modern  times  consist  ?  what  is  the  cause  of 
it  ?  what  has  favoured  it  ?  what  has  opposed  it  ?  These  interesting  questions 
directly  apply  to  our  present  subject;  for  they  lead  straight  to  the  examination 
of  other  questions,  such  as  the  following :  has  Catholicity  contributed  in  any 
way  to  this  gentleness  of  manners ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  has  it  opposed  or 
retarded  it?  in  fine,  what  part  has  Protestantism  played  in  the  work,  for  good 
or  evil  ?  First  of  all,  we  must  determine  wherein  gentleness  of  manners  con- 
sists. Although  we  have  here  to  deal  with  an  idea  which  every  one  sees,  or 
rather  feels,  we  must  still  endeavor  to  explain  and  analyze  it  by  a  definition  as 
complete  and  exact  as  possible.  Gentleness  of  manners  consists  in  the  absence 
of  force;  so  that  manners  will  be  more  or  less  gentle  according  as  force  is  less 
or  more  employed.  Thus,  we  must  not  confound  gentle  with  charitable  man- 
ners ;  the  latter  work  good,  the  former  only  exclude  the  idea  of  force.  We 
must  also  distinguish  gentle  manners  from  those  that  are  pure,  and  conformable 
to  reason  and  justice.  Immorality  is  often  gentle,  when,  instead  of  resorting  to 
force,  it  makes  use  of  seduction  and  stratagem.  This  gentleness  of  manners 
consists  in  directing  the  human  mind,  not  by  violence  which  constrains  the  body, 
but  by  reasons  which  address  themselves  to  the  intellect,  or  by  appeals  to  the 
passions.  Thus  it  is  that  gentle  manners  are  not  always  under  the  influence  of 
reason ;  but  their  rule  is  always  intellectual,  although  they  are  often  made  the 
slaves  of  the  passions  by  golden  chains  of  their  own  formation. 

If  gentleness  of  manners  consists  in  not  making  use,  in  human  transactions, 
of  other  means  than  those  of  conviction,  persuasion,  or  seduction,  it  is  clear 
that  the  most  advanced  society — that  is,  that  in  which  intelligence  has  been 
most  developed — should  always  participate  more  or  less  in  this  social  advan- 
tage. There  the  mind  rules,  because  it  is  strong ;  while  material  force  disap- 
pears, because  the  body  has  less  strength.  Moreover,  in  societies  very  much 
advanced,  where  relations  and  interests  are  necessarily  much  multiplied,  there 
is  an  indispensable  want  of  means  capable  of  acting  in  a  universal  and  lasting 
manner,  and  applicable  to  all  the  details  of  life.  These  means  are,  unquestion- 
ably, moral  and  intellectual :  the  mind  operates  without  destruction,  while  force 
dashes  violently  against  obstacles,  and  breaks  itself  to  pieces,  if  it  cannot  over- 
turn them.  Thus  it  is  the  cause  of  continual  commotions,  which  cannot  subsist 
in  a  society  which  has  numerous  and  complicated  relations,  without  throwing 
into  confusion  and  destroying  society  itself. 

We  always  observe  in  young  nations  a  lamentable  abuse  of  force.  Nothing 
is  more  natural :  the  passions  ally  themselves  with  force,  because  they  resemble 
it ;  they  are  energetical  as  violence,  and  rude  as  its  shocks.  When  society  has 
reached  a  great  degree  of  development,  the  passions  are  divorced  from  force,  and 
become  allied  with  the  intelligence ;  they  cease  to  be  violent,  in  order  to  become 
artful.  In  the  first  case,  if  it  is  the  people  who  struggle,  they  make  war  on, 
they  contend  with,  and  destroy  each  other;  in  the  second  case,  they  contend 
with  the  arms  of  industry,  commerce,  and  contraband.  Governments  attack, 
in  the  first  case,  by  arms  and  invasions ;  and  in  the  second  by  diplomacy.  In 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  173 

the  first  epoch,  warriors  are  every  thing ;  in  the  second,  they  are  nothing ;  they 
have  not  a  very  important  part  to  play  when  negotiation,  and  not  fighting,  is 
required.  When  we  look  at  ancient  civilization,  we  observe  a  remarkable  dif- 
ference between  the  character  of  its  manners  and  the  gentleness  of  ours.  Neither 
the  Greeks  nor  Romans  ever  regarded  this  precious  quality  in  the  light  in  which 
we  regard  it,  for  the  honor  of  European  civilization.  Those  nations  became  ener- 
vated, but  they  did  not  become  gentle  j  we  may  say  that  their  manners  were 
made  effeminate,  but  they  were  not  softened ;  for  we  see  them  make  use  of 
force  on  all  occasions,  when  neither  vigor  of  body  nor  energy  of  mind  was 
required.  There  is  nothing  more  worthy  of  observation  than  this  peculiarity  of 
ancient  civilization,  especially  of  that  of  Rome.  Now  this  phenomenon,  which 
at  first  sight  appears  to  us  to  be  very  strange,  has  very  deep  causes.  Besides 
the  principal  of  these  causes,  which  is,  the  want  of  an  element  of  civilization 
such  as  that  which  modern  nations  have  had  in  Christian  charity,  we  shall  find 
among  the  ancients,  if  we  descend  to  the  details  of  their  social  organization, 
certain  causes  which  necessarily  hindered  this  gentleness  of  manners  being 
established  among  them. 

In  the  first  case,  slavery,  one  of  the  constituent  elements  of  their  social  and 
domestic  organization,  was  an  eternal  obstacle  to  the  introduction  of  this  pre- 
cious quality.  The  man  who  has  the  power  of  throwing  another  to  the  fishes, 
and  of  punishing  with  death  the  crime  of  breaking  a  glass ;  he  who  during  a 
feast,  to  gratify  his  caprice,  can  take  away  the  life  of  one  of  his  brethren ;  he 
who  can  rest  upon  a  voluptuous  couch,  surrounded  by  the  most  sumptuous  mag- 
nificence, while  he  knows  that  hundreds  of  men,  crowded  together  in  dark  vaults, 
work  incessantly  for  his  cupidity  and  his  pleasures ;  he  who  can  hear  without 
emotion  the  lamentations  of  a  crowd  of  unhappy  beings  imploring  a  morsel  of 
bread  to  pass  through  the  night's  misery  which  is  to  unite  their  labors  and 
fatigues  of  the  evening  with  those  of  the  morning,  such  a  man  may  have  effe- 
minate, but  he  cannot  have  gentle  manners ;  his  heart  may  become  enervated, 
but  it  will  not  cease  to  be  cruel.  This  was  precisely  the  situation  of  the  free 
man  in  ancient  society :  the  organization  of  which  we  have  just  stated  the  results 
was  regarded  as  indispensable ;  they  could  not  even  conceive  the  possibility  of 
any  other  order  of  things.  What  removed  this  obstacle  ?  was  it  not  the  Catholic 
Church,  by  abolishing  slavery,  after  having  ameliorated  the  cruel  lot  of  slaves  ? 
Those  who  revert  to  the  15th,  16th,  17th,  18th,  and  19th  chapters  of  this  work, 
with  the  notes  appended  to  them,  will  find  the  truth  of  this  demonstrated  by 
incontestable  reasons  and  documents. 

In  the  second  place,  the  right-  of  life  and  death,  given  by  the  laws  to  the 
paternal  power,  introduced  into  families  an  element  of  severity  which  could  not 
but  produce  injurious  effects.  Happily,  the  hearts  of  fathers  were  continually 
contending  against  the  power  thus  granted  by  law  :  but  if  this  feeling  did  not 
prevent  some  deeds  the  perusal  of  which  makes  us  shudder,  must  we  not  sup- 
pose that,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  life,  cruel  scenes  constantly  reminded  the 
members  of  families  of  this  atrocious  right  with  which  the  chief  was  invested  ? 
Will  not  he  who  is  possessed  of  the  power  of  killing  with  impunity,  be  fre- 
quently hurried  into  acts  of  cruel  despotism  ?  Now  this  tyrannical  extension 
of  the  rights  of  paternal  authority,  carried  far  beyond  the  limits  pointed  out  by 
nature,  was  taken  away  by  the  force  of  laws  and  manners  which  were  much 
aided  by  the  influence  of  Catholicity  (see  the  24th  chap,  of  this  work).  To  the 
two  causes  which  I  have  just  pointed  out,  may  be  added  another  perfectly  analo- 
gous, viz.  the  despotism  which  the  husband  exercised  over  his  wife,  and  the 
little  respect  which  was  paid  to  her.  Public  spectacles  were,  among  the  Romans, 
another  element  of  severity  and  cruelty.  What  could  be  expected  of  a  people 
whose  principal  amusement  is  to  look  coolly  upon  homicide — who  took  pleasure 

p  2 


174  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

in  witnessing  the  slaughter  in  the  arena  of  hundreds  of  men  fighting  against 
each  other,  or  against  wild  beasts  ? 

As  a  Spaniard,  I  feel  called  upon  here  to  insert  a  paragraph,  in  reply  to  the 
observations  which  will  be  made  against  me  on  this  point :  I  allude  to  the 
Spanish  bull-fights.  I  shall  naturally  be  asked,  Is  it  not  in  a  Christian  and 
Catholic  country  that  the  custom  of  making  men  fight  against  animals  is  pre- 
served ?  The  objection,  however  plausible  it  may  seem,  can  be  answered.  In 
the  first  place,  to  avoid  any  misunderstanding,  I  declare  that  this  popular  amuse- 
ment is,  in  my  opinion,  barbarous,  and  ought,  if  possible,  to  be  completely 
extirpated.  But  after  this  full  and  explicit  avowal,  let  me  be  permitted  to  make 
a  few  observations,  to  screen  the  honor  of  my  country.  In  the  first  place,  it 
must  be  remarked,  that  there  is  in  the  human  heart  a  secret  taste  for  risks  and 
dangers ;  in  order  to  make  an  adventure  interesting,  it  is  necessary  that  the  hero 
should  be  encompassed  with  great  and  multiplied  perils ;  if  a  history  is  to  excite 
curiosity  to  a  high  degree,  it  must  not  be  an  uninterrupted  chain  of  peaceful 
and  happy  events.  We  wish  to  find  ourselves  frequently  in  the  presence  of 
extraordinary  and  surprising  facts  j  and,  however  unpleasant  may  be  the  avowal, 
our  hearts,  while  they  feel  the  tenderest  compassion  for  the  unfortunate,  seem 
to  require  the  contemplation  of  scenes  of  a  more  violent  and  exciting  character. 
Hence  the  taste  for  tragedies:  hence  the  love  of  scenes  in  which  the  actors 
incur  great  risks,  in  appearance  or  in  reality.  It  is  not  my  duty  here  to  ex- 
plain the  origin  of  this  phenomenon ,  it  is  enough  for  me  here  to  point  out  its 
existence — to  show  foreigners  who  accuse  us  of  being  barbarians,  that  the  taste 
of  the  Spanish  people  for  bull-fights  is  only  the  application  to  a  particular  case, 
of  an  inclination  inherent  everywhere  in  the  heart  of  man.  Those  who,  with 
respect  to  this  custom  of  the  Spanish  people,  affect  so  much  humanity,  would 
do  well  to  answer  the  following  questions :  To  what  is  owing  the  pleasure  taken 
by  the  multitude  in  every  exhibition,  when  the  actors  run  any  risk  in  one  way 
or  another  ?  Whence  comes  it  that  all  would  willingly  be  present  at  the 
bloodiest  battle,  if  they  could  do  so  without  danger  ?  Whence  comes  it  that 
everywhere  an  immense  multitude  assembles  to  witness  the  agonies  and  the  last 
convulsions  of  a  criminal  on  the  gibbet  ?  Whence  comes  it,  in  fine,  that  foreign- 
ers, when  at  Madrid,  render  themselves  accomplices  in  the  barbarity  of  Spa- 
niards by  assisting  at  these  bull-fights  ?  I  say  this,  not  in  any  degree  to  ex- 
cuse a  custom  which  appears  to  me  to  be  unworthy  of  a  civilized  people,  but  to 
show  that  in  this  point,  as  well  as  in  almost  all  that  relates  to  the  Spanish  peo- 
ple, there  are  exaggerations  which  ought  to  be  reduced  within  reasonable  limits. 
Let  us  add  an  important  observation,  which  is  the  best  excuse  that  can  be  made 
for  this  reprehensible  exhibition :  instead  of  fixing  our  attention  on  the  specta- 
cle itself,  let  us  consider  the  evils  that  flow  from  it.  Now,  I  ask,  how  many 
men  die  in  Spain  in  bull-fights  ?  The  number  is  extremely  small,  and  alto- 
gether insignificant  in  proportion  to  the  frequency  of  these  spectacles;  so  that 
if  a  comparison  were  made  between  the  accidents  which  occur  in  consequence 
of  this  amusement  and  those  that  happen  in  other  sports,  such  as  horse-races 
and  others  of  the  same  kind,  we  should  perhaps  find  that  bull-fights,  however 
barbarous  they  may  be  in  themselves,  still  do  not  deserve  all  the  anathemas 
with  which  foreigners  have  loaded  them.  To  return  to  our  principal  object, 
how,  we  ask,  is  it  possible  to  compare  an  amusement  which,  perhaps,  may  not 
cost  the  life  of  one  man  during  many  years,  to  those  terrible  shows  in  which 
death  was  a  necessary  condition  for  the  pleasure  of  the  spectators  ?  After  the 
triumph  of  Trajan  over  the  Dacians,  the  public  games  lasted  twenty-three  days, 
and  the  fearful  number  of  six  thousand  gladiators  was  slain.  Such  were  the  amuse- 
ments at  Home,  not  only  of  the  populace,  but  of  the  highest  classes ;  such  were  the 
horrible  spectacles  required  by  a  people  who  added  voluptuousness  to  the  most 
atrocious  cruelty.  This  is  a  most  convincing  proof  of  what  I  have  said,  viz. 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  175 

that  manners  may  be  effeminate  without  being  gentle,  and  that  the  brutality 
of  unbounded  luxury  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  instinct  of  blood-thirsty 
ferocity. 

It  is  impossible  that  such  spectacles  should  be  tolerated  among  modern  na- 
tions, however  corrupt  their  manners  may  be.  The  principle  of  charity  has 
extended  its  empire  too  universally  for  such  excesses  to  be  renewed.  This 
charity,  it  is  true,  does  not  induce  men  to  do  all  the  good  to  each  other  that 
they  ought ;  but,  at  least,  it  prevents  their  coldly  .perpetrating  evil,  and  assist- 
ing quietly  at  the  slaughter  of  their  brethren  to  gratify  the  pleasure  of  the 
moment.  Christianity,  at  its  birth,  cast  into  society  the  seed  of  this  aversion 
to  homicide.  Who  is  not  aware  of  the  repugnance  of  Christians  for  the  shows 
of  the  Gentiles — a  repugnance  prescribed  and  kept  alive  by  the  admonitions  of 
the  early  pastors  of  the  Church  ?  It  was  an  acknowledged  fact,  that  Christian 
charity  prohibited  the  being  present  at  games  where  homicide  formed  part  of 
the  spectacle.  "  As  for  us,"  said  one  of  the  apologists  of  the  early  ages,  "  we  make 
little  difference  between  committing  murder  and  seeing  it  committed."  (21) 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

THE   IMPROVEMENT   OF   MANNERS   BY   THE   ACTION   OP   THE   CHURCH. 

MODERN  society  ought,  it  would  seem,  to  be  distinguished  for  severity  and 
cruelty,  since  it  was  formed  from  that  of  the  Romans  and  barbarians,  from  both 
of  whom  it  should  have  inherited  these  qualities.  Who  is  not  aware  of  the  fierce 
manners  of  the  northern  barbarians?  The  historians  of  that  time  have  left  us 
statements  that  make  us  shudder  when  we  read  them.  It  was  believed  that  the 
end  of  the  world  was  at  hand ;  and,  indeed,  it  was  excusable  to  consider  the  last 
catastrophe  as  near,  when  so  many  other  melancholy  ones  had  already  been 
heaped  upon  humanity.  The  imagination  cannot  figure  to  itself  what  would 
have  happened  to  the  world  at  this  crisis,  if  Christianity  had  not  existed.  Even 
supposing  that  society  would  have  been  organized  anew  under  one  form  or 
another,  it  is  certain  that  private  and  public  relations  would  have  remained  in  a 
state  of  lamentable  disorder,  and  that  legislation  would  have  been  unjust  and 
inhuman.  Thus  the  influence  of  the  Church  on  civil  legislation  was  an  inesti- 
mable benefit ;  thus  even  the  power  of  the  clergy  in  temporal  things  was  one 
of  the  greatest  safeguards  of  the  highest  interests  of  society. 

Attacks  are  often  made  upon  this  temporal  power  of  the  clergy  and  this  in- 
fluence of  the  Church  in  worldly  affairs.  But,  in  the  first  place,  it  should  be 
remembered,  that  this  power  and  influence  were  brought  about  by  the  very- 
nature  of  things ;  that  is  to  say,  they  were  natural,  and,  consequently,  to  assail 
them  is  to  declaim  in  vain  against  the  force  of  events,  of  which  no  man  could 
hinder  the  realization.  This  power  and  influence,  besides,  were  legitimate ;  for 
when  society  is  in  danger,  nothing  can  be  more  legitimate  than  that  that  which 
can  save  it  should  save  it.  Now,  at  the  time  we  speak  of,  the  Church  alone 
could  save  society.  The  Church,  which  is  not  an  abstract  being,  but  a  real  and 
substantial  society,  acted  upon  civil  society  by  real  and  substantial  means.  If 
the  purely  material  interests  of  society  were  in  question,  the  minister  of  the 
Church  ought,  in  some  way  or  other,  to  take  part  in  the  direction  of  those 
interests.  These  reflections  are  so  natural  and  simple,  that  their  truth  must  be 
seen  by  good  sense.  All  those  who  know  any  thing  of  history  are  now  gene- 
rally agreed  on  this  point ;  and  if  we  are  not  aware  how  much  it  generally 
costs  the  human  mind  to  enter  upon  the  path  of  truth,  and,  above  all,  how 
much  bad  faith  there  has  been  in  the  examination  of  these  questions,  we 
shall  have  a  difliculty  in  understanding  that  so  much  time  should  have  been 


176  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

required  to  bring  the  world  to  agree  on  a  thing  which  is  apparent  to  those 
who  read  history.  But  let  us  return  to  our  subject.  This  extraordinary 
mixture  of  the  cruelty  of  a  cultivated  but  corrupted  people  with  the  atrocious 
ferocity  of  a  barbarous  one,  proud  of  its  triumphs,  and  intoxicated  with 
blood  during  long  wars,  placed  in  European  society  a  germ  of  severity  and 
cruelty  which  fermented  there  for  ages,  and  the  remains  of  which  we  find 
at  a  late  period.  The  precept  of  Christian  charity  was  in  men's  heads,  but 
Koman  cruelty  and  barbarian  ferocity  still  prevailed  in  their  hearts;  ideas 
were  pure  and  beneficent,  since  they  proceeded  from  a  religion  of  love,  but  they 
encountered  a  terrible  resistance  in  the  habits,  manners,  institutions,  and  laws, 
for  all  these  were  more  or  less  disfigured  by  the  two  mixed  principles  which  I 
have  just  pointed  out.  If  we  reflect  upon  the  constant  and  obstinate  struggle 
between  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  elements  which  contended  with  her,  we 
shall  clearly  see  that  Christian  ideas  could  never  have  prevailed  in  legislation 
and  manners,  if  Christianity  had  been  a  religious  idea  abandoned  to  human 
caprice,  as  Protestants  imagine ;  it  was  necessary  for  it  to  be  realized  in  a  pow- 
erful institution,  in  a  strongly  constituted  society,  such  as  we  find  in  the  Catho- 
lic Church.  In  order  to  give  an  idea  of  the  efforts  made  by  the  Church,  I  will 
point  out  some  of  the  regulations  which  she  made  for  the  purpose  of  improving 
manners.  Private  animosities  were  very  violent  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak; 
and  right  was  decided  by  force,  and  the  world  was  threatened  with  becoming  the 
patrimony  of  the  strongest.  Public  law  did  not  exist,  or  was  hurried  away  and 
confounded  by  outrages  which  its  feeble  hand  could  never  prevent  or  repress ; 
it  was  altogether  powerless  in  rendering  manners  pacific,  and  in  subjecting  men 
to  reason  and  justice.  Then  we  see  that  the  Church,  besides  the  instruction 
and  the  general  admonitions  inseparable  from  her  sacred  mission,  adopted  at 
that  time  certain  measures  calculated  to  restrain  the  torrent  of  violence  which 
ravaged  and  destroyed  every  thing.  The  Council  of  Aries,  celebrated  in  the 
middle  of  the  fifth  century,  between  443  and  452,  ordains,  in  its  50th  canon, 
that  the  Church  should  be  interdicted  to  those  who  have  public  animosities, 
until  they  were  reconciled.  The  Council  of  Angers,  celebrated  in  453,  pro- 
scribes, by  its  3d  canon,  acts  of  violence  and  mutilation.  The  Council  of  Agde, 
in  Languedoc,  celebrated  in  506,  ordains,  in  its  31st  canon,  that  enemies  who 
would  not  be  reconciled  should  be  admonished  by  the  priests,  and  excommuni- 
cated if  they  did  not  follow  their  apostolical  counsels. 

The  Franks  at  that  time  had  the  custom  of  going  armed,  and  they  always 
entered  the  churches  with  their  arms.  It  will  be  understood  that  such  a  custom 
must  have  produced  great  evils ;  the  house  of  prayer  was  often  converted  into 
an  arena  of  blood  and  vengeance.  In  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century,  the 
Council  of  Chalons-sur-Saone,  in  its  17th  canon,  pronounces  excommunication 
against  all  laymen  who  excite  tumults,  or  draw  their  swords  to  strike  any  one 
in  the  churches  or  in  their  precincts.  Thus,  we  see  the  prudence  and  foresight 
which  dictated  the  29th  canon  of  the  third  Council  of  Orleans,  celebrated  in 
538,  which  forbids  any  one  to  be  present  at  mass  or  vespers,  armed.  It  is 
curious  to  observe  the  uniformity  of  design  and  plan  pursued  by  the  Church. 
In  countries  the  most  distant  from  each  other,  and  at  times  when  communica- 
tion could  not  be  frequent,  we  find  regulations  analogous  to  those  which  we 
have  pointed  out.  The  Council  of  Lerida,  held  in  546,  ordains,  by  its  7th 
canon,  that  he  who  shall  have  sworn  not  to  be  reconciled  with  his  enemy,  shall 
be  deprived  of  the  participation  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  until  he 
has  done  penance  for  his  oath  and  been  reconciled. 

Centuries  passed  away,  acts  of  violence  continued,  the  precept  of  fraternal 
charity,  which  obliges  us  to  love  even  our  enemies,  always  met  with  open 
resistance  in  the  harsh  character  and  fierce  passions  of  the  descendants  of  the 
barbarians;  but  the  Church  did  not  cease  to  preach  the  divine  command;  she 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY.  177 

continually  inculcated  and  labored  to  render  it  efficacious  by  means  of  spiritual 
penalties.  More  than  four  hundred  years  had  elapsed  since  the  celebration  of 
the  Council  of  Aries,  where  we  have  seen  the  church  forbidden  to  those  who 
were  openly  at  variance;  we  then  see  the  Council  of  Worms,  held  in  868,  pro- 
nouncing, in  its  41st  canon,  excommunication  against  enemies  who  Defused  to 
be  reconciled.  It  will  suffice  to  have  some  idea  of  the  disorders  of  that  time, 
to  know  whether  it  was  possible  to  appease  the  violence  of  animosities  during 
this  long  period.  One  would  fancy  that  the  Church  would  have  been  wearied 
of  inculcating  a  precept  which  the  unhappy  state  of  circumstances  so  often 
rendered  fruitless;  but  such  was  not  the  case:  she  continued  to  speak  as  she 
had  spoken  for  ages;  she  never  lost  her  confidence  that  her  words  would  pro- 
duce fruit  in  the  present,  and  would  be  productive  in  the  future.  Such  is  her 
system;  one  would  think  that  she  heard  these  words  constantly  repeated,  "Cry 
out,  cry  out  without  ceasing;  raise  thy  voice  like  a  trumpet."  It  is  then  that  she 
triumphs  over  all  resistance;  when  she  cannot  exert  her  power  over  the  will  of  a 
nation,  she  makes  her  voice  heard  with  indefatigable  diligence  in  the  sanctuary. 
There  she  assembles  seven  thousand  who  have  not  bent  the  knee  to  Baal;  and 
while  she  endeavors  to  confirm  them  in  faith  and  good  works,  she  protests,  in 
the  name  of  God,  against  those  who  resist  the  Holy  Spirit.  Let  us  imagine 
that,  amid  the  dissipation  and  distraction  of  a  populous  city,  we  enter  a  sacred 
•place,  where  seriousness  and  moderation  reign,  in  the  bosom  of  silence  and 
religious  retirement;  there  a  minister  of  the  sanctuary,  surrounded  by  a  chosen 
number  of  the  faithful,  utters  from  time  to  time  some  serious  and  solemn  words. 
This  is  the  personification  of  the  Church  in  times  disastrous  from  weakened 
faith  and  corrupted  morals.  One  of  the  rules  of  conduct  of  the  Catholic  Church 
has  been,  not  to  bend  before  the  powerful.  When  she  has  proclaimed  a  law, 
she  has  proclaimed  it  for  all,  without  distinction  of  rank.  In  the  time  of  the 
power  of  those  petty  tyrants,  who,  under  different  names,  persecuted  the  people, 
this  conduct  of  the  Church  contributed  in  an  extraordinary  degree  to  render  the 
ecclesiastical  laws  popular;  for  nothing  was  more  likely  to  make  a  law  tolerable- 
to  the  people  than  to  show  that  it  applied  to  nobles,  and  even  to  kings.  In  the 
times  of  which  we  speak,  hatred  and  violence  among  plebeians  were  severely 
proscribed;  but  the  same  law  extended  to  great  men  and  to  royalty.  A  short 
time  after  the  establishment  of  Christianity  in  England,  we  find  a  very  curious 
example  in  that  country,  applicable  to  this  question.  It  is  nothing  less  than 
excommunication  pronounced  against  three  kings  in  the  same  year,  and  in  the 
same  town;  all  these  were  compelled  by  the  Councils  to  do  penance  for  the 
crimes  which  they  had  committed.  The  town  of  Llandaff,  in  Wales,  within  the 
metropolitan  see  of  Canterbury,  witnessed  the  celebration  of  three  Councils,  in 
the  year  560.  In  the  first,  Monric,  king  of  Glamorgan,  was  excommunicated 
for  having  put  to  death  King  Cinetha,  although  he  had  sworn  the  peace  on  the 
sacred  relics;  in  the  second,  King  Morcant  was  excommunicated  for  having 
put  to  death  Friac,  his  uncle,  in  whose  favor  he  had  equally  sworn  the  peace ; 
in  the  third,  King  Guidnert  was  excommunicated  for  having  put  to  death  his 
brother,  the  competitor  for  the  throne. 

Thus,  these  barbarian  chiefs,  just  changed  into  kings,  and  prone  to  slaughter, 
are  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  a  superior  power,  and  to  expiate 
by  penance  the  murder  of  their  relatives  and  the  violation  of  sacred  engage- 
ments; it  is  useless  to  point  out  how  much  this  must  have  contributed  to  the 
improvement  of  manners.  "It  was  easy,"  the  enemies  of  the  Church  will  say 
— those  who  endeavor  to  lower  the  merit  of  her  acts — "it  was  easy  to  preach 
gentleness  of  manners,  to  impose  the  observance  of  divine  precepts  on  chiefs 
whose  power  was  limited,  and  who  had  only  the  name  of  kings;  it  was  easy  to 
manage  those  petty  barbarian  chiefs,  who,  rendered  fanatical  by  a  religion  of 
which  they  understood  nothing,  humbly  bowed  before  the  first  priest  who  ven,- 


178  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

tured  to  menace  them  on  the  part  of  God.  But  of  what  importance  was  that? 
What  influence  could  it  have  on  the  course  of  great  events?  The  history  of 
European  civilization  presents  a  vast  theatre,  where  events  must  be  studied  on 
a  large  scale,  and  where  none  but  the  most  important  scenes  exercised  any 
influence  on  the  spirit  of  nations."  Let  us  observe,  that  these  petty  barbarian 
kings  were  the  origin  of  the  principal  families  which  now  occupy  the  most  im- 
portant thrones  of  the  world.  To  place  the  germ  of  real  civilization  in  their 
hearts,  was  to  graft  the  tree  which  was  one  day  to  overshadow  the  earth.  But 
without  staying  to  show  the  futility  of  such  reasoning,  and  as  our  opponents 
desire  great  scenes  capable  of  influencing  European  manners  on  a  large  scale, 
let  us  open  the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  first  ages,  and  we  shall  soon  find  a 
page  which  redounds  to  the  eternal  honor  of  Catholicity.  The  whole  of  the 
known  world  was  subject  to  an  emperor,  whose  name,  then  universally  vene- 
rated, will  continue  to  be  respected  by  the  remotest  posterity.  In  an  important 
city,  the  rebellious  inhabitants  put  to  death  the  commander  of  the  garrison ;  the 
emperor,  transported  with  anger,  orders  them  to  be  exterminated.  Returning 
to  himself,  he  revokes  the  order;  but  it  was  too  late,  the  order  was  executed, 
and  thousands  of  victims  had  been  involved  in  the  horrible  carnage;  at  the 
news  of  this  dreadful  catastrophe,  a  bishop  quits  the  court  of  the  emperor, 
leaves  the  city,  and  writes  to  him  in  this  grave  language:  "I  dare  not  offer  the 
sacrifice  if  you  attempt  to  be  present  at  it;  the  blood  of  one  innocent  person* 
would  suflice  to  forbid  me;  how  much  more  the  massacre  of  a  large  number." 
The  emperor,  confident  in  his  power,  takes  no  notice  of  this  letter,  and  goes 
towards  the  church.  When  he  arrives  at  the  door,  he  finds  himself  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  venerable  man,  who,  with  a  grave  and  stern  countenance,  stops  him 
and  forbids  him  to  enter  the  church.  "Thou  hast  imitated  David  in  crime," 
he  says,  "  imitate  him  also  in  penance."  The  emperor  yields,  humbles  himself, 
and  submits  to  the  regulations  of  the  bishop,  and  religion  and  humanity  gain 
an  immortal  triumph.  This  unhappy  city  was  Thessalonica ;  the  emperor  was 
Theodosius;  the  prelate  was  St.  Ambrose,  Archbishop  of  Milan. 

We  find  face  to  face,  in  this  sublime  fact,  force  and  justice  personified. 
Justice  triumphs  over  force ;  but  why  ?  Because  he  who  represents  justice, 
represents  it  in  the  name  of  Heaven ;  because  the  sacred  vestments  and  the 
imposing  attitude  of  the  man  who  stops  the  emperor  reminds  Theodosius  of  the 
divine  mission  of  the  holy  bishop,  and  of  the  office  which  he  holds  in  the  sacred 
ministry.  Put  a  philosopher  in  the  place  of  the  bishop,  and  tell  him  to  arrest 
the  proud  culprit  by  an  injunction  of  doing  penance,  and  you  will  see  whether 
human  wisdom  can  do  as  much  as  the  Catholic  priest  speaking  in  the  name  of 
God.  Put,  if  you  please,  a  bishop  of  the  Church,  who  has  acknowledged  spi- 
ritual supremacy  in  the  civil  power,  and  you  will  see  whether  in  his  mouth 
words  have  the  same  effect  in  obtaining  so  glorious  a  triumph.  The  spirit  of 
the  Church  was  always  the  same ;  her  arms  were  always  directed  towards  the 
same  end ;  her  language  was  always  equally  strict,  equally  strong,  whether  she 
spoke  to  the  Roman  plebeian  or  a  barbarian,  whether  she  addressed  her  admoni- 
tions to  a  patrician  of  the  empire  or  to  a  noble  German.  She  was  no  more 
afraid  of  the  purple  of  the  Caesars  than  of  the  frowns  of  the  long-haired  kings. 
The  power  which  she  possessed  during  the  middle  ages  was  not  exclusively 
owing  to  her  having  preserved  alone  the  light  of  science  and  the  principles  of 
government ;  but  it  was  also  owing  to  the  invincible  firmness,  which  no  resist- 
ance and  no  attack  could  destroy.  What  would  Protestantism  have  effected  in 
such  difficult  and  dangerous  circumstances?  Without  authority,  without  a 
centre  of  action,  without  security  for  her  own  faith,  without  confidence  in  her 
resources,  what  means  would  she  have  had  to  assist  her  in  restraining  the  tor- 
rent of  violence — that  impetuous  torrent,  which,  after  having  inundated  the 
world,  was  about  to  destroy  the  remains  of  ancient  civilization,  and  opposed  to 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY.  179 

all  attempts  at  social  reorganization  an  obstacle  almost  insurmountable? 
Catholicity,  with  its  ardent  faith,  its  powerful  authority,  its  undivided  unity, 
its  well-compacted  hierarchy,  was  able  to  undertake  the  lofty  enterprise  of  im- 
proving manners ;  and  it  brought  to  the  undertaking  that  constancy  which  is 
inspired  by  conscious  strength,  and  that  boldness  which  animates  a  mind  secure 
of  triumph. 

We  must  not,  however,  imagine  that  the  conduct  of  the  Church,  in  her  mis- 
sion of  improving  manners,  always  brought  her  into  collision  with  force.  We 
also  see  her  employ  indirect  means,  limit  her  demands  to  what  she  could  obtain, 
and  ask  for  as  little,  in  order  to  obtain  as  much  as  possible.  In  a  capitulary 
of  Charlemagne,  given  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  813,  and  consisting  of  twenty-six 
articles,  which  are  nothing  more  than  a  sort  of  confirmation  and  resumi  of  the 
five  Councils  held  a  little  before  in  France,  we  find  in  an  appendix  of  two  arti- 
cles the  method  of  proceeding  judicially  against  those  who,  under  pretext  of  the 
right  called  faida,  excited  tumults  on  Sundays,  holidays,  and  also  working 
days.  We  have  already  seen  above  that  they  had  recourse  to  the  holy  relics, 
to  give  greater  authority  to  the  oaths  of  peace  and  friendship  taken  by  kings 
towards  each  other — an  august  act,  in  which  Heaven  was  invoked  to  prevent 
the  effusion  of  blood,  and  to  establish  peace  on  earth.  We  see  in  the  capitulary 
which  we  have  just  quoted,  that  the  respect  for  Sundays  and  holidays  was  made 
use  of  to  bring  about  the  abolition  of  the  barbarous  custom,  which  authorized 
the  relations  of  a  murdered  man  to  avenge  his  death  in  the  blood  of  the  murderer. 
The  deplorable  state  of  European  society  at  that  time  is  vividly  painted  by  the 
means  which  the  ecclesiastical  power  was  compelled  to  use,  to  diminish  in  some 
degree  the  disasters  occasioned  by  the  prevailing  violence.  Not  to  attack,  not 
to  maltreat  any  one,  not  to  have  recourse  to  force  to  obtain  reparation  or  to 
gratify  a  desire  of  vengeance,  appears  to  us  to  be  so  just,  so  reasonable,  and  so 
natural,  that  we  can  hardly  imagine  another  way  of  acting.  If,  now,  a  law 
were  promulgated,  to  forbid  one  to  attack  one's  enemy  on  such  or  such  a  day, 
at  such  or  such  an  hour,  it  would  appear  to  us  the  height  of  folly  and  extrava- 
gance. But  it  was  not  so  at  that  time;  such  prohibitions  were  made  continu- 
ally, not  in  obscure  hamlets,  but  in  great  towns,  in  very  numerous  assemblies, 
when  bishops  were  present  in  hundreds,  and  where  counts,  dukes,  princes,  and 
kings  were  gathered  together.  This  law,  by  which  authority  was  glad  to  make 
the  principles  of  justice  respected,  at  least  on  certain  days, — principally  on  the 
great  solemnities, — this  law,  which  now  would  appear  to  us  so  strange,  was,  in 
a  certain  way,  and  for  a  long  period,  one  of  the  chief  points  of  public  and  pri- 
vate law  in  Europe.  It  will  be  understood  that  I  allude  to  the  truce  of  God,  a 
privilege  of  peace  very  necessary  at  that  time,  as  we  see  it  very  often  renewed 
in  various  countries.  Of  all  that  I  might  say  on  this  point,  I  shall  content 
myself  with  selecting  a  few  of  the  decisions  of  Councils  at  the  time.  The 
Council  of  Tubuza,  in  the  diocese  of  Elne,  in  Roussillon,  held  by  Guifred, 
Archbishop  of  Narbonne,  in  1041,  established  the  truce  of  God,  from  the  even- 
ing of  Friday  until  Monday  morning.  Nobody  during  that  time  could  take 
any  thing  by  force,  or  revenge  any  injury,  or  require  any  pledge  in  surety. 
Those  who  violated  this  decree  were  liable  to  the  same  legal  composition  as  if 
they  had  merited  death;  in  default  of  which,  they  were  excommunicated  and 
banished  from  the  country. 

The  practice  of  this  ecclesiastical  regulation  was  considered  so  advantageous, 
that  many  other  Councils  were  held  in  France  during  the  same  year,  on  the 
same  subject.  Moreover,  care  was  taken  frequently  to  repeat  the  obligation,  as 
we  see  by  the  Council  of  Saint  Gilles,  in  Languedoc,  held  in  1042,  and  by  that 
of  Narbonne,  held  in  1045.  In  spite  of  these,  repeated  efforts  did  not  obtain 
all  the  desired  fruit;  this  is  indicated  by  the  changes  which  we  observe  in  the 
regulations  of  the  law.  Thus  we  see  that,  in  the  year  1047,  the  truce  of  God 


180  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

was  fixed  for  a  less  time  than  in  1041 ;  the  Council  of  Telugis,  in  the  same 
diocese  of  Elne,  held  in  1047,  only  ordains  that  it  is  forbidden  to  any  one  in 
all  the  comte  of  Roussillon  to  attack  his  enemy  between  the  hours  of  none  on 
Sunday  and  prime  on  Monday;  the  law  was  then  much  less  extensive  than  in 
1041,  when,  as  we  have  seen,  the  truce  of  God  was  extended  from  Friday  even- 
ing till  Monday  morning.  We  find  in  the  same  Council  a  remarkable  regula- 
tion, the  object  of  which  was  to  preserve  from  all  attack  men  who  were  going 
to  church  or  returning  from  it,  or  who  were  accompanying  women.  In  1054, 
the  truce  of  God,  had  gained  ground ;  we  see  it  extended,  not  only  from  Friday 
evening  till  Monday  morning  after  sunrise,  but  over  considerable  periods  of  the 
year.  Thus  we  see  that  the  Council  of  Narbonne,  held  by  Archbishop  Guifred, 
in  1045,  after  having  included  in  the  truce  of  God  the  time  from  Friday  even- 
ing till  Monday  morning,  declares  it  obligatory  during  the  following  periods : 
from  the  first  Sunday  of  Advent  till  the  octave  of  the  Epiphany;  from  Quin- 
quagesima  Sunday  till  the  octave  of  Easter;  from  the  Sunday  preceding  the 
Ascension  till  the  octave  of  Pentecost;  the  festival  days  of  Our  Lady,  of  St. 
Peter,  of  St.  Laurence,  of  St.  Michael,  of  All  Saints,  of  St.  Martin,  of  St.  Just 
and  Pasteur,  titularies  of  the  Church  of  Narboune,  and  all  fasting  days,  under 
pain  of  anathema  and  perpetual  banishment.  The  same  Council  gives  some 
other  regulations,  so  beautiful  that  we  cannot  pass  them  over  in  silence,  when 
we  are  engaged  in  showing  the  influence  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  improving 
manners.  The  9th  canon  forbids  the  cutting  of  olive-trees;  a  reason  for  it  is 
given,  which,  in  the  eyes  of  jurists,  will  not  appear  sufficiently  general  or  ade- 
quate, but  which,  in  the  eyes  of  the  philosophy  of  history,  is  a  beautiful  symbol 
of  the  beneficial  influence  exercised  over  society  by  religion.  This  is  the  rea- 
son given  by  the  Council:  "It  is,"  it  says,  "  that  the  olive-trees  may  furnish 
matter  for  the  Jioly  chrism,  and  feed  the  lamps  that  burn  in  the  churches."  Such 
a  reason  was  sure  to  produce  more  effect  than  any  that  could  be  drawn  from 
Ulpian  and  Justinian.  It  is  ordained  in  the  10th  canon  that  shepherds  and 
their  flocks  shall  enjoy  at  all  times  the  security  of  the  truce;  the  same  favor  is 
extended  by  the  llth  canon  to  all  houses  within  thirty  paces  of  the  churches. 
The  18th  canon  forbids  those  who  have  a  suit,  to  take  any  active  steps,  to  com- 
mit the  least  violence,  until  the  cause  has  been  judged  in  presence  of  the  bishop 
and  lord  of  the  place.  The  other  canons  forbid  the  robbing  of  merchants  and 
pilgrims,  and  the  commission  of  wrong  against  any  one,  under  pain  of  being 
separated  from  the  Church,  if  the  crime  be  committed  during  the  time  of  the 
truce. 

In  proportion  as  we  advance  in  the  llth  century,  we  see  the  salutary  practice 
of  the  truce  of  God  m6re  and  more  inculcated;  the  Popes  interpose  their 
authority  in  its  favor.  At  the  Council  of  Gironne,  held  by  Cardinal  Hugues- 
le-Blanc,  in  1068,  the  truce  of  God  is  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  Alexander 
II.,  under  pain  of  excommunication;  the  Council  held  in  1080,  at  Lillebonne, 
in  Normandy,  gives  us  reason  to  suppose  that  the  truce  was  then  generally 
established,  since  it  ordains,  by  its  first  canon  to  bishops  and  lords,  to  take 
care  that  it  was  observed,  and  to  inflict  on  offenders  against  it  censures  and 
other  penalties.  In  the  year  1093,  the  Council  of  Troja,  in  Apulia,  held 
by  Urban  II.,  continues  the  truce  of  God.  To  judge  of  the  extent  of  this 
canonical  regulation,  we  should  know  that  this  Council  consisted  of  sixty-five 
bishops.  The  number  was  much  greater  at  the  Council  of  Clermont,  in  Au- 
vergne,  held  by  the  same  Urban  II.,  in  1095;  it  reckoned  no  less  than  thirteen 
archbishops,  two  hundred  and  twenty  bishops,  and  a  great  number  of  abbots. 
The  first  canon  of  this  Council  confirms  the  truce  for  Thursday,  Friday,  Satur- 
day, and  Sunday;  it  wishes,  moreover,  that  it  should  be  observed  on  all  the 
days  of  the  week,  with  respect  to  monks,  clergy,  and  women.  The  canons  29 
and  30  ordain,  that  if  a  man  pursued  by  an  enemy  take  refuge  near  a  cross,  he 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  181 

should  be  in  safety,  as  if  lie  had  found  asylum  in  a  church.  The  sublime  sign 
of  redemption,  after  having  given  salvation  to  the  world,  by  drinking  on  Cal- 
vary the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  had  already  proved  a  refuge,  during  the  sack 
of  Rome,  to  those  who  fled  from  the  fury  of  the  barbarians;  centuries  later,  we 
find  it  erected  on  the  roads,  to  save  the  unfortunate,  who,  by  embracing  it, 
escaped  their  enemies,  who  were  thus  deterred  from  vengeance. 

The  Council  of  Rouen,  held  in  1096,  extending  still  further  the  benefit  of 
the  truce,  ordains  the  observance  of  it  from  the  Sunday  before  Ash  Wednesday 
till  the  second  feast  after  the  octave  of  Pentecost,  from  sunset  on  Wednesday 
preceding  Advent  to  the  octave  of  Epiphany,  and  every  week  from  Friday  after 
sunset  till  the  Monday  following  at  sunrise ;  in  fine,  on  all  the  feasts  and  vigils 
of  the  Virgin  and  the  Apostles.  The  2d  canon  of  the  same  Council  secures 
perpetual  peace  to  all  clergy,  monks,  and  nuns,  to  women,  to  pilgrims,  to  mer- 
chants and  their  servants,  to  oxen  and  horses  of  labor,  to  carmen  and  laborers ; 
it  gives  the  same  privileges  to  all  lands  that  belong  to  sacred  institutions ;  all 
such  persons,  animals,  and  lands  are  protected  from  the  attacks  of  pillage  and 
all  kinds  of  violence.  At  this  time  the  law  felt  itself  stronger ;  it  could  now 
call  for  obedience  in  a  firmer  tone ;  we  see,  indeed,  that  the  third  canon  of  the 
same  Council  enjoins  upon  all  who  have  reached  the  age  of  twelve,  to  engage 
by  oath  to  observe  the  truce ;  in  the  fourth  canon,  all  who  refuse  to  take  this 
oath  are  excommunicated.  Some  years  after,  in  1115,  the  truce,  instead  of 
comprising  certain  stated  parts  of  the  year,  embraces  whole  years ;  the  Council 
of  Troja  in  Apulia,  held  in  that  year  by  Pope  Pascal,  establishes  the  truce 
for  three  years. 

The  Popes  pursued  with  ardor  the  work  thus  commenced;  they  sanctioned  it 
with  their  authority,  and  extended  the  observance  of  the  truce  by  means  of 
their  influence,  then  universal  and  powerful  over  all  Europe.  Although  the 
truce  was  apparently  only  a  testimony  of  respect  paid  to  religion  by  the  violent 
passions,  which,  in  her  favor,  consented  to  suspend  their  hostilities,  it  was,  in 
reality,  a  triumph  of  right  over  might,  and  one  of  the  most  admirable  devices 
ever  used  to  improve  the  manners  of  a  barbarous  people.  The  man  who,  during 
four  days  of  the  week,  and  during  long  periods  of  the  year,  was  compelled  to 
suspend  the  exercise  of  force,  was  necessarily  led  to  more  gentle  manners ;  he 
must,  in  the  end,  entirely  renounce  it.  The  difficulty  is  not,  to  convince  a  man 
that  he  does  ill,  but  to  make  him  lose  the  habit  of  doing  so ;  and  it  is  well 
known  that  habits  are  engendered  by  the  repetition  of  acts,  and  are  lost  when 
they  cease  for  a  time.  Nothing  is  more  pleasing  to  the  Christian  soul  than  to 
see  the  Popes  laboring  to  maintain  and  extend  this  truce.  They  renew  the 
command  of  it  with  a  power  the  more  efficacious  and  universal  according  to  the 
number  of  bishops  who  assist  at  the  Councils  where  their  supreme  authority 
presides.  At  the  Council  of  Rheims,  opened  by  Pope  Calixtus  II.  in  person, 
in  1119,  a  decree  confirming  the  truce  is  promulgated.  Thirteen  archbishops, 
more  than  two  hundred  bishops,  and  a  great  number  of  abbots  and  ecclesiastics, 
distinguished  for  their  rank,  assisted  at  this  Council.  The  same  command  is 
renewed  at  the  General  Council  of  Lateran,  held  under  the  care  of  the  same 
Pontiff,  Calixtus  II.,  in  1123.  There  were  assembled  more  than  three  hundred 
archbishops  and  bishops,  and  more  than  six  hundred  abbots.  In  1130,  the 
Council  of  Clermont,  in  Auvergne,  held  by  Innocent  II.,  insists  on  the  same 
point,  and  repeats  the  regulations  concerning  the  observance  of  the  truce.  The 
Council  of  Avignon,  held  in  1209,  by  Hugh,  Bishop  of  Riez,  and  Milon,  notary 
of  Pope  Innocent  III.,  both  legates  of  the  Holy  See,  confirms  the  laws  before 
enacted  on  the  subject  of  the  peace  and  the  truce,  and  condemns  the  rebellious 
who  dare  to  infringe  them.  In  the  year  1215,  at  the  Council  of  Montpellier, 
assembled  by  Robert  de  Couryon,  and  presided  over  by  Cardinal  Benavent,  in 
his  office  as  legate  of  the  province,  all  the  regulations  established  at  different 

Q 


182  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

times  for  the  public  safety,  and  more  recently  to  secure  peace  between  lord  and 
lord,  and  town  and  town,  are  renewed  and  confirmed. 

Those  who  have  regarded  the  intervention  of  the  ecclesiastical  power  in  civil 
affairs  as  a  usurpation  of  the  rights  of  public  authority,  should  tell  us  how  it 
is  possible  to  usurp  that  which  does  not  exist,  and  how  a  power  which  is  unable 
to  exercise  the  authority  which  ought  to  belong  to  it,  can  reasonably  complain 
when  that  authority  passes  into  the  hands  of  those  who  have  force  and  skill  to 
make  use  of  it.  At  that  time,  the  public  authority  did  not  at  all  complain  of 
these  pretended  usurpations.  Governments  and  nations  looked  upon  them  as 
just  and  legitimate ;  for,  as  we  have  said  above,  they  were  natural  and  neces- 
sary, they  were  brought  about  by  the  force  of  events,  they  were  the  result  of 
the  situation  of  affairs.  Certainly,  it  would  now  seem  extraordinary  to  see 
bishops  provide  for  the  security  of  roads,  publish  edicts  against  incendiaries, 
against  robbers,  against  those  who  cut  down  olive-trees  and  commit  other  inju- 
ries of  the  kind ;  but,  at  the  time  we  are  speaking  of,  this  proceeding  was  very 
natural,  and  more,  it  was  necessary.  Thanks  to  the  care  of  the  Church,  to  that 
incessant  solicitude  which  has  been  since  so  inconsiderately  blamed,  the  founda- 
tions of  the  social  edifice,  in  which  we  now  dwell  in  peace,  were  laid ;  an  organ- 
ization was  realized  which  would  have  been  impossible  without  the  influence  of 
religion  and  the  action  of  ecclesiastical  authority.  If  you  wish  to  know  whe- 
ther any  fact  of  which  you  have  to  judge  is  the  result  of  the  nature  of  things, 
or  the  fruit  of  well  contrived  combinations,  observe  the  manner  in  which  it 
appears,  the  places  where  it  takes  its  rise,  the  times  which  witness  its  appear- 
ance }  and  if  you  shall  find  it  reproduced  at  once  in  places  far  distant  from  each 
other,  by  men  who  can  have  had  no  concert,  be  assured  that  it  is  not  the  result 
of  human  contrivance,  but  of  the  force  of  events.  These  conditions  are  found 
united  in  a  palpable  manner  in  the  action  of  the  ecclesiastical  power  on  public 
affairs.  Open  the  Councils  of  those  times,  and  everywhere  the  same  facts  meet 
your  eyes ;  thus,  to  quote  a  few  examples,  the  Council  of  Palentia,  in  the  king- 
dom of  Leon,  held  in  1129,  decrees,  in  its  12th  canon,  exile  or  seclusion  in  a 
monastery,  against  those  who  attack  the  clergy,  monks,  merchants,  pilgrims,  and 
women.  Let  us  pass  into  France  ;  the  Council  of  Clermont,  in  Auvergne,  held 
in  1130,  pronounces,  in  its  13th  canon,  excommunication  against  incendiaries. 
In  1157,  the  Council  of  Rheims,  in  the  3d  canon,  orders  to  be  respected, 
during  war,  the  persons  of  the  clergy,  of  monks,  women,  travellers,  laborers, 
and  vine-dressers.  Let  us  pass  into  Italy;  the  llth  Council  of  Lateran,  a 
General  Council,  convoked  in  1179,  forbids,  in  its  22d  canon,  to  maltreat  or 
disturb  monks,  clergy,  pilgrims,  merchants,  peasants,  either  travelling  or  engaged 
in  the  labors  of  agriculture,  and  animals  laboring  in  the  fields.  In  its  24th 
canon,  the  same  Council  excommunicates  those  who  make  slaves  of,  or  rob, 
Christians  on  voyages  of  commerce,  or  for  other  lawful  purposes ;  those  who 
plunder  the  shipwrecked  are  subjected  to  the  same  penalty,  unless  they  make 
restitution.  Let  us  go  to  England ;  there  the  Council  of  Oxford,  held  in  1222, 
by  Stephen  Langton,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  forbids,  by  its  20th  canon,  any 
one  to  have  robbers  in  their  service.  In  Sweden,  the  Council  of  Arbogen,  held 
in  1396,  by  Henry,  Archbishop  of  Upsala,  directs,  by  its  5th  canon,  that  church- 
burial  shall  be  refused  to  pirates,  ravishers,  incendiaries,  highway  robbers,  op- 
pressors of  the  poor,  and  other  malefactors ;  so  that  in  all  parts,  and  at  the  same 
periods,  we  see  the  same  fact  appear,  viz.  the  Church  struggling  against  injus- 
tice and  violence,  and  endeavoring  to  substitute  in  their  stead  the  empire  of  law 
and  justice. 

In  what  spirit  must  they  read  the  history  of  the  Church,  who  do  not  feel  the 
beauty  of  the  picture  presented  to  us  by  the  multitude  of  regulations,  scarcely 
indicated  here,  all  tending  to  protect  the  weak  against  the  strong  ?  The  clergy 
and  monks,  on  account  of  the  weakness  consequent  on  their  peaceful  profession, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  183 

find  in  the  canons  which  we  have  just  quoted  peculiar  protection ;  but  the  same 
is  granted  to  females,  to  pilgrims,  to  merchants,  to  villagers,  travelling,  or  en- 
gaged in  rural  labors,  and  to  beasts  of  labor — in  a  word,  to  all  that  is  weak ; 
and  observe,  that  this  protection  is  not  a  mere  passing  effort  of  generosity,  but 
a  system  practised  in  widely  different  places,  continued  for  centuries,  developed 
and  applied  by  all  the  means  that  charity  suggests — a  system  inexhaustible  in 
resources  and  contrivances,  both  in  producing  good  and  in  preventing  evil.  And 
surely  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  Church  was  influenced  in  this  by  views  of  self- 
interest  :  what  interested  motive  could  she  have  in  preventing  the  spoliation  of 
an  obscure  traveller,  the  violence  inflicted  on  a  poor  laborer,  or  the  insult  offered 
to  a  defenceless  woman  ?  The  spirit  which  then  animated  her,  whatever  might 
be  the  abuses  which  were  introduced  during  unhappy  times,  was,  as  it  now  is, 
the  spirit  of  God  himself — that  spirit  which  continually  communicates  to  her 
BO  marked  an  inclination  towards  goodness  and  justice,  and  always  urges  her  to 
realize,  by  any  possible  means,  her  sublime  desires.  I  leave  the  reader  to  judge 
whether  or  not  the  constant  efforts  of  the  Church  to  banish  the  dominion  of 
force  from  the  bosom  of  society  were  likely  to  improve  manners.  I  now  speak 
only  of  times  of  peace ;  for  I  need  not  stay  to  prove  that  during  the  time  of 
war  that  influence  must  have  had  the  happiest  results.  The  vce  victis  of  the 
ancients  has  disappeared  from  modern  history,  thanks  to  the  divine  religion 
which  knew  how  to  inspire  man  with  new  ideas  and  new  feelings — thanks  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  whose  zeal  for  the  redemption  of  captives  has  softened  the 
fierce  maxims  of  the  Komans,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  considered  it  necessary 
to  take  from  brave  men  the  hope  of  being  redeemed  from  servitude,  when  by 
the  chances  of  war  they  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies.  The  reader 
may  revert  to  the  seventh  chapter  of  this  work,  and  the  third  paragraph  of  the 
fifteenth  note,  where  there  are,  in  the  original  text,  numerous  documents  that 
may  be  quoted  in  support  of  our  assertion ;  he  will  thus  be  better  able  to  judge 
of  the  gratitude  which  is  due  to  the  charity,  disinterestedness,  and  indefatigable 
zeal  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  favor  of  the  unfortunate,  who  groaned  in  bondage 
in  the  power  of  their  enemies.  We  must  also  consider  that,  slavery  once  abo- 
lished, the  system  was  necessarily  improved ;  for  if  those  who  surrendered  could 
no  longer  be  put  to  death,  or  be  kept  in  slavery,  the  only  thing  to  be  done  was, 
to  retain  them  for  the  time  necessary  to  prevent  their  doing  mischief,  or  until 
they  were  ransomed.  Now,  this  is  the  modern  system,  which  consists  in  retain- 
ing prisoners  till  the  end  of  the  war,  or  until  they  are  exchanged. 

Although  the  amelioration  of  manners,  as  I  have  said  above,  consists,  properly 
speaking,  in  the  exclusion  of  force,  we  must  yet  avoid  considering  this  exclusion 
of  force  in  the  abstract,  and  believing  that  such  an  order  of  things  was  possible, 
by  virtue  of  the  mere  development  of  mind.  All  is  connected  in  this  world ; 
it  is  not  enough,  to  constitute  the  real  improvement  of  manners,  that  they  avoid 
violence  as  much  as  possible;  they  must  also  be  benevolent.  As  long  as  they 
are  not  so,  they  will  be  less  gentle  than  enervated ;  the  use  of  force  will  not  be 
banished  from  society,  but  it  will  remain  artificially  disguised.  It  will  be  un- 
derstood, then,  that  we  are  obliged  here  to  take  a  survey  of  the  principle  whence 
European  civilization  has  drawn  the  spirit  of  benevolence  which  distinguishes 
it  j  we  shall  thus  succeed  in  showing  that  the  gentleness  of  our  present  manners 
is  principally  owing  to  Catholicity.  There  is,  besides,  in  the  examination  of  the 
principle  of  benevolence,  so  much  importance  of  its  own,  independently  of  its 
connection  with  the  question  which  now  occupies  us,  that  we  cannot  avoid  devot- 
ing some  pages  to  it,  in  the  course  of  an  analytical  review  of  the  elements  of 
our  civilization.  (22) 


184 
CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

ON   THE   DEVELOPMENT    OF   PUBLIC   BENEFICENCE   IN   EUROPE. 

NEVER  will  manners  be  perfectly  gentle  without  the  existence  of  public  bene- 
ficence ;  so  that  gentleness  of  manners  and  beneficence,  although  distinct,  are 
sisters.  Public  beneficence,  properly  so  called,  was  unknown  among  the 
ancients.  Individuals  might  be  beneficent  there,  but  society  was  without  com- 
passion. Thus,  the  foundation  of  public  establishments  of  beneficence  formed 
no  part  of  the  system  of  administration  among  ancient  nations.  What,  then, 
did  they  do  with  the  unfortunate  ?  We  will  answer  with  the  author  of  the 
G6nie  de  Christianisme,  that  they  had  no  resources  but  infanticide  and  slavery. 
Christianity  having  become  predominant  everywhere,  we  see  the  authority  of 
the  Church  employed  in  destroying  the  remains  of  cruel  customs.  In  the  year 
442,  the  Council  of  Vaison,  establishing  a  regulation  for  the  legitimate  posses- 
sion of  foundlings,  decrees  ecclesiastical  censure  against  those  who  disturb  by 
importunate  reproaches  charitable  persons  who  have  received  children.  The 
Council  adopts  this  measure  with  the  view  of  protecting  a  beneficent  custom ; 
for,  adds  the  canon,  these  children  were  exposed  to  be  eaten  by  dogs.  There  were 
still  found  fathers  unnatural  enough  to  kill  their  children.  The  Council  of 
Lerida,  held  in  546,  imposes  seven  years  of  penance  on  those  who  commit  such 
a  crime;  and  that  of  Toledo,  held  in  589,  forbids^  in  the  17th  canon,  parents 
to  commit  this  crime.  Still,  the  difficulty  did  not  consist  in  correcting  these 
excesses;  crimes  thus  opposed  to  the  first  notions  of  morality — so  much  in 
contradiction  to  the  feelings  of  nature — tended  to  their  own  extirpation.  The 
difficulty  consisted  in  finding  proper  means  to  organize  a  vast  system  of  benefi- 
cence, to  provide  constant  succor,  not  only  for  children,  but  for  old  men,  for  the 
sick,  for  the  poor  incapable  of  living  by  their  own  labor ;  in  a  word,  for  all  the 
necessitous.  Familiarized  as  we  are  with  such  a  system  universally  established, 
we  see  nothing  in  it  but  what  is  simple  and  natural ;  we  can  hardly  find  any 
merit  in  it.  But  let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  that  such  institutions  do  not 
exist ;  let  us  transport  ourselves  to  the  times  when  there  was  not  even  the  first 
idea  of  them,  what  continued  efforts  would  there  not  be  required  to  establish 
and  organize  them ! 

It  is  clear  that  by  the  mere  extension  of  Christian  charity  in  the  world  the 
various  wants  of  humanity  must  have  been  more  frequently  succored,  and  with 
more  efficacy,  than  they  were  before ;  and  this  even  if  we  suppose  that  the 
exercise  of  charity  was  limited  to  purely  individual  means.  Assuredly,  there 
would  always  have  been  a  great  number  of  the  faithful  who  would  have  remem- 
bered the  doctrines  and  example  of  Jesus  Christ.  Our  Saviour  did  not  content 
Himself  with  teaching  us  by  his  discourses  the  obligation  of  loving  our  neigh- 
bor as  ourselves,  nor  with  a  barren  affection,  but  by  giving  food  to  the  hungry, 
drink  to  the  thirsty,  clothes  to  the  naked ;  by  visiting  the  sick  and  prisoners. 
He  showed  us  in  his  own  conduct  a  model  of  the  practice  of  charity.  He 
could  have  shown  in  a  thousand  ways  the  power  which  belonged  to  Him  in 
heaven  and  on  earth ;  his  voice  could  have  controlled  all  the  elements,  stopped 
the  motions  of  the  stars,  and  suspended  all  the  laws  of  nature ;  but  He  delighted 
above  all  in  displaying  his  beneficence ;  He  only  attested  his  divinity  by  mira- 
cles which  healed  or  consoled  the  unfortunate.  His  whole  life  is  summed  up  in 
the  sublime  simplicity  of  these  two  words  of  the  sacred  text :  pertransiit  benefa- 
ciendo ;  He  went  about  doing  good. 

Whatever  good  might  be  expected  from  Christian  charity  when  left  to  its 
own  inspiration,  and  acting  in  a  sphere  purely  individual,  it  was  not  desirable 
to  leave  it  in  this  state.  It  was  necessary  to  realize  it  in  permanent  institu- 
tions, and  not  to  leave  the  consolation  of  the  unfortunate  to  the  mercy  of  man 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  185 

and  passing  circumstances;  this  is  the  reason  why  there  was  so  much  wisdom 
and  foresight  in  the  idea  of  founding  establishments  of  beneficence.  It  was  the 
Church  that  conceived  and  executed  this  idea.  Therein  she  only  applied  to  a 
particular  case  her  general  rule  of  conduct;  which  is,  never  to  leave  to  the  will 
of  individuals  what  can  be  connected  with  an  institution :  and  observe,  that 
this  is  one  of  the  causes  of  the  strength  inherent  in  all  that  belongs  to  Catholi- 
city. As  the  principle  of  authority  in  matters  of  faith  preserves  to  her  unity 
and  constancy  therein,  so  the  rule  of  intrusting  every  thing  to  institutions 
secures  the  solidity  and  duration  of  all  her  works.  These  two  principles  have 
an  intimate  connection;  for  if  you  examine  them  attentively,  the  one  supposes 
that  she  distrusts  the  intellect  of  man,  the  other,  that  she  distrusts  his  indivi- 
dual will  and  capacity.  The  one  supposes  that  man  is  not  sufficient  of  himself 
to  attain  to,  and  preserve  the  knowledge  of,  certain  truths;  the  other,  that  he 
is  so  feeble  and  capricious,  that  it  is  unwise  to  leave  to  his  weakness  and  incon- 
stancy the  care  of  doing  good.  Now,  neither  one  nor  the  other  is  injurious  to 
man;  neither  one  nor  the  other  lowers  his  proper  dignity.  The  Church  only 
tells  him,  that  he  is,  in  reality,  subject  to  error,  inclined  to  evil,  inconstant  in 
his  designs,  and  very  miserable  in  his  resources.  These  are  melancholy  truths; 
but  the  experience  of  every  day  attests  them,  and  the  Christian  religion  explains 
them,  by  establishing,  as  a  fundamental  dogma,  the  fall  of  man  in  the  person 
of  our  first  parent.  Protestantism,  following  principles  diametrically  opposite, 
applies  the  same  spirit  of  individuality  to  the  will  as  to  the  intelligence;  it  is 
even  the  natural  enemy  of  institutions.  Without  going  further  than  our  present 
subject,  we  see  that  its  first  step,  on  its  appearance,  was  to  destroy  what  existed, 
without  in  any  way  replacing  it.  Will  it  be  believed  that  Montesquieu  went  so 
far  as  to  applaud  this  work  of  destruction  ?  This  is  another  proof  of  the  fatal 
influence  exerted  over  minds  by  the  pestilential  atmosphere  of  the  last  century : 
"Henri  VIII.,"  says  Montesquieu,  "voulant  reformer  Feglise  d'Angleterre, 
detruisit  les  moines :  nation  paresseuse  elle-meme,  et  qui  entretenait  la  paresse 
des  autres,  parceque,  practiquant  Fhospitalite,  une  infinite  de  gens  oisifs,  gentil- 
hommes  et  bourgeois,  passoient  leur  vie  a  courir  de  couvent  en  couvent.  11  ota 
encore  les  hopitaux,  oil  le  has  peuple  trouvait  sa  subsistence,  comme  les  gentil- 
hommes  trouvaient  la  leur  dans  les  monasteres.  Depuis  ce  changement,  Tesprit 
de  commerce  et  d'industrie  s'dtablit  en  Angleterre."  (I)e  V Esprit  des  Lois, 
liv.  xxiii.  chap.  19.)  That  Montesquieu  should  praise  this  conduct  of  Henry 
VIII.,  and  the  destruction  of  monasteries,  for  the  miserable  reason,  that  it  was 
good  to  deprive  the  idle  of  the  hospitality  of  the  monks,  is  a  notion  which  ought 
not  to  astonish  us,  as  such  vulgar  ideas  were  in  accordance  with  the  taste  of  the 
philosophy  which  had  then  begun  to  prevail.  It  attempted  to  find  profound 
economical  and  political  reasons  for  all  that  was  in  opposition  to  the  institutions 
of  Catholicity ;  and  this  was  not  difficult,  for  a  prejudiced  mind  always  finds  in 
books,  as  well  as  in  facts,  what  it  seeks.  We  might  inquire  of  Montesquieu, 
however,  what  is  become  of  the  property  of  the  monasteries?  As  these  rich 
spoils  were  in  great  part  given  to  the  same  nobles  who  found  hospitality  with 
the  monks,  *we  might  observe  to  him,  that  it  was  a  singular  way  of  diminishing 
the  idleness  of  people,  to  give  them  as  their  own  the  property  which  they 
had  previously  enjoyed  as  guests.  It  cannot  be  denied,  that  to  take  to  the 
houses  of  the  nobles  the  property  which  had  supported  the  hospitality  which 
the  monks  showed  them,  was  certainly  to  save  them  the  trouble  of  running  from 
monastery  to  monastery.  But  what  we  cannot  tolerate  is,  to  hear  vaunted  as  a 
political  chef-d'osuvre,  the  suppression  of  the  hospitals  where  the  poor  people  found 
their  xulsistence.  What!  are  these  your  lofty  views,  and  is  your  philosophy  so 
devoid  of  compassion,  that  you  think  the  destruction  of  the  asylums  of  misfor- 
tune proper  means  for  encouraging  industry  and  commerce?  The  worst  of  it 
is,  that  Montesquieu,  seduced  by  the  desire  of  offering  new  and  piquant  obser- 
24  Q  2 


186  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

vations,  goes  so  far  as  to  deny  the  utility  of  hospitals,  pretending  that,  in  Rome, 
they  make  all  live  in  comfort  except  those  who  labor.  He  does  not  wish  to 
have  them  in  rich  nations  or  in  poor  ones.  He  supports  this  cruel  paradox  by 
a  reason  stated  in  the  following  words :  "  Quand  la  nation  est  pauvre,"  says  he, 
"  la  pauvrete  particuliere  derive  de  la  misere  generate,  et  elle  est,  pour  ainsi 
dire,  la  misere  generale.  Tous  les  hopitaux  du  monde  ne  sauraient  guerir  cette 
pauvrete  particuliere;  au  contra  ire  I' esprit  de  pa  resse  qu'ils  inspirent  augmente 
la  pauvrete  generate,  et  par  consequent  la  particuliere."  Thus,  hospitals  are 
represented  as  dangerous  to  poor  nations,  and  consequently  condemned.  Let 
us  now  listen  to  what  is  said  of  rich  ones:  u  J'ai  dit  que  les  nations  riches  avai- 
ent  besoin  d' hopitaux,  parceque  la  fortune  y  e"tait  sujette  a  mille  accidents;  mais 
on  sent  que  les  recours  passagers  vaudraient  bien  mieux  que  les  etablissements  per- 
petuels.  Le  mal  est  momentane";  il  faut  done  des  secours  de  meme  nature,  et 
qui  soient  applicables  a  P  accident  particulier."  (De  V Esprit  des  Lois,  liv.  xxiii. 
chap.  19.)  It  is  difficult  to  find  any  thing  more  empty  or  more  false.  Un- 
doubtedly, if  we  were  to  judge,  by  these  passages,  of  the  Esprit  des  Lois,  the 
merit  of  which  has  been  so  much  exaggerated,  we  should  be  compelled  to  con- 
demn it  in  terms  more  severe  than  those  employed  by  M.  de  Bonald,  when  he 
called  it  "  the  most  profound  of  superficial  works."  Happily  for  the  poor,  and 
for  the  good  order  of  society,  Europe  in  general  has  not  adopted  these  maxims; 
and  on  this  point,  as  on  many  others,  prejudices  against  Catholicity  have  been 
laid  aside,  in  order  to  continue,  with  more  or  less  modification,  the  system  which 
she  taught.  We  find  in  England  herself  a  considerable  number  of  establish- 
ments of  beneficence ;  and  it  is  not  believed  in  that  country  that  it  is  necessary, 
in  order  to  excite  the  activity  of  the  poor,  to  expose  them  to  the  danger  of  dying 
of  hunger.  We  should  always  remember  that  the  system  of  public  establish- 
ments for  beneficence,  now  general  in  Europe,  would  not  have  existed  without 
Catholicity;  indeed,  we  may  rest  assured,  that  if  the  religious  schism  had  taken 
place  before  the  foundation  and  organization  of  this  system,  European  society 
would  not  now  have  enjoyed  these  establishments  which  do  it  so  much  honor, 
and  are  so  precious  an  element  of  good  government  and  public  tranquillity. 
It  is  one  thing  to  found  and  maintain  an  establishment  of  this  kind,  when  a 
great  number  of  similar  ones  already  exist, — when  governments  possess  im- 
mense resources,  and  strength  sufficient  to  protect  all  interests;  but  it  is  a  very 
different  thing  to  establish  a  multitude  of  them  in  all  places,  when  there  is  no 
model  to  be  copied,  when  it  is  necessary  to  improvise  in  a  thousand  ways  the 
indispensable  resources, — when  public  authority  has  no  prestige  or  force  to  con- 
trol the  violent  passions  that  struggle  to  gain  every  thing  that  they  can  feed  on. 
Now,  in  modern  times,  since  the  existence  of  Protestantism,  the  first  only  of 
these  things  has  been  done ;  the  second  was  accomplished  centuries  before  by  the 
Catholic  Church;  and  let  it  be  observed,  that  what  has  been  done  in  Protestant 
countries  in  favor  of  public  beneficence,  has  been  done  by  administrative  acts 
of  the  government,  acts  which  were  necessarily  inspired  by  the  view  of  the  happy 
results  already  obtained  from  similar  institutions.  But  Protestantism,  by  itself, 
considered  as  a  separate  Church,  has  done  nothing,  and  it  could  do  nothing;  for 
in  all  places  where  it  preserves  any  thing  of  hierarchical  organization,  it  is  the 
mere  instrument  of  the  civil  power;  consequently  it  cannot  there  act  by  its  own 
inspirations.  Such  is  the  vice  of  its  constitution.  Its  prejudice  against  the 
religious  institutions,  both  of  men  and  women,  make  it  sterile  in  this  respect. 
Thus,  indeed,  it  is  deprived  of  one  of  the  most  powerful  elements  possessed  by 
Catholicity  to  accomplish  the  most  arduous  and  laborious  works  of  charity.  For 
the  great  works  of  charity,  it  is  necessary  to  be  free  from  worldly  attachments 
and  self-love;  and  these  qualities  are  found  in  an  eminent  degree  in  persons 
who  are  devoted  to  charity  in  religious  institutions.  There  they  commence 
with  that  freedom  which  is  the  root  of  all  the  rest — the  absence  of  self-love. 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  187 

The  Catholic  Church  has  not  been  instigated  to  this  by  the  civil  power ;  she 
has  considered  it  as  one  of  her  own  peculiar  duties  to  provide  for  the  unfortu- 
nate. Her  bishops  have  always  been  looked  upon  as  the  protectors  and  the 
natural  inspectors  of  beneficent  establishments.  Therefore  there  was  a  law 
which  placed  hospitals  under  the  charge  of  the  bishops ;  and  thence  it  comes 
that  that  class  of  charitable  institutions  has  always  occupied  a  distinguished 
place  in  canonical  legislation.  The  Church,  from  remote  times,  has  made  laws 
concerning  hospitals.  Thus,  we  see  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  place  under  the 
authority  of  the  bishop  the  clergy  residing  in  Ptochiis, — that  is,  as  explained  by 
Zonarus,  in  the  establishments  destined  to  support  and  provide  for  the  poor: 
"  Such/'  he  says,  "  as  those  where  orphans  and  the  old  and  infirm  are  received 
and  cared  for."  The  Council  makes  use  of  this  expression,  according  to  the 
tradition  of  the  holy  Fathers;  thereby  indicating  that  regulations  had  been 
made  of  old  by  the  Church  concerning  establishments  of  this  kind.  The  learned 
also  know  what  the  ancient  diaconies  were, — places  of  charity,  where  poor  widows, 
orphans,  old  men,  and  other  unfortunate  persons,  were  received. 

When  the  irruption  of  the  barbarians  had  introduced  everywhere  the  reign 
of  force,  the  possessions  which  hospitals  already  had,  and  those  which  they 
afterwards  gained,  were  exposed  to  unbounded  rapacity.  The  Church  did  all 
she  could  to  protect  them.  It  was  forbidden  to  take  them,  under  the  severest 
penalties;  those  who  made  the  attempt  were  punished  as  murderers  of  the  poor. 
The  Council  of  Orleans,  held  in  549,  forbids,  in  its  13th  canon,  taking  the 
property  of  hospitals;  the  15th  canon  of  the  same  Council  confirms  the  founda- 
tion of  a  hospital  at  Lyons,  a  foundation  due  to  the  charity  of  King  Childebert 
and  Queen  Ultrogotha.  The  Council  takes  measures  to  secure  the  safety  and 
good  management  of  the  funds  of  that  hospital;  all  violating  these  regulations 
are  anathematized  as  guilty  of  homicide  of  the  poor. 

We  find,  with  respect  to  the  poor,  in  very  ancient  Councils,  regulations  of 
charity  and  police  at  the  same  time,  quite  similar  to  measures  now  adopted  in 
certain  countries.  For  example,  parishes  are  enjoined  to  make  a  list  of  their 
poor,  to  maintain  them,  &c.  The  Council  of  Tours,  held  in  566  or  567,  by  its 
5th  canon  orders  every  town  to  maintain  its  poor;  and  the  priests  in  the 
country,  as  well  as  the  faithful,  to  maintain  their  own,  in  order  to  prevent  men- 
dicants from  wandering  about  the  towns  and  provinces.  With  respect  to  lepers, 
the  21st  canon  of  the  Council  of  Orleans,  before  quoted,  prescribes  to  bishops  to 
take  particular  care  of  these  unfortunate  beings  in  all  diocesses,  and  to  furnish 
them  with  food  and  clothing  out  of  the  Church  funds ;  the  Council  of  Lyons, 
held  in  583,  in  its  6th  canon  ordains  that  the  lepers  of  every  town  and  terri- 
tory shall  be  supported  at  the  expense  of  the  Church  under  the  care  of  the 
bishop.  The  Church  had  a  register  of  the  poor,  intended  to  regulate  the  distri- 
bution which  was  made  to  them  of  a  portion  of  the  ecclesiastical  property ;  it 
was  expressly  forbidden  to  demand  any  thing  from  the  poor  for  being  inscribed 
in  this  book  of  charity.  The  Council  of  Kheims,  held  in  874,  in  the  second  of 
its  five  articles  forbids  receiving  any  thing  from  the  poor  thus  inscribed,  and  that 
under  pain  of  deposition.  Zeal  for  improving  the  condition  of  prisoners,  a 
kind  of  charity  which  has  been  so  much  displayed  in  modern  times,  is  extremely 
ancient  in  the  Church.  We  must  observe  that  in  the  sixth  century  there  was 
already  an  inspector  of  prisons ;  the  archdeacon  or  the  provost  of  the  church  was 
obliged  to  visit  prisoners  on  all  Sundays;  no  class  of  criminals  was  excluded 
from  the  benefit  of  this  solicitude.  The  archdeacon  was  bound  to  learn  their 
wants,  and  to  furnish  them,  by  means  of  a  person  recommended  by  the  bishop, 
with  food  and  all  they  stood  in  need  of.  This  was  ordered  by  the  20th  canon  of 
the  Council  of  Orleans,  held  in  549.  It  would  be  too  long  to  enumerate  even  a 
small  part  of  the  ordinances  which  attest  the  zeal  of  the  Church  for  the  comfort 
and  consolation  of  the  unfortunate;  besides,  it  would  be  beyond  my  purpose,  for 


188  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

I  have  only  undertaken  to  compare  the  spirit  of  Protestantism  with  that  of 
Catholicity  with  respect  to  works  of  charity.  Yet,  and  as  the  development  of 
this  question  has  naturally  led  me  to  state  several  historical  facts,  I  shall  allude 
to  the  141st  canon  of  the  Council  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  enjoining  upon  prelates  to 
found,  according  to  the  example  of  their  predecessors,  a  hospital  to  receive  all 
the  poor  that  the  revenues  of  the  Church  were  able  to  support.  Prebendaries 
were  bound  to  give  to  the  hospital  the  tenth  of  their  fruits ;  one  of  them  was 
appointed  to  receive  the  poor  and  strangers,  and  to  watch  over  the  administration 
of  the  hospital.  Such  was  the  rule  of  prebendaries.  In  the  rule  destined  for 
the  canonesses,  the  same  Council  ordains  that  a  hospital  shall  be  established 
close  to  the  house,  and  that  it  shall  itself  contain  a  place  reserved  for  poor 
women.  Therefore,  were  there  seen,  many  centuries  later,  in  various  places, 
hospitals  near  to  prebendal  churches.  As  we  approach  our  own  times,  we 
everywhere  see  innumerable  institutions  founded  for  charity.  Ought  we  not  to 
admire  the  fruitfulness  with  which  there  arise,  on  all  sides,  as  many  resources  as 
are  necessary  to  succour  all  the  unfortunate  ?  We  cannot  calculate  with  preci- 
sion what  would  have  happened  if  Protestantism  had  not  appeared,  but  at  least 
there  is  a  conjecture  authorized  by  reasons  of  analogy.  If  the  development  of 
European  civilization  had  been  fully  carried  out  under  the  principle  of  religious 
unity,  if  the  so-called  Reformation  had  not  plunged  Europe  into  continual  revo- 
lutions and  reactions,  there  would  certainly  have  been  produced  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Catholic  Church  some  general  system  of  beneficence,  which,  organized  on 
a  grand  scale  and  in  conformity  with  the  new  progress  of  society,  would  have 
been  able  to  prevent  or  effectually  to  remedy  the  sore  of  pauperism,  that  cancer 
of  modern  nations.  What  was  not  to  be  expected  from  all  the  intelligence  and 
all  the  resources  of  Europe,  working  in  concert  to  obtain  this  great  result  ? 
Unhappily,  the  unity  of  faith  was  broken;  authority,  the  proper  centre,  past, 
present,  and  future,  was  rejected.  From  that  time  Europe,  which  was  destined 
to  become  a  nation  of  brothers,  was  changed  into  a  most  fiercely-contested  battle- 
field. Hatred,  engendered  by  religious  differences,  prevented  any  united  efforts 
for  new  arrangements ;  and  the  necessities  which  arose  out  of  the  bosom  of  the 
social  and  political  organization,  which  was  for  Europe  the  fruit  of  so  many  cen- 
turies of  labor,  could  not  be  provided  for.  Bitter  disputes,  rebellions,  and  wars 
were  acclimatized  among  us. 

Let  us  remember  that  the  Protestant  schism  not  only  prevented  the  union  of 
all  the  efforts  of  Europe  to  attain  the  end  in  question,  but,  moreover,  it  has  been 
the  reason  why  Catholicism  has  not  been  able  to  act  in  a  regular  manner  even  in 
those  countries  where  it  has  preserved  its  cotnplete  empire,  or  a  decided  predomi- 
nance. In  these  countries  it  has  been  compelled  to  hold  itself  in  an  attitude  of 
defence ;  it  has  been  obliged,  by  the  attacks  of  its  enemies,  to  employ  a  great 
part  of  its  resources  in  defending  its  own  existence :  it  is  very  probably  for  this 
reason  that  the  state  of  things  in  Europe  is  entirely  different  from  what  it  would 
have  been  on  a  contrary  supposition  ;  and  perhaps  in  the  latter  case  there  would 
not  have  existed  the  sad  necessity  of  exhausting  itself  in  impotent  efforts  against 
an  evil,  which,  according  to  all  appearances,  and  unless  hitherto  unknown  means 
can  be  devised,  appears  without  remedy.  I  shall  be  told  that  the  Church  in  this 
case  would  have  had  an  excessive  authority  over  all  that  relates  to  charity,  and 
would  have  unjustly  usurped  the  civil  power.  This  is  a  mistake ;  the  Church 
has  never  claimed  any  thing  that  is  not  quite  conformable  to  her  indelible  charac- 
ter of  protector  of  all  the  unfortunate.  During  some  centuries,  it  is  true,  we 
hardly  hear  any  other  voice  or  perceive  any  other  action  than  hers,  in  all  that 
relates  to  beneficence }  but  we  must  observe  that  the  civil  power  during  that 
time  was  very  far  from  possessing  a  regular  and  vigorous  administration,  capable 
of  d>ing  without  the  aid  of  the  Church.  The  latter  was  so  far  from  being  actu- 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  189 

ated  by  any  motives  of  ambition,  that  her  double  charge  of  spiritual  and  temporal 
things  imposed  on  her  all  sorts  of  sacrifices. 

Three  centuries  have  passed  away  since  the  event  of  which  we  now  lament 
the  fatal  results.  Europe  during  this  period  has  been  submitted  in  great  part 
to  the  influence  of  Protestantism,  but  it  has  made  no  progress  thereby.  I  cannot 
believe  that  these  three  centuries  would  have  passed  away  under  the  exclusive 
influence  of  Catholicity,  without  producing  in  the  bosom  of  Europe  a  degree  of 
charity  sufficient  to  raise  the  system  of  beneficence  to  the  height  demanded  by 
the  difficulties  and  new  interests  of  society.  If  we  look  at  the  different  systems 
which  ferment  in  minds  devoted  to  the  study  of  this  grave  question,  we  shall 
always  find  there  association  under  one  form  or  another.  Now  association  has 
been  at  all  times  one  of  the  favorite  principles  of  Catholicity,  which,  by  pro- 
claiming unity  in  faith,  proclaims  it  also  in  all  things;  but  there  is  this  difference, 
that  a  great  number  of  associations  which  are  conceived  and  established  in  our 
days  are  nothing  but  an  agglomeration  of  interests ;  they  want  unity  of  will  and 
of  aim,  conditions  which  can  be  obtained  only  by  means  of  Christian  charity. 
Yet  these  two  conditions  are  indispensably  necessary  to  accomplish  great  works 
of  beneficence,  if  any  thing  else  is  required  than  a  mere  measure  of  public  admin- 
istration. As  to  the  administration  itself,  it  is  of  little  avail  when  it  is  not 
vigorous  j  and  unfortunately,  in  acquiring  the  necessary  vigor,  its  action 
becomes  somewhat  stiff  and  harsh.  Therefore  it  is  that  Christian  charity  is 
required,  which,  penetrating  on  all  sides  like  a  balsam,  softens  all  that  is  harsh 
in  human  action.  I  pity  the  unfortunate  who  in  their  necessities  find  only  the 
succor  of  the  civil  authorities,  without  the  intervention  of  Christian  charity. 
In  reports  presented  to  the  public,  philanthropy  may  and  will  exaggerate  the 
care  which  it  lavishes  on  the  unfortunate,  but  things  will  not  be  so  in  reality. 
The  love  of  our  brethren,  when  it  is  not  founded  on  religious  principle,  is  as 
fruitful  in  words  as  it  is  barren  in  deeds.  The  sight  of  the  poor,  of  the  sick, 
of  impotent  old  age,  is  too  disagreeable  for  us  long  to  bear  it,  unless  we  are  urged 
to  it  by  very  powerful  motives.  Even  much  less  can  we  hope  that  a  vague 
feeling  of  humanity  will  suffice  to  make  us  encounter,  as  we  should,  the  constant 
cares  required  to  console  these  unfortunate  beings.  When  Christian  charity  is 
wanting,  a  good  administration  will  no  doubt  enforce  punctuality  and  exactitude 
— all  that  can  be  demanded  of  men  who  receive  a  salary  for  their  services  :  but 
one  thing  will  be  wanting,  which  nothing  can  replace  and  money  cannot  buy, 
viz.  love.  But  it  will  be  asked,  have  you  no  faith  in  philanthropy?  No ;  for 
as  M.  de  Chateaubriand  says,  philanthropy  is  only  the  false  coin  of  charity. 
It  was  then  perfectly  reasonable  that  the  Church  should  have  a  direct  influence 
in  all  branches  of  beneficence,  for  she  knew  better  than  any  others  how  to  make 
Christian  charity  active,  by  applying  it  to  all  kinds  of  necessities  and  miseries. 
Therein  she  did  not  gratify  her  ambition,  but  found  food  for  her  zeal ;  she  did 
not  claim  a  privilege,  but  exerted  a  right.  In  fine,  if  you  will  persevere  in 
calling  such  a  desire  ambition,  you  cannot  deny  at  least  that  it  was  ambition  of 
a  new  kind.  An  ambition  truly  worthy  of  glory  and  reward,  is  that  which 
claims  the  right  of  succoring  and  consoling  the  unfortunate.  (23) 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

ON   TOLERATION   IN   RELIGIOUS   MATTERS. 

THE  question  of  the  improvement  of  manners,  treated  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ters, naturally  leads  me  to  another,  sufficiently  thorny  in  itself,  and  rendered 
still  more  so  by  innumerable  prejudices.  I  allude  to  toleration  in  matters  of 
religion.  The  word  Catholicity,  to  certain  persons,  is  the  synonyme  of  intole- 


190  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

ranee ;  and  the  confusion  of  ideas  on  this  point  has  become  such,  that  no  more 
laborious  task  can  be  undertaken  than  to  clear  them  up.  It  is  only  necessary 
to  pronounce  the  word  intolerance,  to  raise  in  the  minds  of  some  people  all 
sorts  of  black  and  horrible  ideas.  Legislation,  institutions,  and  men  of  past 
times,  all  are  condemned  without  appeal,  the  moment  there  is  seen  the  slightest 
appearance  of  intolerance.  More  than  one  cause  contributes  to  this  universal 
prejudice.  Yet,  if  called  upon  to  point  out  the  principal  one,  we  would  repeat 
the  profound  maxim  of  Cato,  who,  when  accused  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  of 
certain  offences  of  his  past  life,  committed  at  times  long  gone  by,  said,  "It  is 
difficult  to  render  an  account  of  one's  own  conduct  to  men  belonging  to  an  age 
different  from  that  in  which  one  has  lived."  There  are  some  things  of  which 
one  cannot  accurately  judge  without,  not  only  a  knowledge  of  them,  but  also  a 
complete  appreciation  of  the  times  when  they  occurred.  How  many  men  are 
capable  of  attaining  to  this  ?  There  are  few  who  are  able  to  succeed  in  freeing 
their  minds  from  the  influence  of  the  atmosphere  which  surrounds  them ;  but 
there  are  fewer  still  who  can  do  the  same  with  their  hearts.  The  age  in  which 
we  live  is  precisely  the  reverse  of  the  ages  of  intolerance ;  and  this  is  the  first 
difficulty  which  meets  us  in  discussing  questions  of  this  kind.  The  prejudice 
and  bad  faith  of  some  who  have  applied  themselves  to  this  subject,  have  contri- 
buted also  in  a  considerable  degree  to  erroneous  opinions.  There  is  nothing  in 
the  world  which  cannot  be  undervalued  by  showing  only  one  side  of  it ;  for  thus 
considered,  all  things  are  false,  or  rather  are  not  themselves.  All  bodies  have 
three  dimensions ;  only  to  look  at  one  is  not  to  form  an  idea  of  the  body  itself, 
but  of  a  quantity  very  different  from  it.  Take  any  institution,  the  most  just 
and  useful  that  can  be  imagined,  then  all  the  inconveniences  and  evils  which  it 
has  caused,  taking  care  to  bring  together  into  a  few  pages  what  in  reality  was 
spread  over  a  great  many  ages ;  then  your  history  will  be  disgusting,  hideous, 
and  worthy  of  execration.  Let  a  partisan  of  democracy  describe  to  you  in  a 
narrow  compass,  and  by  means  of  historical  facts,  all  the  inconveniences  and 
evils  of  monarchy,  the  vices  and  the  crimes  of  kings ;  how  will  monarchy  then 
appear  to  you  ?  But  let  a  partisan  of  monarchy  paint  to  you,  in  his  turn,  by  the 
same  method  of  historical  facts,  democracy  and  demagogues ;  and  what  will  you 
then  think  of  democracy  ?  Assemble  in  one  picture  all  the  evils  occasioned  to 
nations  by  a  high  degree  of  development  of  the  social  state ;  civilization  and 
refinement  will  then  appear  detestable.  By  seeking  and  selecting  in  the  annals 
of  the  human  mind  certain  traits,  the  history  of  science  may  be  made  the  his- 
tory of  folly,  and  even  of  crime.  By  heaping  together  the  fatal  accidents  that 
have  occurred  to  masters  of  the  healing  art,  their  beneficent  profession  may  be 
represented  as  a  career  of  homicide.  In  a  word,  every  thing  may  be  falsified 
by  proceeding  in  this  way.  God  himself  would  appear  to  us  as  a  monster  of 
cruelty  and  tyranny,  if,  taking  away  his  goodness,  wisdom,  and  justice,  we  only 
attended  to  the  evils  which  we  see  in  a  world  created  by  his  power  and  governed 
by  his  providence. 

Having  laid  down  these  principles,  let  us  apply  them.  The  spirit  of  the 
age,  particular  circumstances,  and  an  order  of  things  quite  different  from  ours, 
are  all  forgotten,  and  the  history  of  the  religious  intolerance  of  Catholics  is 
composed  by  taking  care  to  condense  into  a  few  pages,  and  paint  in  the  blackest 
colours,  the  severity  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  of  Philip  II.,  of  Mary  of  Eng- 
land, of  Louis  XIV.,  and  every  thing  of  the  kind  that  occurred  during  three 
centuries.  The  reader  who  receives,  almost  at  the  same  moment,  the  impres- 
sion of  events  which  occurred  during  a  period  of  three  hundred  years, — the 
reader,  accustomed  to  live  in  society  where  prisons  are  being  converted  into 
houses  of  recreation,  and  where  the  punishment  of  death  is  vigorously  opposed, 
can  he  behold  the  appearance  of  darksome  dungeons,  the  instruments  of  punish- 
ment, the  sanbenitos  and  scaffolds,  without  being  deeply  moved  ?  He  will  be- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  191 

wail  the  unfortunate  lot  of  those  who  perish ;  he  will  be  indignant  against  the 
authors  of  what  he  calls  horrible  atrocities.  Nothing  has  been  said  to  this  can- 
did reader  of  the  principles  and  conduct  of  Protestants  at  the  same  time ;  he 
has  not  been  reminded  of  the  cruelty  of  Henry  VIII.  and  of  Elizabeth  of  Eng- 
land. Thus  all  his  hatred  is  directed  against  Catholics,  and  he  is  accustomed 
to  regard  Catholicity  as  a  religion  of  tyranny  and  blood.  But  will  a  judgment 
thus  formed  be  just  ?  Will  this  be  a  sentence  passed  with  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  cause  ?  What  would  impartiality  direct  us  to  do,  if  we  met  with  a  dark 
picture,  painted  in  the  way  we  have  described,  of  monarchy,  democracy,  or 
civilization,  of  science,  or  of  the  healing  art  ?  What  we  should  do,  or  rather 
what  we  ought  to  do,  is  to  extend  our  view  further,  to  examine  the  subject  in 
its  different  phases ;  to  inquire  into  its  good  as  well  as  its  evil :  this  would  be 
to  look  upon  these  evils  as  they  really  are,  that  is,  spread  at  great  distances 
over  the  course  of  centuries ;  this  would  weaken  the  impression  they  had  made 
upon  us  :  in  a  word,  we  should  thus  be  just,  we  should  take  the  balance  in  hand 
to  weigh  the  good  and  evil,  to  compare  the  one  with  the  other,  as  we  ought 
always  to  do  when  we  have  duly  to  appreciate  things  in  the  history  of  humanity. 
In  the  case  in  question,  we  should  act  in  the  same  way,  in  order  to  provide 
against  the  error  into  which  we  may  be  led  by  the  false  statements  and  exagge- 
rations of  certain  men,  whose  evident  intention  it  has  been  to  falsify  facts  by 
representing  only  one  side  of  them.  The  Inquisition  no  longer  exists,  and  as- 
suredly there  is  no  probability  of  its  being  re-established ;  the  severe  laws  in 
force  on  this  matter  in  former  times  no  longer  exist ;  they  are  either  abrogated 
or  they  are  fallen  into  desuetude  :  no  one,  therefore,  has  an  interest  in  repre- 
senting this  institution  in  a  false  point  of  view.  It  may  be  imagined  that  some 
men  had  an  interest  in  this  while  they  were  engaged  in  destroying  their  ancient 
laws,  but  that  once  attained,  the  Inquisition  and  its  laws  are  become  a  histo- 
rical fact,  which  ought  to  be  examined  here  with  attention  and  impartiality. 
We  have  here  two  questions,  that  of  principle,  and  that  of  its  application ;  in 
other  words,  that  of  intolerance,  and  that  of  the  manner  of  showing  it.  We 
must  not  confound  these  two  things,  which,  although  very  closely  connected, 
are  very  different.  I  shall  begin  with  the  first. 

The  principle  of  universal  toleration  is  now  proclaimed,  and  all  kind  of  in- 
tolerance is  condemned  without  appeal.  But  who  takes  care  to  examine  the 
real  meaning  of  these  words  ?  who  undertakes  to  analyze  the  ideas  which  they 
contain  by  the  light  of  reason,  and  explain  them  by  means  of  history  and  expe- 
rience ?  Very  few.  They  are  pronounced  mechanically ;  they  are  constantly 
employed  to  establish  propositions  of  the  highest  importance,  without  even  the 
suspicion  that  they  contain  ideas,  the  right  or  wrong  comprehension  and  appli- 
cation of  which  is  every  thing  for  the  preservation  of  society.  Few  persons 
consider  that  these  words  include  questions  as  profound  as  they  are  delicate, 
and  the  whole  of  a  large  portion  of  history ;  very  few  observe  that,  according 
to  one  solution  given  to  the  problem  of  toleration,  all  the  past  is  condemned, 
and  all  the  present  overturned;  nothing  is  left  thereby  to  build  on  for  the 
future  but  a  moving  bed  of  sand.  Certainly,  the  most  convenient  way  in  such 
a  case  is,  to  adopt  and  employ  these  words  such  as  we  already  find  them  in  cir- 
culation, in  the  same  way  as  we  take  and  circulate  the  current  coin,  without 
considering  whether  it  be  composed  of  alloy  or  not.  But  what  is  the  most  con- 
venient is  not  always  the  most  useful ;  and,  as  when  receiving  coins  of  value, 
we  carefully  examine  them,  so  we  ought  to  weigh  words  the  meaning  of  which 
is  of  such  paramount  importance.  Toleration — what  is  the  meaning  of  this 
word  ?  It  means,  properly  speaking,  the  patience  with  which  we  suffer  a  thing 
which  we  judge  to  be  bad,  but  which  we  think  it  desirable  not  to  punish.  Thus, 
some  kinds  of  scandals  are  tolerated ;  prostitutes  are  tolerated ;  such  and  such 
abuses  are  tolerated ;  so  that  the  idea  of  toleration  is  always  accompanied  by 


192  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

the  idea  of  evil.  When  toleration  is  exercised  in  the  order  of  ideas,  it  always 
supposes  a  misunderstanding,  or  error.  No  one  will  say  that  he  tolerates  the 
truth.  We  have  an  observation  to  make  here.  The  phrase  to  tolerate  opinions 
is  commonly  used :  now,  opinion  is  very  different  from  error.  At  first  sight, 
the  difficulty  appears  great ;  but  if  we  examine  the  thing  well,  we  shall  be  able 
to  explain  it.  When  we  say  that  we  tolerate  an  opinion,  we  always  mean  an 
opinion  contrary  to  our  own.  In  this  case,  the  opinion  of  another  is,  according 
to  us,  an  error ;  for  it  is  impossible  to  have  an  opinion  on  any  point  whatever — 
that  is,  to  think  that  a  thing  is  or  is  not,  is  in  one  way  or  in  another — without 
thinking  at  the  same  time  that  those  who  judge  otherwise  are  deceived.  If  our 
opinion  is  only  an  opinion — that  is,  if  our  judgment,  although  based  on  reasons 
which  appear  to  us  to  be  good,  has  not  attained  to  a  degree  of  complete  cer- 
tainty— our  judgment  of  another  will  be  only  a  mere  opinion;  but  if  our  con- 
viction has  become  completely  established  and  confirmed — that  is,  if  it  has 
attained  to  certainty — we  shall  be  sure  that  those  who  form  a  judgment  opposed 
to  ours  are  deceived.  Thence  it  follows,  that  the  word  toleration,  applied  to 
opinions,  always  means  the  toleration  of  an  error.  He  who  says,  yes,  thinks 
no  is  false  j  and  he  who  says,  no,  thinks  yes  is  a  mistake.  This  is  only  an  ap- 
plication of  the  well-known  principle,  that  it  is  impossible  for  tJie  same  thing  to 
be  and  not  to  be  at  the  same  time.  But,  we  shall  be  asked,  What  do  you  mean 
when  you  use  these  words,  ( to  respect  opinions  ?'  is  it  always  understood  that 
we  respect  errors  ?  No ;  for  these  words  can  have  two  different  and  equally 
reasonable  meanings.  The  first  is  founded  on  the  feebleness  of  the  conviction 
of  the  person  from  whom  the  respect  comes.  When  on  any  particular  point 
we  have  only  just  formed  an  opinion,  it  is  understood  that  we  have  not  reached 
certainty ;  consequently,  we  know  that  there  are  reasons  on  the  other  side.  In 
this  sense,  we  may  well  say  that  we  respect  the  opinions  of  others :  we  express 
thereby  our  conviction  that  it  is  possible  that  we  are  deceived — that  it  is  possi- 
ble the  truth  is  not  on  our  side.  In  the  second  meaning,  to  respect  opinions  is 
to  respect,  sometimes  those  who  profess  them,  sometimes  their  good  faith,  some- 
times their  intentions.  Thus,  when  we  say  that  we  respect  prejudices,  it  is 
clear  that  we  do  not  mean  a  real  respect  professed  in  this  place.  We  see  thus, 
that  the  expression  '  to  respect  the  opinions  of  others'  has  a  very  different  mean- 
ing, according  as  the  person  from  whom  the  respect  comes  has  or  has  not  assured 
convictions  in  the  contrary  sense. 

In  order  the  better  to  understand  what  toleration  is,  what  its  origin  and  its 
effects,  it  is  necessary,  before  we  examine  it  in  society,  to  reduce  it  to  its  sim- 
plest element.  Let  us  analyze  toleration  considered  in  the  individual.  An 
individual  is  called  tolerant,  when  he  is  habitually  in  a  disposition  of  mind  to 
bear  without  irritation  or  disturbance  opinions  contrary  to  his  own.  This  tole- 
ration will  bear  different  names,  according  to  the  different  matters  to  which  it 
relates.  In  religious  matters,  tolerance  as  well  as  intolerance  may  be  found  in 
those  who  have  religion  as  well  as  in  those  who  have  none }  so  that  neither  of 
these  situations,  with  respect  to  religion,  necessarily  implies  the  one  or  the  other. 
Some  people  imagine  that  tolerance  is  peculiar  to  the  incredulous,  and  intole- 
rance to  the  religious ;  but  they  are  mistaken.  Who  is  more  tolerant  than  St. 
Francis  de  Sales  ?  who  more  intolerant  than  Voltaire  ? 

Tolerance  in  religious  men — that  tolerance  which  does  not  come  from  want 
of  faith,  and  which  is  not  inconsistent  with  an  ardent  zeal  for  the  preservation 
and  propagation  of  the  faith — is  born  of  two  principles,  charity  and  humility. 
Charity,  which  makes  us  love  all  men,  even  our  greatest  enemies;  charity, 
which  inspires  us  with  compassion  for  their  faults  and  errors,  and  obliges  us  to 
regard  them  as  brothers,  to  employ  all  the  means  in  our  power  to  withdraw  them 
from  being  fatally  deceived ;  charity,  which  forbids  us  ever  to  regard  them  as 
deprived  of  the  hope  of  salvation  as  long  as  they  live.  Rousseau  has  said,  that 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  193 

"  it  is  impossible  to  live  in  peace  with  those  that  one  believes  to  be  damned/' 
We  do  not,  and  we  cannot,  believe  in  the  condemnation  of  any  man  as  long  as 
he  lives ;  however  great  may  be  his  iniquity,  the  mercy  of  God  and  the  value 
of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  are  still  greater.  We  are  so  far  from  thinking 
with  the  philosopher  of  Geneva,  "  that  to  love  such  people  would  be  to  hate 
God,"  that  no  one  could  maintain  such  a  doctrine  among  us  without  ceasing  to 
belong  to  our  faith.  The  other  source  of  tolerance  is  Christian  humility :  humi- 
lity, which  inspires  us  with  a  profound  sense  of  our  weakness,  and  makes  us 
consider  all  that  we  have  as  given  by  God ;  humility,  which  makes  us  consider 
our  advantages  over  our  neighbor  as  so  many  more  powerful  motives  for  acknow- 
ledging the  liberality  of  Providence ;  humility,  which,  placing  before  our  eyes 
the  spectacle  of  humanity  in  its  proper  light,  makes  us  regard  ourselves  and  all 
others  as  members  of  the  great  family  of  the  human  race,  fallen  from  its  ancient 
dignity  by  the  sin  of  our  first  parent ;  humility,  which  shows  us  the  perverse 
inclinations  of  our  hearts,  the  darkness  of  our  minds,  and  the  claims  which 
man  has  to  pity  and  indulgence  in  his  faults  and  errors ;  humility,  that  virtue 
sublime  even  in  its  abasement.  "  If  humility  is  so  pleasing  to  God/'  is  the 
admirable  observation  of  St.  Theresa,  "  it  is  because  it  is  the  truth."  This  is  the 
virtue  which  renders  us  indulgent  towards  all  men,  by  never  allowing  us  to  for- 
get that  we  ourselves,  perhaps,  more  than  any  others,  have  need  of  indulgence. 
Yet  for  a  man  to  be  tolerant,  in  the  full  extent  of  the  word,  it  is  not  enough 
for  him  to  be  humble  and  charitable  ;  this  is  a  truth  which  experience  teaches 
and  reason  explains  to  us.  In  order  perfectly  to  clear  up  a  point,  the  obscurity 
of  which  produces  the  confusion  which  almost  always  prevails  in  these  ques- 
tions, let  us  make  a  comparison  between  two  men  equally  religious,  whose  prin- 
ciples are  the  same,  but  whose  conduct  is  very  different.  Let  us  suppose  two 
priests  both  distinguished  for  learning  and  eminent  virtue.  The  one  has  passed 
his  life  in  retirement,  surrounded  by  pious  persons,  and  having  no  intercourse 
with  any  but  Catholics :  the  other  has  been  a  missionary  in  countries  where 
different  religions  are  established,  he  has  been  obliged  to  live  and  converse  with 
men  of  creeds  different  from  his  own ;  he  has  been  under  the  necessity  of  wit- 
nessing the  establishment  of  temples  of  a  false  religion  close  to  those  of  the 
true  one.  The  principles  of  Christian  charity  will  be  the  same  with  both  these 
priests ;  both  will  look  upon  faith  as  a  gift  of  God,  which  he  has  received,  and 
must  preserve ;  their  conduct,  however,  will  be  very  different,  if  they  meet  with 
a  man  of  a  faith  different  from  their  own,  or  of  none  at  all.  The  first,  who, 
never  having  had  intercourse  with  any  but  the  faithful,  has  always  heard  reli- 
gion spoken  of  with  respect,  will  be  horrified,  will  be  indignant,  at  the  first 
word  he  shall  hear  against  the  faith  or  ceremonies  of  the  Church ;  it  will  be 
impossible,  or  nearly  so,  for  him  to  remain  calm  during  a  conversation  or  dis- 
cussion on  the  question :  the  second,  accustomed  to  such  things,  to  hear  his 
faith  impugned,  to  dispute  with  men  of  creeds  opposed  to  his  own,  will  remain 
tranquil;  he  will  engage  in  a  discussion  with  coolness,  if  it  be  necessary;  he 
will  skilfully  avoid  one,  if  prudence  shall  advise  such  a  course.  Whence  comes 
this  difference  ?  It  is  not  difficult  to  discover.  The  second  of  these  priests, 
by  intercourse  with  men,  by  experience,  by  contradiction,  has  obtained  a  clear 
notion  of  the  real  condition  of  men's  minds  in  the  world ;  he  is  aware  of  the 
fatal  combination  of  circumstances  which  has  led  a  great  number  of  unfortunate 
persons  into  error,  and  keeps  them  there ;  he  knows  how,  in  some  measure,  to 
put  himself  in  their  place ;  and  the  more  lively  is  his  sense  of  the  benefit  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  Providence,  the  more  mild  and  indulgent  he  is  towards 
others.  The  other  may  be  as  virtuous,  as  charitable,  and  as  humble  as  you 
please ;  but  how  can  you  expect  of  him  that  he  will  not  be  deeply  moved,  and 
give  utterance  to  his  indignation,  the  first  time  that  he  hears  that  denied  which 
he  has  always  believed  with  the  most  lively  faith  ?  He  has  up  to  this  time  met 
25  K 


194  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

with  no  opposition  in  the  world,  but  a  few  arguments  in  books.  Certainly  he 
was  not  ignorant  that  there  existed  heretics  and  unbelievers,  but  he  has  not 
frequently  met  with  them,  he  has  not  heard  them  state  their  hundred  different 
systems,  and  he  has  not  witnessed  the  erroneous  creeds  of  men  of  all  sorts,  of 
different  characters,  and  the  most  varied  minds ;  the  lively  susceptibility  of  his 
mind,  which  has  never  met  with  resistance,  has  not  been  blunted;  for  this 
reason,  although  endowed  with  the  same  virtues,  and,  if  you  will,  with  the  same 
knowledge  as  the  other,  he  has  not  acquired  that  penetration,  that  vivacity,  so 
to  speak,  with  which  a  man  of  practised  intellect  enters  into  the  minds  of  those 
with  whom  he  has  to  deal,  discerns  the  reasons,  seizes  the  motives  which  blind 
them  and  hinder  them  from  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

Thus  tolerance,  in  a  person  who  is  religious,  supposes  a  certain  degree  of 
gentleness  of  mind,  the  fruit  of  intercourse  with  men,  and  the  habits  thereby 
engendered ;  yet  this  quality  is  consistent  with  the  deepest  conviction,  and  the 
purest  and  most  ardent  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  truth.  In  the  moral,  as 
in  the  physical  world,  friction  polishes,  use  wears  away,  and  nothing  can  remain 
for  a  long  time  in  an  attitude  of  violence.  A  man  will  be  indignant,  once, 
twice,  a  hundred  times,  when  he  hears  his  manner  of  thinking  attacked ;  but 
it  is  impossible  for  him  to  remain  so  always ;  he  will,  in  the  end,  become  ac- 
customed to  opposition ;  he  will,  by  habit,  bear  it  calmly.  However  sacred 
may  be  his  articles  of  belief,  he  will  content  himself  with  defending  and  putting 
them  forward  at  convenient  opportunities  ;  in  all  other  cases,  he  will  keep  them 
in  the  bottom  of  his  soul,  as  a  treasure  which  he  is  desirous  to  preserve  from 
any  thing  that  may  injure  them.  Tolerance,  then,  does  not  suppose  any  new 
principles  in  a  man,  but  rather  a  quality  acquired  by  practice  j  a  disposition  of 
mind,  into  which  a  man  finds  himself  insensibly  led;  a  habit  of  patience, 
formed  in  him  by  constantly  having  to  bear  with  what  he  disapproves  of. 

Now,  if  we  consider  tolerance  in  men  who  are  not  religious,  we  shall  observe 
that  there  are  two  ways  of  being  irreligious.  There  are  men  who  not  only  have 
no  religion,  but  who  have  an  animosity  against  it,  either  on  account  of  some 
fatal  error  they  entertain,  or  because  they  find  it  an  obstacle  to  their  designs. 
These  men  are  extremely  intolerant ;  and  their  intolerance  is  the  worst  of  all, 
because  it  is  not  accompanied  by  any  moral  principle  which  can  restrain  it.  A 
man  thus  circumstanced  feels  himself,  as  it  were,  continually  at  war  with  him- 
.•Belf  and  the  human  race ;  with  himself,  because  he  must  stifle  the  cries  of  his 
•own  conscience  :  with  the  human  race,  because  all  protest  against  the  mad  doc- 
trine that  pretends  to  banish  the  worship  of  God  from  the  earth.  Therefore 
we  find  among  men  of  this  kind  much  rancor  and  spleen ;  therefore  their 
words  are  full  of  gall ;  therefore  they  have  constantly  recourse  to  raillery, 
insult,  and  calumny. 

But  there  is  another  class  of  men  who,  although  devoid  of  religion,  are  not 
strongly  prejudiced  against  the  faith.  They  live  in  a  kind  of  skepticism,  into 
which  the  reading  of  bad  books,  or  the  observations  of  a  superficial  and  frivo- 
lous philosophy,  have  led  them ;  they  are  not  attached  to  religion,  but  they  are 
not  its  enemies.  Many  of  them  acknowledge  the  importance  of  religion  for  the 
good  of  society,  and  some  of  them  even  feel  within  themselves  a  certain  desire 
to  return  to  the  faith ;  in  their  moments  of  recollection  and  meditation,  they 
remember  with  pleasure  the  days  when  they  offered  to  God  an  obedient  spirit 
and  a  pure  heart ;  and  at  the  sight  of  the  rapid  course  of  life,  they  perhaps  love 
to  cherish  the  hope  of  becoming  reconciled  with  the  God  of  their  fathers,  be- 
fore they  descend  into  the  grave.  These  men  are  tolerant ;  but,  if  carefully 
examined,  their  tolerance  is  not  a  principle  or  a  virtue,  it  is  only  a  necessity 
resulting  from  their  position.  It  is  difficult  to  be  indignant  at  the  opinions  of 
others,  when  we  have  none  of  our  own — when,  consequently,  we  do  not  come 
into  collision  with  any.  It  is  difficult  to  be  violently  opposed  to  religion,  when 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  195 

we  consider  it  as  a  thing  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  society ;  there  can  be  no 
hatred  or  rancor  towards  faith  in  a  soul  which  desires  its  mercy,  and  which, 
perhaps,  fixes  its  eyes  upon  it  as  the  last  beam  of  hope  amid  the  terrors  of  an 
alarming  future.  Tolerance,  in  this  case,  is  nothing  strange ;  it  is  natural  and 
necessary.  Intolerance  would  be  inconceivable  and  extravagant,  and  could 
arise  only  from  a  bad  heart. 

In  applying  these  remarks  to  society  instead  of  individuals,  it  must  be  ob- 
served that  tolerance,  as  well  as  intolerance,  may  be  considered  in  government, 
or  in  society.  It  sometimes  happens  that  government  and  society  are  not 
agreed;  while  the  former  maintains  one  principle,  the  reverse  may  prevail  in 
the  latter.  As  governments  are  composed  of  a  limited  number  of  individuals, 
all  that  has  been  said  of  tolerance,  considered  individually,  may  be  applied  to 
them.  Let  us  not  forget,  however,  that  men  placed  in  authority  are  not  free  to 
give  themselves  up  without  limit  to  the  impulses  of  their  own  opinions  or  feel- 
ings ;  they  are  often  forced  to  immolate  their  own  feelings  on  the  altar  of  pub- 
lic opinion.  They  may,  owing  to  peculiar  circumstances,  oppose  or  impede  that 
opinion  for  a  time ;  but  it  will  soon  stop  them,  and  force  them  to  change  their 
course. 

As  sooner  or  later  government  becomes  the  expression  of  the  ideas  and  feel- 
ings of  society,  we  shall  content  ourselves  with  considering  tolerance  in  the  lat- 
ter j  we  shall  observe  that  society,  with  respect  to  tolerance,  follows  the  same 
path  as  individuals.  This  is  with  it  not  the  effect  of  a  principle,  but  of  a  habit. 
Men  of  different  creeds,  who  live  together  for  a  long  time  in  the  same  society, 
end  by  tolerating  each  other ;  they  are  led  to  this  by  growing  weary  of  collision 
with  each  other,  and  by  the  wish  for  a  kind  of  life  more  quiet  and  peaceful. 
But  when  men,  thus  divided  in  creed,  find  themselves  face  to  face  for  the  first 
time,  a  shock  more  or  less  rude  is  the  inevitable  result.  The  causes  of  this- 
phenomenon  are  to  be  found  in  human  nature  itself;  it  is  one  of  those  necessi- 
ties against  which  we  struggle  in  vain. 

Some  modern  philosophers  have  imagined  that  society  is  indebted  to  them  for 
the  spirit  of  toleration  which  prevails  there  ;  they  have  not  seen  that  it  is  much 
rather  a  fact  slowly  brought  about  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  than  it  is  the 
fruit  of  their  doctrines.  Indeed,  what  have  they  said  that  is  new  ?  They  have 
recommended  universal  fraternity ;  but  this  has  always  been  one  of  the  doctrines 
of  Christianity.  They  have  exhorted  men  of  all  the  different  religions  to  live 
in  peace  together ;  but  before  they  had  opened  their  mouths  to  tell  them  this, 
men  began  to  adopt  this  course  in  many  countries  of  Europe ;  for,  unhappily, 
religions  in  many  countries  were  so  numerous  and  different,  that  none  of  them 
could  pretend  to  exclusive  dominion.  It  is  true  that  some  infidel,  philosophers 
have  a  claim,  and  a  deplorable  one,  in  support  of  their  pretensions  with  respect 
to  the  development  of  toleration  ;  it  is,  that,  by  their  efforts  to  disseminate  infi- 
delity and  skepticism,  they  have  succeeded  in  making  general,  in  nations  and 
governments,  that  false  toleration  which  has  nothing  virtuous,  but  is  indifference 
with  respect  to  all  religions.  Indeed,  why  is  tolerance  so  general  in  our  age  ? 
or,  rather,  in  what  does  our  tolerance  consist  ?  If  you  observe  well,  you  will 
find  that  it  is  nothing  but  the  result  of  a  social  condition  perfectly  similar  to 
that  of  the  individual  who  has  no  creed,  but  who  does  not  hate  creeds,  because 
he  considers  them  as  conducive  to  the  public  good,  and  cherishes  a  vague  hope 
of  one  day  finding  a  last  asylum  therein.  All  that  is  good  in  this  is  in  no  degree 
owing  to  the  infidel  philosophers,  but  may  rather  be  said  to  be  a  protest  against 
them.  Indeed,  when  they  could  not  obtain  the  supreme  command,  they  lavished 
calumnies  and  sarcasms  on  all  that  is  most  sacred  in  heaven  and  on  earth ;  and, 
when  they  did  raise  themselves  to  power,  they  overturned  with  indescribable 
fury  all  that  existed,  and  destroyed  millions  of  victims  in  exile  or  on  the  scaf- 
folds. The  multitude  of  religions, — infidelity,  indifference,  the  improvement 


196  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

of  manners,  the  lassitude  produced  by  wars, — industrial  and  commercial  organi- 
zation, which  every  day  becomes  more  powerful  in  society, — communication 
rendered  more  frequent  among  men  by  means  of  travelling, — the  diffusion  of 
ideas  by  the  press ; — such  are  the  causes  which  have  produced  in  Europe  that 
universal  tolerance  which  has  taken  possession  of  all,  and  has  been  established 
in  fact  when  it  could  not  by  law.  These  causes,  as  it  is  easy  to  observe,  are  of 
different  kinds ;  no  doctrine  can  pretend  to  an  exclusive  influence ;  they  are  the 
result  of  a  thousand  different  influences,  which  act  simultaneously  on  the  deve- 
lopment of  civilization.  (24) 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

ON   THE  RIGHT   OP   COERCION   IN   GENERAL. 

How  much,  during  the  last  century,  was  said  against  intolerance  !  A  philo- 
sophy less  superficial  than  that  which  then  prevailed  would  have  reflected  a  lit- 
tle more  on  a  fact  which  may  be  appreciated  in  different  ways,  but  the  existence 
of  which  cannot  be  denied.  In  Greece,  Socrates  died  drinking  hemlock.  Rome, 
whose  tolerance  has  been  so  much  vaunted,  tolerated,  indeed,  foreign  gods ;  but 
these  were  only  foreign  in  name,  since  they  formed  a  part  of  that  system  of 
pantheism  which  was  the  foundation  of  the  Roman  religion ;  gods,  who,  in  order 
to  be  declared  gods  of  Rome,  only  needed  the  mere  formality,  as  it  were,  of  re- 
ceiving the  name  of  citizens.  But  Rome  did  not  admit  the  gods  of  Egypt  any 
more  than  the  Jewish  or  Christian  religion.  She  had,  no  doubt,  many  false 
ideas  with  respect  to  these  religions  ;  but  she  was  sufficiently  acquainted  with 
them  to  know  that  they  were  essentially  different  from  her  own.  The  history 
of  the  Pagan  emperors  is  the  history  of  the  persecution  of  the  Church  ;  as  soon 
as  they  became  Christians,  a  system  of  penal  legislation  was  commenced  against 
those  who  differed  from  the  religion  of  the  state.  In  subsequent  centuries, 
intolerance  continued  under  various  forms ;  it  has  been  perpetuated  down  to  our 
times,  and  we  are  not  so  free  from  it  as  some  would  wish  to  make  us  believe. 
The  emancipation  of  Catholics  in  England  is  but  of  recent  date  ;  the  violent 
disputes  of  the  Prussian  government  with  the  Pope,  on  the  subject  of  certain 
arbitrary  acts  of  that  government  against  the  Catholic  religion,  are  of  yesterday ; 
the  question  of  Argau,  in  Switzerland,  is  still  pending ;  and  the  persecution 
of  Catholicity  by  the  Russian  government  is  pursued  in  as  scandalous  a  manner 
as  at  any  former  period.  Thus  it  is  with  religious  sects.  As  to  the  toleration 
of  the  humane  philosophers  of  the  18th  century,  it  was  exemplified  in  Robes- 
pierre. 

Every  government  professing  a  religion  is  more  or  less  intolerant  towards 
those  which  it  does  not  profess;  and  this  intolerance  is  diminished  or  destroyed, 
only  when  the  professors  of  the  obnoxious  religions  are  either  feared  on  account 
of  their  great  power,  or  despised  on  account  of  their  weakness.  Apply  to  all 
times  and  countries  the  rule  which  we  have  just  laid  down,  you  will  everywhere 
find  it  exact;  it  is  an  abridgment  of  the  history  of  governments  in  their  rela- 
tions with  religions.  The  Protestant  government  of  England  has  always  been 
intolerant  toward  Catholics;  and  it  will  continue  to  be  so,  more  or  less,  accord- 
ing to  circumstances.  The  governments  of  Russia  and  Prussia  will  continue  to 
act  as  they  have  done  up  to  this  time,  with  the  exception  of  modifications 
required  by  difference  of  times;  in  the  same  way,  in  countries  where  Catholi- 
city prevails,  the  exercise  of  the  Protestant  worship  will  always  be  more  or 
less  interfered  with.  I  shall  be  told  of  the  instance  of  France  as  a  proof  of  the 
contrary;  in  that  country,  where  the  immense  majority  profess  the  Catholic 
religion,  other  worships  are  allowed,  without  any  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  197 

state  to  disturb  them.  This  toleration  will  perhaps  be  attributed  to  public 
opinion ;  it  comes,  I  think,  from  this,  that  no  fixed  principle  prevails  there  in 
the  government :  all  the  policy  of  France,  internal  and  external,  is  a  constant 
compromise  to  get  out  of  difficulties  in  the  best  possible  way.  This  is  shown 
by  facts ;  it  appears  from  the  well-known  opinions  of  the  small  number  of  men 
who,  for  some  years,  have  ruled  the  destinies  of  France.  It  has  been  attempted 
to  establish  in  principle  universal  toleration,  and  refuse  to  government  the  right 
of  violating  consciences  in  religious  matters ;  nevertheless,  in  spite  of  all  that 
has  been  said,  philosophers  have  not  been  able  to  make  a  very  clear  exposition 
of  their  principle,  still  less  have  they  been  able  to  procure  its  general  adoption 
as  a  system  in  the  government  of  states.  In  order  to  show  that  the  thing  is  not 
quite  so  simple  as  has  been  supposed,  I  will  beg  leave  to  ask  a  few  questions  of 
these  soi-disant  philosophers.  If  a  religion  which  required  human  sacrifices 
were  established  in  your  country,  would  you  tolerate  it?  No.  And  why? 
Because  we  cannot  tolerate  such  a  crime.  But  then  you  will  be  intolerant ; 
you  will  violate  the  consciences  of  others,  by  proscribing,  as  a  crime,  what  in 
their  eyes  is  a  homage  to  the  Divinity.  Thus  thought  many  nations  of  old,  and 
so  think  some  now.  By  what  right  do  you  make  your  conscience  prevail  over 
theirs  ? — It  matters  not ;  we  shall  be  intolerant,  but  our  intolerance  will  be  for 
the  good  of  humanity. — I  applaud  your  conduct ;  but  you  cannot  deny  that  it 
is  a  case  in  which  intolerance  with  respect  to  a  religion  appears  to  you  a  right 
and  a  duty.  Still  further :  if  you  proscribe  the  exercise  of  this  atrocious  wor- 
ship, would  you  allow  the  doctrine  to  be  taught  which  preaches  as  holy  and  salu- 
tary the  practice  of  human  sacrifices  ?  No  ]  for  that  would  be  permitting  the 
teaching  of  murder.  Very  well,  but  you  must  acknowledge  that  this  is  a  doc- 
trine with  respect  to  which  you  have  a  right  to  be,  and  are  obliged  to  be,  intole- 
rant. Let  us  pursue  our  subject.  You  are  aware,  no  doubt,  of  the  sacrifices 
offered  in  antiquity  to  the  goddess  of  Love,  and  the  infamous  worship  which 
was  paid  to  her  in  the  temples  of  Babylon  and  Corinth.  If  such  a  worship 
reappeared  among  you,  would  you  tolerate  it  ?  No ;  for  it  is  contrary  to  the 
sacred  laws  of  modesty.  Would  you  allow  the  doctrine  on  which  it  was  based 
to  be  taught  ?  No  ;  for  the  same  reason.  This,  then,  is  another  case  in  which 
you  believe  you  have  the  right  and  the  obligation  to  violate  the  consciences  of 
others ;  and  the  only  reason  you  can  assign  for  it  is,  that  you  are  compelled  to 
do  so  by  your  own  conscience.  Moreover,  suppose  that  some  men,  over-excited 
by  reading  the  Bible,  desired  to  establish  a  new  Christianity,  in  imitation  of 
Mathew  of  Haarlern  or  John  of^-Leyden;  suppose  that  these  sectaries  began  to 
propagate  their  doctrines,  to  assemble  together  in  bodies,  and  that  their  fanati- 
cal declamation  seduced  a  portion  of  the  people,  would  you  tolerate  this  new 
religion?  No;  for  these  men  might  renew  the  bloody  scenes  of  Germany  in 
the  16th  century,  when,  in  the  name  of  God,  and  to  fulfil,  as  they  said,  the 
order  of  the  Most  High,  the  Anabaptists  invaded  all  property,  destroyed  all 
existing  power,  and  spread  everywhere  desolation  and  death.  This  would  be 
to  act  with  as  much  justice  as  prudence;  but  you  cannot  deny  that  you  would 
thereby  commit  an  act  of  intolerance.  What,  then,  becomes  of  universal  tole- 
ration, that  principle  so  evident,  so  predominant,  if  you  are  compelled  at  every 
step  to  limit,  and  I  will  say  more,  to  lay  it  aside,  and  act  in  a  way  diametrically 
opposite  to  it?  You  will  say  that  the  security  of  the  state,  the  good  order  of 
society,  and  public  morality  compel  you  to  act  in  this  way.  But  then,  what 
sort  of  a  principle  is  it  tha,t,  in  certain  cases,  is  in  opposition  to  the  interests  of 
morality  and  to  society,  and  to  the  safety  of  the  state  ?  Do  you  think  that  the 
men  against  whom  you  declaim  did  not  intend  also  to  protect  these  interests, 
by  acting  with  that  intolerance  which  is  so  revolting  to  you  ? 

It  has  been  acknowledged  at  all  times  and  in  all  countries,  as  an  incontestable 
principle,  that  the  public  authority  has,  in  certain  cases,  the  right  of  prohibiting 


198  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

certain  acts,  in  violation  of  the  consciences  of  individuals  who  claim  the  right  of 
performing  them.  If  the  constant  testimony  of  history  were  not  enough,  at 
least  the  dialogue  which  we  have  just  held  ought  to  convince  us  of  this  truth; 
we  have  seen  that  the  most  ardent  advocates  of  tolerance  may  well  be  compelled, 
in  certain  cases,  to  be  intolerant.  They  would  be  obliged  to  be  so  in  the  name 
of  humanity,  of  modesty,  of  public  order;  universal  toleration,  then,  with  respect 
to  doctrines  and  religions — that  toleration  which  is  proclaimed  as  the  duty  of 
every  government — is  an  error;  it  is  a  theory  which  cannot  be  put  in  practice. 
We  have  clearly  shown  that  intolerance  has  always  been,  and  still  is,  a  prin- 
ciple recognised  by  all  governments,  and  the  application  of  which,  more  or  less 
indulgent  or  severe,  depends  on  circumstances,  and  above  all,  on  the  particular 
point  of  view  in  which  the  government  considers  things. 

A  great  question  of  right  now  presents  itself — a  question  which  seems,  at  first 
sight,  to  require  to  be  solved  by  condemning  all  intolerance,  both  with  respect  to 
doctrines  and  acts;  but  which,  when  thoroughly  examined,  leads  to  a  very  different 
result.  If  we  grant  that  the  mind  is  incapable  of  completely  removing  the  diffi- 
culty by  means  of  direct  reasoning,  it  is  not  the  less  certain  that  indirect  means, 
and  the  reasoning  called  ad  absurdum,  are  here  sufficient  to  show  us  the  truth, 
at  least  as  far  as  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  know  it  as  a  guide  for  human  prudence, 
always  uncertain.  The  question  is  this:  "By  what  right  do  you  hinder  a  man 
from  professing  a  doctrine,  and  acting  in  conformity  with  it,  if  he  is  convinced 
that  it  is  true,  and  that  he  only  fulfils  his  duty,  or  exercises  a  right,  by  acting 
as  it  prescribes  ?"  In  order  to  prevent  the  prohibition  being  vain  and  ridicu- 
lous, there  must  be  a  penalty  attached  to  it ;  now,  if  you  inflict  this  penalty, 
you  punish  a  man  who,  according  to  his  own  conscience,  is  innocent.  Punish- 
ment by  the  hand  of  justice  supposes  culpability ;  and  no  one  is  culpable  with- 
out being  so  first  in  his  conscience.  Culpability  has  its  root  in  the  conscience; 
and  we  cannot  be  responsible  for  the  violation  of  a  law,  unless  that  law  has  ad- 
dressed us  through  our  conscience.  If  our  conscience  tells  us  that  an  action 
is  bad,  we  cannot  perform  it,  whatever  may  be  the  injunctions  of  the  law  which 
prescribes  it;  on  the  contrary,  if  conscience  tells  us  that  an  action  is  a  duty,  we 
cannot  omit  it,  whatever  may  be  the  prohibitions  of  the  law.  This  is,  in  a  few 
words,  and  in  all  its  force,  the  whole  argument  that  can  be  alleged  against  intole- 
rance in  regard  to  doctrines  and  facts  emanating  from  them.  Let  us  now  see 
what  is  the  real  value  of  these  observations,  apparently  so  conclusive. 

It  is  apparent  that  the  admission  of  this  principle  would  render  impossible 
the  punishment  of  any  political  crime.  Brutus,  when  plunging  his  dagger  into 
the  heart  of  Caesar;  Jacques  Clement,  when  he  assassinated  Henry  III.,  acted, 
no  doubt,  under  the  influence  of  an  excitement  of  mind,  which  made  them  view 
their  attempts  as  deeds  of  heroism ;  and  yet,  if  they  had  both  been  brought  be- 
fore a  tribunal,  would  you  have  thought  them  entitled  to  impunity — the  one  on 
account  of  his  love  of  country,  and  the  other  on  account  of  his  zeal  for  religion  ? 
Most  political  crimes  are  committed  under  a  conviction  of  doing  well ;  and  I  do 
not  speak  merely  of  those .  times  of  trouble,  when  men  of  parries  the  most  op- 
posed are  fully  persuaded  that  they  have  right  on  their  side.  Conspiracies  con- 
trived against  governments  in  times  of  peace  are  generally  the  work  of  some 
individuals  who  look  upon  them  as  illegal  and  tyrannical;  when  working  to 
overthrow  them,  they  are  acting  in  conformity  with  their  own  principles. 
Judges  punish  them  justly  when  they  inflict  on  them  the  penalties  appointed 
by  legislators ;  and  yet,  neither  legislators  when  they  decree  the  penalty,  nor 
the  judges  when  they  inflict  it,  are,  or  can  be,  ignorant  of  the  condition  of 
mind  of  the  delinquent  who  has  violated  the  law.  It  may  be  said,  that  compas- 
sion and  indulgence  with  respect  to  political  crimes  increase  every  day,  for  these 
reasons.  I  shall  reply,  that  if  we  lay  down  the  principle  that  human  justice 
has  not  the  right  to  punish,  when  the  delinquent  acts  according  to  his  convic- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  199 

tion,  we  must  not  only  mitigate  our  punishments,  but  even  abolish  them.  In 
this  case,  capital  punishment  would  be  a  real  murder,  a  fine  a  robbery,  and  other 
penalties  so  many  acts  of  violence.  I  shall  remark  in  passing,  that  it  is  not 
true  that  severity  towards  political  crimes  diminishes  as  much  as  it  is  said  to 
do ;  the  history  of  Europe  of  late  years  affords  us  some  proofs  to  the  contrary. 
We  do  not  now  see  those  cruel  punishments  which  were  in  use  at  other  times ; 
but  that  is  not  owing  to  the  conscience  of  the  criminal  being  considered  by  the 
judge,  but  to  the  improvement  of  manners,  which,  being  everywhere  diffused, 
has  necessarily  influenced  penal  legislation.  It  is  extraordinary  that  so  much 
severity  has  been  preserved  in  laws  relating  to  political  crimes,  when  so  great  a 
number  of  legislators  among  the  different  nations  of  Europe  knew  well  that  they 
themselves,  at  other  times,  had  committed  the  same  crimes.  And  there  is  no 
doubt  that  more  than  one  man,  in  the  discussion  of  certain  penal  laws,  has 
inclined  to  indulgence,  from  the  presentiment  that  these  very  laws  might  one 
day  apply  to  himself.  The  impunity  of  political  crimes  would  bring  about  the 
subversion  of  social  order,  by  rendering  all  government  impossible.  Without 
dwelling  longer  on  the  fatal  results  which  this  doctrine  would  have,  let  us  ob- 
serve, that  the  benefit  of  impunity  in  favor  of  the  illusions  of  conscience  would 
not  be  due  to  political  crimes  alone,  but  would  be  applicable  also  to  those  of  an 
ordinary  kind.  Offences  against  property  are  crimes  of  this  nature ;  and  yet 
we  know  that  many  at  former  periods  regarded,  and  that  unfortunately  some 
still  regard,  property  as  a  usurpation  and  an  injustice.  Offences  against  the 
sanctity  of  marriage  are  ordinarily  considered  crimes  ;  and  yet  have,  there  not 
been  sects  in  whose  sight  marriage  was  unlawful,  and  others  who  have  desired, 
and  still  desire,  a  community  of  women?  The  sacred  laws  of  modesty  and 
respect  for  innocence  have  alike  been  regarded  by  some  sects  as  an  unjust 
infringement  of  the  liberty  of  man;  to  violate  these  laws,  therefore,  was  a 
meritorious  action.  At  the  time  when  the  mistaken  ideas  and  blind  fanaticism 
of  the  men  who  professed  these  principles  were  undoubted,  would  any  one  have 
been  found  to  deny  the  justice  of  the  chastisement  which  was  inflicted  on  them 
when,  in  pursuance  of  their  doctrines,  they  committed  a  crime,  or  even  when 
they  had  the  audacity  to  diffuse  their  fatal  maxims  in  society  ? 

If  it  were  unjust  to  punish  the  criminal  for  acting  according  to  his  conscience, 
all  imaginable  crimes  would  be  permitted  to  the  atheist,  the  fatalist,  the  disciple 
of  the  doctrine  of  private  interest;  for  by  destroying,  as  they  do,  the  basis  of 
all  morality,  these  men  do  not  act  against  their  consciences ;  they  have  none. 
If  such  an  argument  were  to  hold  good,  how  often  would  we  have  reason  to 
charge  tribunals  with  injustice,  when  they  inflict  any  punishment  on  men  of 
this  class.  By  what  right,  we  would  say  to  magistrates,  do  you  punish  this 
man,  who,  not  admitting  the  existence  of  God,  does  not  acknowledge  himself 
culpable  in  his  own  eyes,  or  consequently  in  yours  ?  You  have  made  a  law,  by 
virtue  of  which  you  punish  him ;  but  this  law  has  no  power  over  the  conscience 
of  this  man,  for  you  are  his  equals ;  and  he  does  not  acknowledge  the  existence 
of  any  superior,  to  give  you  the  power  of  controlling  his  liberty.  By  what  right 
do  you  punish  another,  who  is  convinced  that  all  his  actions  are  the  effect  of  neces- 
sary causes,  that  free-will  is  a  chimera,  and  who,  in  the  action  which  you  charge 
on  him  as  a  crime,  believes  that  he  had  no  more  power  of  restraining  himself 
than  the  wild  beast,  when  he  throws  himself  upon  the  prey  before  his  eyes,  or 
upon  any  other  animal  that  excites  his  fury  ?  With  what  justice  do  you  punish 
him,  who  is  persuaded  that  all  morality  is  a  lie ;  that  there  is  no  other  principle 
than  individual  interest ;  that  good  and  evil  are  nothing  but  this  interest,  well 
or  ill  understood  ?  If  you  make  him  undergo  any  punishment,  it  will  not  be 
because  he  is  culpable  in  his  own  conscience ;  you  will  punish  him  for  being 
deceived  in  his  calculation,  for  having  ill-understood  the  probable  result  of  the 
action  which  he  was  about  to  commit.  Such  are  the  necessary  and  inevitable 


200  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

deductions  from  the  doctrine,  which  refuses  to  the  public  authority  the  power  of 
punishing  crimes  committed  in  consequence  of  an  error  of  the  mind. 

But  I  shall  be  told  that  the  right  of  punishment  only  extends  to  actions,  and 
not  to  doctrines ;  that  actions  ought  to  be  subject  to  the  law,  but  that  doctrines 
are  entitled  to  unbounded  liberty.  Do  you  mean  doctrines  shut  up  in  the  mind 
and  not  outwardly  manifested  ?  It  is  clear  that  not  only  the  right,  but  also  the 
possibility  of  punishing  them  is  wanting,  for  God  alone  can  tell  the  secrets  of 
the  heart  of  man.  If  avowed  doctrines  are  meant,  then  the  principle  is  false ; 
and  we  have  just  shown  that  those  who  maintain  it  in  theory,  find  it  impossible 
to  reduce  it  to  practice.  In  fine,  we  shall  be  told  that,  however  absurd  in  its 
results  may  be  the  doctrine  which  we  have  been  combating,  it  is  still  impossible 
to  justify  the  punishment  of  an  action  which  was  ordered  or  authorized  by  the 
conscience  of  the  man  who  committed  it.  How  is  this  difficulty  to  be  solved  ? 
How  is  this  great  obstacle  to  be  removed  ?  Is  it  lawful  in  any  case  to  treat  as 
culpable  the  man  who  is  not  so  at  the  tribunal  of  his  own  conscience  ? 

Although  this  question  seems  entirely  to  turn  upon  some  point  on  which  men 
of  all  opinions  are  agreed,  there  is  nevertheless  a  wide  difference  in  this  respect 
between  Catholics  on  one  side  and  unbelievers  and  Protestants  on  the  other. 
The  first  lay  it  down  as  an  incontestable  principle,  that  there  are  errors  of  the 
understanding  which  are  faults;  the  others,  on  the  contrary,  think,  that  all 
errors  of  the  understanding  are  innocent.  The  first  consider  error  in  regard  to 
great  moral  and  religious  truths,  as  one  of  the  gravest  offences  which  man  can 
commit  against  God ;  their  opponents  look  upon  errors  of  this  kind  with  great 
indulgence,  and  they  ought  to  do  so  in  order  to  be  consistent.  Catholics  admit 
the  possibility  of  invincible  ignorance  with  respect  to  some  very  important 
truths }  but  with  them  this  possibility  is  limited  to  certain  circumstances,  out  of 
which  they  declare  man  to  be  culpable  :  their  opponents  constantly  extol  liberty 
of  thought,  without  any  other  restriction  than  that  imposed  by  the  taste  of  each 
one  in  particular ;  they  constantly  affirm  that  man  is  free  to  hold  the  opinions 
which  he  thinks  proper;  they  have  gone  so  far  as  to  persuade  their  followers 
that  there  are  no  culpable  errors  or  opinions,  that  man  is  not  obliged  to  search 
into  the  secret  recesses  of  his  soul,  to  make  sure  that  there  are  no  secret  causes 
which  induce  him  to  reject  the  truth ;  they  have  in  the  end  monstrously  con- 
founded .  physical  with  moral  liberty  of  thought ;  they  have  banished  from 
opinions  the  ideas  of  lawful  and  unlawful,  and  have  given  men  to  understand 
that  «uch  ideas  are  not  applicable  to  thought.  That  is  to  say,  in  the  order  of 
ideas,  they  have  confounded  right  with  fact,  declaring,  in  this  respect,  the  use- 
lessness  and  incompetency  of  all  laws,  divine  and  human.  Senseless  men  !  as 
if  it  were  possible  for  that  which  is  most  noble  and  elevated  in  human  nature 
to  be  exempt  from  all  rule ;  as  if  it  were  possible  for  the  element  which  makes 
man  the  king  of  the  creation,  to  be  exempted  from  concurring  in  the  ineffable 
harmony  of  all  parts  of  the  universe  with  themselves  and  with  God ;  as  if  this 
harmony  could  exist,  or  even  be  conceived  in  man,  unless  it  were  declared  to  be 
the  first  of  human  obligations  to  adhere  constantly  to  truth. 

This  is  one  of  the  profound  reasons  which  justify  the  Catholic  Church,  when 
she  considers  the  sin  of  heresy  as  one  of  the  greatest  that  man  can  commit. 
You,  who  smile,  with  pity  and  contempt  at  these  words,  the  sin  of  heresy  ;  you, 
who  consider  this  doctrine  as  the  invention  of  priests  to  rule  over  consciences, 
by  retrenching  the  liberty  of  thought ;  by  what  right  do  you  claim  the  power 
of  condemning  heresies  which  are  opposed  to  your  orthodoxy?  By  what  right 
do  you  condemn  those  societies  that  profess  opinions  hostile  to  property,  public 
order,  and  the  existence  of  authority  ?  If  the  thought  of  man  is  free,  if  you 
cannot  attempt  to  restrain  it  without  violating  sacred  rights,  if  it  is  an  absurdity 
and  a  contradiction  to  wish  to  oblige  a  man  to  act  against  his  conscience,  or  dis- 
obey its  dictates — why  do  you  interfere  with  those  men  who  desire  to  destroy 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  201 

the  existing  state  of  society?  Why  baffle,  why  oppose  those  dark  conspiracies, 
which,  from  time  to  time,  send  one  of  their  members  to  assassinate  a  king  ? 
You  invoke  your  convictions  to  declare  unjust  and  cruel  the  intolerance  which 
has  been  practised  at  certain  times  against  your  enemies ;  but  you  must  remem- 
ber that  such  societies  and  such  men  can  also  invoke  their  convictions.  You 
say  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  are  human  inventions ;  they  say  that  the 
doctrines  prevailing  in  society  are  also  human  inventions.  You  say  that  the 
ancient  social  order  was  a  monopoly;  they  say  the  present  social  order  is  a 
monopoly.  In  your  eyes,  the  ancient  authorities  were  tyrannical ;  in  theirs  the 
present  ones  are  so.  You  pretended  to  destroy  what  existed,  in  order  to  found 
new  institutions  conducive  to  the  good  of  humanity ;  to-day  these  men  hold  the 
same  language.  You  have  proclaimed  holy  the  war  which  was  waged  against 
ancient  power ;  they  proclaim  holy  the  war  against  present  power.  When  you 
availed  yourselves  of  the  means  which  offered  themselves,  you  pretended  that 
necessity  rendered  them  legitimate  \  they  declare  to  be  not  less  legitimate  the 
only  means  which  they  possess,  that  of  combinations,  of  preparing  for  their 
opportunity,  and  of  hastening  it  by  assassinating  great  men.  You  have  pre- 
tended to  make  all  opinions  respected,  even  atheism,  and  you  have  taught  that 
nobody  has  a  right  to  prevent  your  acting  in  conformity  with  your  principles ; 
but  the  fanatics  in  question  have  also  their  horrible  principles  and  their  dreadful 
convictions.  Do  you  require  a  proof  of  this  ?  See  them  amid  the  gayety  of 
public  celebrations,  glide,  pale  and  gloomy,  among  the  joyful  multitude,  choose 
the  fitting  moment  to  cast  desolation  over  a  royal  family,  and  cover  a  nation 
with  mourning,  while  they  accumulate  on  their  own  heads  the  public  execration, 
certain,  moreover,  of  finishing  their  lives  on  the  scaffold.  But  our  adversaries 
will  say,  such  convictions  are  inexcusable.  Yours  are  so  also.  All  the  differ- 
ence is,  that  you  have  contrived  your  ambitious  and  fatal  systems  amid  ease  and 
pleasure,  perhaps  in  opulence,  and  under  the  shadow  of  power,  while  they  have 
conceived  their  abominable  doctrines  in  the  bosom  of  obscurity,  poverty,  misery, 
and  despair. 

Indeed,  the  inconsistency  of  some  men  is  shocking  to  the  last  degree.  To 
ridicule  all  religions,  to  decry  the  spirituality  and  immortality  of  the  soul,  and 
the  existence  of  God,  to  overturn  all  morality,  and  sap  its  deepest  foundations, 
all  this  they  have  considered  excusable,  and  we  may  even  say,  worthy  of  praise ; 
moreover,  the  writers  who  have  undertaken  this  fatal  task  are  worthy  of  apo- 
theosis ;  men  must  expel  the  Divinity  from  his  temples  to  place  there  the  names 
and  busts  of  the  leaders  of  their>schools ;  under  the  vaults  of  splendid  basilicas, 
where  repose  the  ashes  of  Christians  awaiting  the  resurrection,  they  must  raise 
the  mausoleum  of  Voltaire  and  Rousseau,  in  order  that  future  generations,  when 
they  descend  into  their  dark  and  silent  abodes,  may  receive  the  inspirations  of 
their  genius.  But  have  they,  then,  a  right  to  complain  that  property,  and 
domestic  life,  and  social  order  are  attacked  ?  Property  is  sacred ;  but  is  it 
more  sacred  than  God  ?  However  great  may  be  the  importance  of  the  truths 
relating  to  the  family  and  to  society,  are  they  of  a  superior  order  to  the  eternal 
principles  of  morality,  or  rather,  are  they  any  thing  more  than  the  application 
of  these  principles  ? 

But  let  us  resume  the  thread  of  our  discourse.  When  the  principle,  that 
there  are  culpable  errors,  is  once  established  (a  principle  which  in  practice,  if 
not  in  theory,  must  be  received  by  all  men,  but  which  Catholicity  alone  can 
logically  maintain  in  theory),  it  is  easy  to  see  the  reason  of  the  punishments 
which  human  power  decrees  against  the  propagation  and  teaching  of  certain 
doctrines ;  and  we  can  understand  why  it  is  legitimate  to  punish,  without  consi- 
dering the  conviction  that  animated  the  culprit,  the  actions  which  are  the  result 
of  his  doctrines.  The  law  shows  that  this  mortal  error  has  existed,  or  can  exist ; 
but  in  this  case  it  declares  the  error  itself  to  be  culpable ;  and  if  man  adduces 


202  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

the  testimony  of  his  own  conscience,  the  law  reminds  him  that  it  is  his  duty  to 
rectify  his  conscience.  Such  is,  in  truth,  the  foundation  of  a  legislation  which 
has  appeared  so  unjust ;  a  foundation  which  it  is  necessary  to  point  out,  in 
order  to  vindicate  a  great  many  human  laws  from  a  deep  disgrace ;  for  it  would 
be  a  great  disgrace  to  claim  the  right  of  punishing  a  man  who  was  really  inno- 
cent. Such  an  absurd  right  is  so  far  from  belonging  to  human  justice,  that  it 
does  not  belong  even  to  God.  The  infinite  justice  of  God  would  cease  to  be 
what  it  is,  if  it  could  punish  the  innocent. 

Perhaps  another  origin  will  be  assigned  for  the  right  which  governments  pos- 
sess, of  punishing  the  propagation  of  certain  doctrines  and  the  actions  com- 
mitted in  consequence  of  them,  when  the  criminal  has  acted  from  the  deepest 
conviction.  "Governments,"  it  may  be  said,  "act  in  the  name  of  society, 
which,  like  every  being,  possesses  the  right  of  self-defence.  There  are  certain 
doctrines  which  menace  its  existence ;  it  has,  therefore,  of  necessity  and  right, 
the  power  of  resisting  those  who  promulgate  them."  Such  a  reason,  however 
plausible  it  may  appear,  is  liable  to  this  grave  objection,  that  it  destroys  at  one 
blow  the  idea  of  punishment  and  justice.  To  wound  an  aggressor  in  self-de- 
fence is  not  to  chastise  but  to  resist  him.  If  we  consider  society  in  this  point 
of  view,  the  criminal  led  to  punishment  will  no  longer  be  a  real  criminal,  but 
the  unfortunate  victim  of  a  rash  and  unequal  struggle.  The  voice  of  the  judge 
condemning  him  will  no  longer  be  the  august  voice  of  justice ;  his  sentence 
will  only  be  the  act  of  society  avenging  the  attack  made  upon  it.  The  word 
punishment  will  then  assume  quite  a  different  meaning;  the  gradations  of  it 
will  depend  entirely  upon  calculations,  and  not  on  justice.  We  must  remem- 
ber this ;  if  we  suppose  that  society,  by  virtue  of  the  right  of  self-defence, 
inflicts  a  punishment  upon  the  man  whom  it  considers  quite  innocent,  it  no 
longer  judges  or  condemns,  but  fights  and  struggles.  That  which  is  perfectly 
suitable  with  respect  to  the  relations  between  one  society  and  another,  is  in  no 
way  suitable  to  society  in  its  relations  with  individuals.  It  then  appears  like  a 
combat  between  a  giant  and  a  pigmy.  The  giant  takes  the  pigmy  in  his  hand, 
and  crushes  him  against  a  stone. 

The  doctrine  which  I  have  just  explained  evidently  shows  the  value  of  the 
much  vaunted  principle  of  universal  toleration ;  it  has  been  demonstrated  that 
that  principle  is  as  impracticable  in  fact  as  it  is  unsustainable  in  theory;  con- 
sequently all  the  accusations  made  against  the  Catholic  Church  on  the  subject 
of  intolerance  are  overturned.  It  has  been  clearly  shown  that  intolerance  is  in 
some  measure  the  right  of  all  public  power ;  this  has  always  been  acknowledged ; 
it  is  acknowledged  still,  generally  speaking,  when  philosophers,  the  partisans 
of  tolerance,  attain  to  power.  No  doubt,  governments  have  a  thousand  times 
abused  this  principle ;  no  doubt,  more  than  once  the  truth  has  been  persecuted 
in  virtue  of  it ;  but  what  do  men  not  abuse  ?  Their  duty,  then,  as  good  philo- 
sophers, was  not  to  establish  principles  that  cannot  be  sustained,  and  are  ex- 
treiM "ly  dangerous;  not  to  declaim  to  satiety  against  the  times  and  institutions 
which  have  preceded  us ;  but  to  endeavor  to  propagate  sentiments  of  mildness 
and  indulgence,  and,  above  all,  not  to  impugn  important  truths,  without  which 
society  cannot  be  sustained,  and  which  cannot  be  destroyed  without  abandoning 
the  world  to  the  empire  of  force,  and,  consequently,  to  despotism  and  tyranny. 

Men  have  attacked  dogmas ;  but  they  have  not  been  willing  to  see  that  mo- 
rality was  intimately  connected  with  dogmas,  and  that  it  was  itself  a  dogma.  By 
proclaiming  unbounded  liberty  of  thought,  they  have  asserted  the  impeccability 
of  the  mind ;  error  has  ceased  to  figure  among  the  faults  of  which  men  can  be 
guilty.  They  have  forgotten  that,  in  order  to  will,  it  was  necessary  to  know ; 
and  that  to  will  rightly,  it  was  necessary  to  know  truly.  If  we  examine  the 
greater  part  of  the  errors  of  our  hearts,  we  shall  see  that  they  have  their  source 
in  a  misunderstanding ;  is  it  possible,  then,  that  it  should  not  be  the  duty  of 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  203 

man  to  preserve  his  mind  from  error  ?  But  since  it  has  been  said  that  opinions 
are  of  little  importance,  that  man  is  free  to  choose  such  as  please  him,  even  in 
matters  of  religion  and  morality,  truth  has  lost  its  value ;  its  intrinsic  worth  is 
no  longer  what  it  was  in  the  eyes  of  man }  and  too  many  consider  themselves 
exempt  from  attempting  to  attain  it, — a  deplorable  condition  of  mind,  which  is 
one  of  the  greatest  evils  afflicting  society.  (25) 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

ON  THE  INQUISITION   IN   SPAIN. 

I  FIND  myself  naturally  led  to  make  a  few  observations  on  the  intolerance  of 
certain  Catholic  princes,  on  the  Inquisition,  and  in  particular  on  that  of  Spain. 
I  must  make  a  rapid  examination  of  the  charges  against  Catholicity  on  account 
of  its  conduct  during  the  last  centuries.  The  dungeons,  the  burnings  of  the 
Inquisition,  and  the  intolerance  of  some  Catholic  princes,  have  furnished  the 
enemies  of  the  Church  with  one  of  their  most  effective  arguments  in  depreci- 
ating her,  and  rendering  her  the  object  of  odium  and  hatred ;  and  it  must  be 
allowed  that  they  have,  in  attacks  of  this  kind,  many  advantages,  which  give 
them  good  prospects  of  success.  Indeed  (as  we  have  said  above,  for  the  gene- 
rality of  readers,  who,  without  undertaking  to  examine  things  to  the  bottom, 
naively  allow  themselves  to  be  led  away  by  a  subtle  writer ;  as  we  have  said, 
for  all  those  who  have  sensitive  hearts,  and  are  prompt  to  pity  the  unfortunate), 
what  is  more  likely  to  excite  indignation  than  the  exhibition  of  dark  dungeons, 
instruments  of  torture,  san-benitos,  and  burnings  ?  Imagine  what  effect  must  be 
produced,  amid  our  toleration,  our  gentle  manners,  our  humane  penal  codes,  by 
the  sudden  exhibition  of  the  severities,  the  cruelties  of  another  age ;  the  whole 
exaggerated  and  grouped  into  one  picture,  where  are  shown  all  the  melancholy 
scenes  which  occurred  in  different  places,  and  were  spread  over  a  long  period  of 
time.  They  take  care  to  remind  us  that  all  this  was  done  in  the  name  of  the 
God  of  peace  and  love;  thereby  the  contrast  is  rendered  more  vivid,  the  ima- 
gination is  excited,  the  heart  becomes  indignant  ;  and  the  result  is,  that  the 
clergy,  magistrates,  kings,  and  popes  of  those  remote  times,  appear  like  a  troop 
of  executioners,  whose  pleasure  consists  in  tormenting  and  desolating  the  human 
race.  Writers,  who  have  ventured  to  act  in  this  way,  have  certainly  not  added 
to  their  reputation  for  delicacy  *)f  conscience.  There  is  a  rule  which  orators 
and  writers  ought  never  to  forget,  viz.  that  it  is  not  allowable  to  excite  the  pas- 
sions, until  they  have  convinced  the  reason,  unless  it  had  been  convinced  before. 
Besides,  there  is  a  degree  of  bad  faith  in  appealing  to  the  feelings  with  respect 
to  matters  which  ought  to  be  examined  by  the  light  of  reason  alone,  if  they  are 
to  be  examined  properly.  In  such  a  case  we  ought  not  to  begin  by  moving,  but 
by  convincing;  to  do  otherwise  is  to  deceive  the  reader. 

I  am  not  going  to  write  the  history  of  the  Inquisition,  or  of  the  different 
systems  which  various  countries  have  adopted  with  respect  to  religious  intole- 
rance ;  this  would  be  impossible  within  my  narrow  limits ;  besides,  it  would 
lead  me  away  from  the  object  of  my  work.  Ought  we  to  draw  from  the  Inqui- 
sition in  general,  that  of  Spain  in  particular,  or  from  the  greater  or  less  intole- 
rance of  the  legislation  of  some  countries,  an  accusation  against  Catholicity  ? 
Can  it,  in  this  respect,  be  put  in  comparison  with  Protestantism  ?  Such  are  the 
questions  I  have  to  examine. 

Three  things  at  first  present  themselves  to  the  eyes  of  the  observer :  1st, 
the  legislation  and  institutions  proceeding  from  the  principle  of  intole- 
rance ;  2d,  the  use  which  has  been  made  of  this  legislation  and  these  institu- 
tions; 3d,  the  intolerant  acts  which  have  been  committed  illegally.  With 


204  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

respect  to  the  latter,  I  must  say  at  once  that  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
question.  The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  other  atrocities  committed  in 
the  name  of  religion,  ought  not  to  trouble  the  apologists  of  religion  :  to  render 
her  responsible  for  all  that  has  been  done  in  her  name,  would  be  to  act  with 
manifest  injustice.  Man  is  endowed  with  so  strong  and  lively  a  sense  of  the 
excellence  of  virtue,  that  he  endeavors  to  cover  the  greatest  crimes  with  her 
mantle ; — would  it  be  reasonable  to  banish  virtue  from  the  earth  on  that  account? 
There  are,  in  the  history  of  mankind,  terrible  periods,  where  a  fatal  giddiness 
seizes  upon  the  mind;  rage,  inflamed  by  disorder,  blinds  the  intellect  and 
changes  the  heart ;  evil  is  called  good,  and  good  evil ;  the  most  horrible  at- 
tempts are  made  under  the  most  respectable  names.  Historians  and  philoso- 
phers, in  treating  of  such  periods,  should  know  what  ought  to  be  their  line  of 
conduct;  strictly  accurate  in  the  narration  of  such  facts,  they  ought  to  beware 
of  drawing  from  them  a  judgment  as  to  the  prevailing  ideas  and  institutions. 
Society  then  resembles  a  man  in  a  state  of  delirium ;  we  should  ill  judge  of  the 
ideas,  character,  and  conduct  of  such  a  man,  from  what  he  says  and  does  in  that 
deplorable  condition.  What  party,  in  those  calamitous  times,  can  boast  of  not 
having  committed  great  crimes  ?  If  we  fix  our  eyes  on  the  period  just  men- 
tioned, do  we  not  see  the  leaders  of  both  parties  assassinated  by  treason?  Ad- 
miral Coligny  died  by  the  hands  of  the  assassins  who  began  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew ;  but  the  Duke  of  Guise  had  been  also  assassinated  by  Poltrot, 
before  Orleans.  Henry  III.  was  assassinated  by  Jacques  Clement ;  but  this 
same  Henry  III.  had  treacherously  murdered  the  other  Duke  of  Guise  in  the 
corridors  of  his  palace,  and  his  brother,  the  Cardinal,  in  the  tower  of  Moulins ; 
this  same  Henry  III.  had  taken  part  in  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  We 
see  atrocities  committed  by  the  Catholics ;  but  did  not  their  opponents  also  com- 
mit them  ?  Let  us  throw  a  veil  over  these  catastrophes,  over  these  afflicting 
proofs  of  the  misery  and  perversity  of  the  human  heart.  The  tribunal  of  the 
Inquisition,  considered  in  itself,  is  only  the  application  to  a  particular  case  of 
that  doctrine  of  intolerance,  which,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  is  that  of  every 
existing  power.  Thus,  we  have  only  to  examine  the  character  of  that  particu- 
lar application,  and  see  whether  its  enemies  are  correct  in  their  charges  against 
it.  In  the  first  place,  we  must  observe  that  those  who  extol  antiquity,  sadly 
falsify  history,  if  they  pretend  that  intolerance  only  appeared  after  the  time 
when,  according  to  them,  the  Church  had  degenerated  from  her  primitive  purity. 
As  for  myself,  I  see  that  from  the  earliest  times,  when  the  Church  began  to 
exert  political  influence,  heresy  began  to  figure  in  the  codes  as  a  crime ;  and  I 
have  never  been  able  to  discover  a  period  of  complete  tolerance.  I  must  here 
make  an  important  remark,  which  shows  one  of  the  causes  of  the  rigor  dis- 
played in  later  centuries.  The  Inquisition  was  first  directed  against  the  Mani- 
chean  heretics;  that  is,  against  the  sectaries  who  at  all  times  were  treated  with 
the  greatest  severity.  In  the  llth  century,  when  the  punishment  of  fire  had 
not  yet  been  applied  to  the  crime  of  heresy,  the  Manicheans  were  excepted  from 
this  rule.  Even  in  the  time  of  the  Pagan  emperors,  these  sectaries  were  treated 
with  extreme  rigor.  In  the  year  296,  we  see  Diocletian  and  Maximilian,  by  an 
edict,  condemning  to  different  punishments  the  Manicheans  who  had  not  ab- 
jured their  dogmas,  and  consigning  their  leaders  to  the  fire.  These  sectaries 
have  always  been  considered  as  great  criminals ;  and  to  punish  them  has  al- 
ways been  judged  necessary,  not  only  for  the  interests  of  religion,  but  even  for 
the  morals  and  good  order  of  society.  This  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  rigor 
of  the  Inquisition  at  its  commencement :  if  we  add  to  this,  the  turbulent  cha- 
racter of  the  sects  which,  under  various  names,  arose  in  the  llth,  12th,  and 
18th  centuries,  we  shall  have  two  of  the  causes  that  contributed  to  produce  those 
scenes  which  now  we  can  scarcely  credit.  In  studying  the  history  of  those 
centuries,  and  fixing  our  attention  on  the  troubles  and  disasters  which  ravaged 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  205 

the  south  of  France,  we  clearly  see  that  it  was  not  a  dispute  as  to  a  particular 
dogma,  but  that  the  whole  social  system  was  compromised.  The  sectaries  of 
those  times  were  precursors  of  those  of  the  16th  century ;  with  this  difference, 
that  the  latter,  if  we  except  the  frantic  Anabaptists,  were  less  democratic,  less 
apt  to  address  the  multitude.  Amid  the  cruelties  of  those  times,  when  long 
ages  of  violence  and  revolution  had  given  an  excessive  preponderance  to  brute 
force,  what  could  be  expected  from  governments  incessantly  menaced  with  such 
imminent  danger  ?  It  is  clear  that  the  laws,  and  their  application,  must  savour 
of  the  times. 

As  to  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  which  was  only  an  extension  of  that  which 
was  established  in  other  countries,  we  must  divide  it,  with  respect  to  its  dura- 
tion, into  three  great  periods ; — we  omit  the  time  of  its  existence  in  the  king- 
dom of  Aragon,  before  its  introduction  into  Castille.  The  first  of  these  compre- 
hends the  time  when  the  Inquisition  was  principally  directed  against  the  relapsed 
Jews  and  Moors,  from  the  day  of  its  installation  under  the  Catholic  sovereigns, 
till  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  The  second  extends  from  the  time 
when  it  began  to  concentrate  its  efforts  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  Protest- 
antism into  Spain,  until  that  danger  entirely  ceased ;  that  is,  from  the  middle 
of  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  till  the  coming  of  the  Bourbons.  The  third  and  last 
period  is  that  when  the  Inquisition  was  limited  to  repress  infamous  crimes,  and 
exclude  the  philosophy  of  Voltaire ;  this  period  was  continued  until  its  abolition 
in  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  It  is  clear  that,  the  institution  being 
successively  modified  according  to  circumstances  at  these  different  epochs, — 
although  it  always  remained  fundamentally  the  same, — the  commencement  and 
termination  of  each  of  these  three  periods  which  we  have  pointed  out  cannot  be 
precisely  marked ;  nevertheless,  these  three  periods  really  existed  in  its  history, 
and  present  us  with  very  different  characters. 

Every  one  knows  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which  the  Inquisition  was 
established  in  the  time  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns ;  yet  it  is  worthy  of  remark, 
that  the  Bull  of  establishment  was  solicited  by  Queen  Isabella ;  that  is,  by  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  sovereigns  in  our  history, — by  that  queen  who  still, 
after  three  centuries,  preserves  the  respect  and  admiration  of  all  Spaniards.  Isa- 
bella, far  from  opposing  the  will  of  the  people  in  this  measure,  only  realized  the 
national  wish.  The  Inquisition  was  established  chiefly  against  the  Jews  j  the 
Papal  Bull  had  been  sent  in  1478 ;  now,  before  the  Inquisition  published  its 
first  edict,  dated  Seville,  in  1481,  the  Cortes  of  Toledo,  in  1480,  had  adopted 
severe  measures  on  the  subject.  N  To  prevent  the  injury  which  the  intercourse 
between  Jews  and  Christians  might  occasion  to  the  Catholic  faith,  the  Cortes 
had  ordered  that  unbaptized  Israelites  should  be  obliged  to  wear  a  distinctive 
mark,  dwell  in  separate  quarters,  called  Juiveries,  and  return  there  before  night. 
Ancient  regulations  against  them  were  renewed ;  the  professions  of  doctor, 
surgeon,  shopkeeper,  barber,  and  tavern-keeper,  were  forbidden  them.  Intole- 
rance was,  therefore,  popular  at  that  time.  If  the  Inquisition  be  justified  in  the 
eyes  of  friends  to  monarchy,  by  conformity  with  the  will  of  kings,  it  has  an 
equal  claim  to  be  so  in  the  eyes  of  lovers  of  democracy. 

No  doubt  the  heart  is  grieved  at  reading  the  excessive  severities  exercised  at 
that  time  against  the  Jews ;  but  must  there  not  have  been  very  grave  causes  to 
provoke  such  excesses  ?  The  danger  which  the  Spanish  monarchy,  not  yet  well 
established,  would  have  incurred  if  the  Jews,  then  very  powerful  on  account  of 
their  riches  and  their  alliances  with  the  most  influential  families,  had  been 
allowed  to  act  without  restraint,  has  been  pointed  out  as  one  of  the  most  important 
of  these  causes.  It  was  greatly  to  be  feared  that  they  would  league  with  the 
Moors  against  the  Christians.  The  respective  positions  of  the  three  nations 
rendered  this  league  natural :  this  is  the  reason  why  it  was  looked  upon  as 
necessary  to  break  a  power  which  was  capable  of  compromising  anew  the  inde- 

3 


206  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

pendence  of  the  Christians.  It  is  necessary  also  to  observe,  that  at  the  time  when 
the  Inquisition  was  established,  the  war  of  eight  hundred  years  against  the  Moors 
was  not  yet  finished.  The  Inquisition  was  projected  before  1474 ;  it  was  estab- 
lished in  1480,  and  the  conquest  of  Granada  did  not  take  place  till  1492.  Thus 
it  was  founded  at  the  time  when  the  obstinate  struggle  was  about  to  be  decided  ; 
it  was  yet  to  be  known  whether  the  Christians  would  remain  masters  of  the 
whole  peninsula,  or  whether  the  Moors  should  retain  possession  of  one  of  the 
most  fertile  and  beautiful  provinces  ;  whether  these  enemies,  shut  up  in  Granada, 
should  preserve  a  position,  excellent  for  their  communication  with  Africa,  and 
a  means  for  all  the  attempts  which,  at  a  later  period,  the  Crescent  might  be 
disposed  to  make  against  us.  Now,  the  power  of  the  Crescent  was  very  great, 
as  was  clearly  shown  by  its  enterprises  against  the  rest  of  Europe  in  the  next 
century.  In  such  emergencies,  after  ages  of  fighting,  and  at  the  moment  which 
was  to  decide  the  victory  for  ever,  have  combatants  ever  been  known  to  conduct 
themselves  with  moderation  and  mildness  ?  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  system 
of  repression  pursued  in  Spain,  with  respect  to  the  Jews  and  the  Moors,  was 
inspired,  in  great  measure,  by  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  :  we  can  easily 
believe  that  the  Catholic  princes  had  this  motive  before  them  when  they  decided 
on  asking  for  the  establishment  of  the  Inquisition  in  their  dominions.  The 
danger  was  not  imaginary  :  it  was  perfectly  real.  In  order  to  form  an  idea  of 
the  turn  which  things  might  have  taken  if  some  precaution  had  not  been 
adopted,  it  is  enough  to  recollect  the  insurrections  of  the  last  Moors  in  later 
times. 

Yet  it  would  be  wrong,  in  this  affair,  to  attribute  all  to  the  policy  of  royalty ; 
and  it  is  necessary  here  to  avoid  exalting  too  much  the  foresight  and  designs  of 
men  ;  for  my  part,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  naturally 
followed  the  generality  of  the  nation,  in  whose  eyes  the  Jews  were  odious  when 
they  persevered  in  their  creed,  and  suspected  when  they  embraced  the  Christian 
religion.  Two  causes  contributed  to  this  hatred  and  animadversion.  First,  the 
excited  state  of  religious  feeling  then  general  in  all  Europe,  and  especially  in 
Spain ;  2d,  the  conduct  by  which  the  Jews  had  drawn  upon  themselves  the 
public  indignation. 

The  necessity  of  restraining  the  cupidity  of  the  Jews,  for  the  sake  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Christians,  was  of  ancient  date  in  Spain  :  the  old  assemblies  of 
Toledo  had  attempted  it.  In  the  following  centuries  the  evil  reached  its  height ; 
a  great  part  of  the  riches  of  the  peninsula  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Jews,  and  almost  all  the  Christians  found  themselves  their  debtors.  Thence 
the  hatred  of  the  people  against  the  Jews  j  thence  the  frequent  troubles  which 
agitated  some  towns  of  the  peninsula ;  thence  the  tumults  which  more  than  once 
were  fatal  to  the  Jews,  and  in  which  their  blood  flowed  in  abundance.  It  was 
difficult  for  a  people  accustomed  for  ages  to  set  themselves  free  by  force  of  arms, 
to  resign  themselves  peacefully  and  tranquilly  to  the  lot  prepared  for  them  by 
the  artifices  and  exactions  of  a  strange  race,  whose  name,  moreover,  bore  the 
recollection  of  a  terrible  malediction. 

In  later  times,  an  immense  number  of  Jews  were  converted  to  the  Christian 
religion ;  but  the  hatred  of  the  people  was  not  extinguished  thereby,  and  mistrust 
followed  these  converts  into  their  new  state .  It  is  very  probable  that  a  great 
number  of  these  conversions  were  hardly  sincere,  as  they  were  partly  caused  by 
the  sad  position  in  which  the  Jews  who  continued  in  Judaism  were  placed.  In 
default  of  conjectures  founded  on  reason  in  this  respect,  we  will  regard  as  a 
sufficient  corroboration  of  our  opinion,  the  multitude  of  Judaizing  Christians  who 
were  discovered  as  soon  as  care  was  taken  to  find  out  those  who  had  been  guilty 
of  apostacy.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  distinction  between 
new  and  old  Christians  was  introduced  ;  the  latter  denomination  was  a  title  of 
honor,  and  the  former  a  mark  of  ignominy ;  the  converted  Jews  were  contemptu- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  207 

ously  called  marranos, — impure  men,  pigs.  With  more  or  less  foundation,  they 
were  accused  of  horrible  crimes.  In  their  dark  assemblies  they  committed,  it 
was  said,  atrocities  which  could  hardly  be  believed,  for  the  honor  of  humanity. 
For  example,  it  was  said  that,  to  revenge  themselves  on  the  Christians  and  in 
contempt  of  religion,  they  crucified  Christian  children,  taking  care  to  choose  for 
the  purpose  the  greatest  day  among  Christian  solemnities.  There  is  the  often- 
repeated  history  of  the  knight  of  the  house  of  Guzman,  who,  being  hidden  one 
night  in  the  house  of  a  Jew  whose  daughter  he  loved,  saw  a  child  crucified  at 
the  time  when  the  Christians  celebrated  the  institution  of  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Eucharist.  Besides  infanticide,  there  were  attributed  to  the  Jews,  sacrileges, 
poisonings,  conspiracies,  and  other  crimes.  That  these  rumors  were  generally 
believed  by  the  people  is  proved  by  the  fact,  that  the  Jews  were  forbidden  by 
law  to  exercise  the  professions  of  doctor,  surgeon,  barber,  and  tavern-keeper; 
this  shows  what  degree  of  confidence  was  placed  in  their  morality.  It  is  useless 
to  stay  to  examine  the  foundations  for  these  sinister  accusations.  We  are  not 
ignorant  how  far  popular  credulity  will  go,  above  all  when  it  is  under  the  influ- 
ence of  excited  feelings,  which  makes  it  view  all  things  in  the  same  light.  It  is 
enough  for  us  to  know  that  these  rumors  circulated  everywhere  and  with  credit, 
to  understand  what  must  have  been  the  public  indignation  against  the  Jews,  and 
consequently  how  natural  it  was  that  authority,  yielding  to  the  impulse  of  the 
general  mind,  should  be  urged  to  treat  them  with  excessive  rigor. 

The  situation  in  which  the  Jews  were  placed  is  sufficient  to  show,  that  they 
might  have  attempted  to  act  in  concert  to  resist  the  Christians ;  what  they  did 
after  the  death  of  St.  Peter  Arbues  shows  what  they  were  capable  of  doing  on 
other  occasions.  The  funds  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  murder, 
the  pay  of  the  assassins,  and  the  other  expenses  required  for  the  plot,  were  col- 
lected by  means  of  voluntary  contributions  imposed  on  themselves  by  all  the 
Jews  of  Aragon.  Does  not  this  show  an  advanced  state  of  organization,  which 
might  have  become  fatal  if  it  had  not  been  watched. 

In  alluding  to  the  death  of  St.  Peter  Arbues,  I  wish  to  make  an  observation 
on  what  has  been  said  on  this  subject,  as  proving  the  unpopularity  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Inquisition  in  Spain.  What  more  evident  proof,  we  shall  be 
told,  can  you  have  than  the  assassination  of  the  Inquisitor  ?  Is  it  not  a  sure 
sign  that  the  indignation  of  the  people  was  at  its  height,  and  that  they  were  quite 
opposed  to  the  Inquisition  ?  Would  they  otherwise  have  been  hurried  into  such 
excesses?  If  by  'the  people'  you  mean  the  Jews  and  their  descendants,  I  will 
not  deny  that  the  establishment  xof  the  Inquisition  was  indeed  very  odious  to 
them;  but  it  was  not  so  with  the  rest  of  the  nation.  The  event  we  are  speaking 
of  gave  rise  to  a  circumstance  which  proves  just  the  reverse.  When  the  report  of 
the  death  of  the  Inquisitor  was  spread  through  the  town,  the  people  made  a  fearful 
tumult  to  avenge  his  death.  They  spread  through  the  town,  they  went  in  crowds 
in  pursuit  of  the  new  Christians,  so  that  a  bloody  catastrophe  would  have  ensued, 
had  not  the  young  Archbishop  of  Saragossa,  Alphonsus  of  Aragon,  presented  him- 
self to  the  people  on  horseback,  and  calmed  them  by  the  assurance  that  all  the 
rigor  of  the  laws  should  fall  on  the  heads  of  the  guilty.  Was  the  Inquisition 
as  unpopular  as  it  has  been  represented;  and  will  it  be  said  that  its  adversaries 
were  the  majority  of  the  people?  Why,  then,  could  not  the  tumult  at  Saragossa 
have  been  avoided  in  spite  of  all  the  precautions  which  were  no  doubt  taken  by 
the  conspirators,  at  that  time  very  powerful  by  their  riches  and  influence  ? 

At  the  time  of  the  greatest  rigor  against  the  Judaizing  Christians,  there  is  a 
fact  worthy  of  attention.  Persons  accused,  or  threatened  with  the  pursuit  of  the 
Inquisition,  took  every  means  to  escape  the  action  of  that  tribunal :  they  left 
the  soil  of  Spain  and  went  to  Rome.  Would  those  who  imagine  that  Rome  has 
always  been  the  hotbed  of  intolerance,  the  firebrand  of  persecution,  have  ima- 
gined this  ?  The  number  of  causes  commenced  by  the  Inquisition,  and  summoned 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

from  Spain  to  Rome,  is  countless,  during  the  first  fifty  years  of  the  existence 
of  that  tribunal;  and  it  must  be  added,  that  Rome  always  inclined  to  the  side 
of  indulgence.  I  do  not  know  that  it  would  be  possible  to  cite  one  accused 
person  who,  by  appealing  to  Rome,  did  not  ameliorate  his  condition.  The  his- 
tory of  the  Inquisition  at  that  time  is  full  of  contests  between  the  Kings  and 
Popes ;  and  we  constantly  find,  on  the  part  of  the  Holy  See,  a  desire  to  restrain 
the  Inquisition  within  the  bounds  of  justice  and  humanity.  The  line  of  con- 
duct prescribed  by  the  court  of  Rome  was  not  always  followed  as  it  ought  to 
have  been ;  thus  we  see  the  Popes  compelled  to  receive  a  multitude  of  appeals, 
and  mitigate  the  lot  that  would  have  befallen  the  appellants,  if  their  cause  had 
been  definitely  decided  in  Spain.  We  also  see  the  Pope  name  the  judge  of 
appeal,  at  the  solicitation  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns,  who  desired  that  causes 
should  be  finally  decided  in  Spain  :  the  first  of  these  judges  was  Dr.  Inigo 
Manrique,  Archbishop  of  Seville.  Nevertheless,  at  the  end  of  a  short  time,  the 
same  Pope,  in  a  Bull  of  the  2d  of  August,  1483,  said  that  he  had  received  new 
appeals,  made  by  a  great  number  of  the  Spaniards  of  Seville,  who  had  not  dared 
to  address  themselves  to  the  judge  of  appeal  for  fear  of  being  arrested.  Such  was 
then  the  excitement  of  the  public  mind;  such  was,  at  that  time,  the  necessity 
of  preventing  injustice,  or  measures  of  undue  severity.  The  Pope  added,  that 
some  of  those  who  had  had  recourse  to  his  justice  had  already  received  the  abso- 
lution of  the  Apostolical  Penitentiary,  and  that  others  were  about  to  receive  it ; 
he  afterwards  complained  that  indulgences  granted  to  divers  accused  persons  had 
not  been  sufficiently  respected  at  Seville ;  in  fine,  after  several  other  admoni- 
tions, he  observed  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  that  mercy  towards  the  guilty  was 
more  pleasing  to  God  than  the  severity  which  it  was  desired  to  use ;  and  he 
gave  the  example  of  the  good  Shepherd  following  the  wandering  sheep.  He 
ended  by  exhorting  the  sovereigns  to  treat  with  mildness  those  who  voluntarily 
confessed  their  faults,  desiring  them  to  allow  them  to  reside  at  Seville,  or  in 
some  other  place  they  might  choose  j  and  to  allow  them  the  enjoyment  of  their 
property,  as  if  they  had  not  been  guilty  of  the  crime  of  heresy. 

Moreover,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  appeals  admitted  at  Rome,  and 
by  virtue  of  which  the  lot  of  the  accused  was  improved,  were  founded  on  errors 
of  form  and  injustice  committed  in  the  application  of  the  law.  If  the  accused 
had  recourse  to  Rome,  it  was  not  always  to  demand  reparation  for  an  injustice, 
but  because  they  were  sure  of  finding  indulgence.  We  have  a  proof  of  this  in 
the  considerable  number  of  Spanish  refugees  convicted  at  Rome  of  having 
fallen  into  Judaism.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  of  them  were  found  at  one  time ; 
yet  there  was  not  one  capital  execution.  Some  penances  were  imposed  on  them, 
and  when  they  were  absolved,  they  were  free  to  return  home,  without  the  least 
mark  of  ignominy.  This  took  place  at  Rome  in  1498. 

It  is  a  remarkable  thing  that  the  Roman  Inquisition  was  never  known  to 
pronounce  the  execution  of  capital  punishment,  although  the  Apostolic  See  was 
occupied  during  that  time  by  Popes  of  extreme  rigor  and  severity  in  all  that 
relates  to  the  civil  administration.  We  find  in  all  parts  of  Europe  scaffolds 
prepared  to  punish  crimes  against  religion ;  scenes  which  sadden  the  soul  were 
everywhere  witnessed.  Rome  is  an  exception  to  the  rule  ;  Rome,  which  it  has 
been  attempted  to  represent  as  a  monster  of  intolerance  and  cruelty.  It  is  true, 
that  the  Popes  have  not  preached,  like  Protestants,  universal  toleration ;  but 
facts  show  the  difference  between  the  Popes  and  Protestants.  The  Popes, 
armed  with  a  tribunal  of  intolerance,  have  not  spilled  a  drop  of  blood ;  Protest- 
ants and  philosophers  have  shed  torrents.  What  advantage  is  it  to  the  victim 
to  hear  his  executioners  proclaim  toleration  ?  It  is  adding  the  bitterness  of  sar- 
casm to  his  punishment.  The  conduct  of  Rome  in  the  use  which  she  made  of 
the  Inquisition,  is  the  best  apology  of  Catholicity  against  those  who  attempt  to 
stigmatize  her  as  barbarous  and  sanguinary.  In  truth,  what  is  there  in  com- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  209 

mon  between  Catholicity  and  the  excessive  severity  employed  in  this  place  or 
that,  in  the  extraordinary  situation  in  which  many  rival  races  were  placed,  in 
the  presence  of  danger  which  menaced  one  of  them,  or  in  the  interest  which  the 
kings  had  in  maintaining  the  tranquillity  of  their  states,  and  securing  their  con- 
quests from  all  danger  ?  I  will  not  enter  into  a  detailed  examination  of  the  con- 
duct of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  with  respect  to  Judaizing  Christians ;  and  I  am 
far  from  thinking  that  the  rigor  which  it  employed  against  them  was  preferable 
to  the  mildness  recommended  and  displayed  by  the  Popes.  What  I  wish  to 
show  here  is,  that  rigor  was  the  result  of  extraordinary  circumstances, — the 
effect  of  the  national  spirit,  and  of  the  severity  of  customs  in  Europe  at  that 
time.  Catholicity  cannot  be  reproached  with  excesses  committed  for  these 
different  reasons.  Still  more,  if  we  pay  attention  to  the  spirit  which  prevails 
in  all  the  instructions  of  the  Popes  relating  to  the  Inquisition ;  if  we  observe 
their  manifest  inclination  to  range  themselves  on  the  side  of  mildness,  and  to 
suppress  the  marks  of  ignominy  with  which  the  guilty,  as  well  as  their  fami- 
lies, were  stigmatized,  we  have  a  right  to  suppose  that,  if  the  Popes  had  not 
feared  to  displease  the  kings  too  much,  and  to  excite  divisions  which  might 
have  been  fatal,  their  measures  would  have  been  carried  still  further.  If  we 
recollect  the  negotiations  which  took  place  with  respect  to  the  noisy  affair  of 
the  claims  of  the  Cortes  of  Aragon,  we  shall  see  to  which  side  the  court  of  Rome 
leaned. 

As  we  are  speaking  of  intolerance  with  regard  to  the  Judaizers,  let  us  say  a 
few  words  as  to  the  disposition  of  Luther  towards  the  Jews.  Does  it  not  seem 
that  the  pretended  reformer,  the  founder  of  independence  of  thought,  the  furi- 
ous declaimer  against  the  oppression  and  tyranny  of  the  Popes,  should  have 
been  animated  with  the  most  humane  sentiments  towards  that  people  ?  No 
doubt  the  eulogists  of  this  chieftain  of  Protestantism  ought  to  think  thus  also. 
I  am  sorry  for  them ;  but  history  will  not  allow  us  to  partake  of  this  delusion. 
According  to  all  appearances,  if  the  apostate  monk  had  found  himself  in  the 
place  of  Torquemada,  the  Judaizers  would  not  have  been  in  a  better  position. 
What,  then,  was  the  system  advised  by  Luther,  according  to  Seckendorf,  one 
of  his  apologists?  "Their  synagogues  ought  to  be  destroyed,  their  houses 
pulled  down,  their  prayer-books,  the  Talmud,  and  even  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  to  be  taken  from  them ;  their  rabbis  ought  to  be  forbidden  to  teach, 
and  be  compelled  to  gain  their  livelihood  by  hard  labor."  The  Inquisition,  at 
least,  did  not  proceed  against  the  Jews,  but  against  the  Judaizers ;  that  is, 
against  those  who,  after  being  Converted  to  Christianity,  relapsed  into  their 
errors,  and  added  sacrilege  to  their  apostacy,  by  the  external  profession  of  a 
creed  which  they  detested  in  secret,  and  which  they  profaned  by  the  exercise 
of  their  old  religion.  But  Luther  extended  his  severity  to  the  Jews  themselves; 
so  that,  according  to  his  doctrines,  no  reproach  can  be  made  against  the  sove- 
reign who  expelled  the  Jews  from  their  dominions. 

The  Moors  and  the  Mooriscoes  no  less  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion at  that  time;  and  all  that  has  been  said  on  the  subject  of  the  Jews  may 
be  applied  to  them  with  some  modifications.  They  were  also  an  abhorred  race 
— a  race  which  had  been  contended  with  for  eight  centuries.  When  they 
retained  their  religion,  the  Moors  inspired  hatred;  when  they  abjured  it,  mis- 
trust; the  Popes  interested  themselves  in  their  favor  also  in  a  peculiar  manner. 
We  ought  to  remark  a  Bull  issued  in  1530,  which  is  expressed  in  language 
quite  evangelical :  it  is  there  said,  that  the  ignorance  of  these  nations  is  one  of 
the  principal  causes  of  their  faults  and  errors;  the  first  thing  to  be  done  to 
render  their  conversion  solid  and  sincere  was,  according  to  the  recommendation 
contained  in  this  Bull,  to  endeavor  to  enlighten  their  minds  with  sound  doctrine. 

It  will  be  said  that  the  Pope  granted  to  Charles  V.  the  Bull  which  released 
him  from  the  oath  taken  in  the  Cortes  of  Saragossa  in  the  year  1519;  an  oath); 
27  s  2 


210  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

by  which  he  had  engaged  not  to  make  any  change  with  respect  to  the  Moors; 
whereby,  it  is  said,  the  Emperor  was  enabled  to  complete  their  expulsion.  But, 
we  must  observe,  that  the  Pope  for  a  long  time  resisted  that  concession;  and, 
that  if  he  at  length  complied  with  the  wishes  of  the  Emperor,  it  was  only 
because  he  thought  that  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors  was  indispensable  to  secure 
the  tranquillity  of  the  kingdom.  Whether  this  was  true  or  not,  the  Emperor, 
and  not  the  Pope,  was  the  better  judge;  the  latter,  placed  at  a  great  distance, 
could  not  know  the  real  state  of  things  in  detail.  Moreover,  it  was  not  the 
Spanish  monarch  alone  who  thought  so;  it  is  related  that  Francis  I.,  when  a 
prisoner  at  Madrid,  one  day  conversing  with  Charles  V.,  told  him  that  tran- 
quillity would  never  be  established  in  Spain,  if  the  Moors  and  Mooriscoes  were 
not  expelled. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

SECOND   EPOCH   OF   THE  INQUISITION   IN   SPAIN. 

IT  has  been  said  that  Philip  II.  founded  a  new  Inquisition  in  Spain,  more 
terrible  than  that  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns;  at  the  same  time  the  Inquisition 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  receives  a  certain  degree  of  indulgence,  which  is 
refused  to  that  of  their  successors.  At  the  very  outset,  we  find  an  important 
historical  mistake  in  this  assertion.  Philip  did  not  establish  a  new  Inquisition ; 
he  maintained  that  which  the  Catholic  sovereigns  had  left  him,  and  which 
Charles  V.,  his  father  and  predecessor,  had  particularly  recommended  to  him 
by  will.  The  Committee  of  the  Cortes  of  Cadiz,  in  the  project  for  the  abolition 
of  the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition,  excuses  the  conduct  of  the  Catholic  sove- 
reigns, and  blames  with  severity  that  of  Philip  II. ;  it  attempts  to  make  all  the 
fault  and  odium  fall  on  that  prince.  An  illustrious  French  writer,  very  recently 
treating  of  this  important  question,  has  allowed  himself  to  be  led  into  the  same 
•errors,  with  that  candor  which  sometimes  accompanies  genius.  "  There  were," 
:says  M.  Lacordaire,  "  in  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  two  solemn  periods,  which 
must  not  be  confounded;  the  one  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  under 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  before  the  Moors  were  expelled  from  Granada,  their 
last  asylum;  the  other,  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth,  under  Philip  II.,  when 
Protestantism  threatened  to  propagate  itself  in  Spain.  The  Committee  of  the 
Oortes  has  perfectly  distinguished  these  two  epochs;  and  while  it  stigmatizes 
the  Inquisition  of  Philip  II.,  expresses  itself  with  moderation  with  respect  to 
that  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella."  After  these  words  the  writer  quotes  a  text, 
where  it  is  affirmed  that  Philip  II.  was  the  real  founder  of  the  Inquisition ;  if 
that  institution  attained  in  the  end  to  a  high  degree  of  power,  it  was  owing,  it 
says,  to  the  refined  policy  of  that  prince.  We  read,  a  little  further  on,  that 
Philip  II.  was  the  inventor  of  the  auto-da-ftj  to  terrify  heretics;  and  that  the 
first  of  these  bloody  spectacles  was  seen  at  Seville  in  1559.  (Memoire,  pour  le 
rtiablissement  de  I'  Ordre  des  Frtres  Precheurs,  chap,  vi.)  Setting  aside  the 
historical  mistake  with  respect  to  the  auto-da-fes,  it  is  well  known  that  neither 
the  sanbenitos  nor  the  fagots  were  the  invention  of  Philip  II.  Such  mistakes 
easily  escape  a  writer  who  is  satisfied  with  alluding  to  a  fact  incidentally;  if  we 
bring  forward  this  one,  it  is  because  it  contains  an  accusation  against  a  mo- 
narch to  whom,  for  a  long  time,  too  little  justice  has  been  done.  Philip  II. 
continued  the  work  which  had  been  begun  by  his  predecessors;  if  they  are 
excused,  he  ought  not  to  be  treated  with  greater  severity.  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  directed  the  Inquisition  against  the  apostate  Jews;  why  could  not 
Philip  II.  avail  himself  of  it  against  Protestants?  But  I  shall  be  told  he 
abused  his  right  and  carried  rigor  to  excess.  Certainly  there  was  not  more 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY.  211 

indulgence  in  the  times  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Are  the  numerous  execu- 
tions at  Seville  and  other  places  forgotten  ?  Or  what  Mariana  says  in  his 
history,  and  the  public  measures  taken  by  the  Popes  for  the  purpose  of  check- 
ing the  excessive  severity?  The  words  quoted  against  Philip  II.  are  taken 
from  the  work  called  La  Inquicition  sin  mascura  (the  Inquisition  unveiled,) 
published  in  Spain  in  1811.  We  may  judge  of  the  value  of  this  authority, 
when  we  know  that  the  author  of  the  book  was  distinguished  till  his  death  by 
a  deep  hatred  to  the  Spanish  kings.  The  book  bears  the  name  of  Nathanael 
Jomtob;  but  the  real  author  is  a  well-known  Spaniard,  who,  in  his  latter  writ- 
ings^ seems  to  have  undertaken  to  avenge,  by  his  unbounded  exaggerations  and 
furious  invectives,  all  that  he  had  previously  attacked;  a  writer  who  assails, 
with  an  intolerable  partiality,  all  that  presents  itself  before  him — religion, 
country,  classes  of  society,  individuals,  and  opinions — insulting  and  tearing  to 
pieces  all,  as  if  he  had  been  seized  with  a  sally  of  passion,  and  not  even  sparing 
the  men  of  his  own  party.  Is  it,  then,  surprising  that  this  writer  regarded 
Philip  II.  as  Protestants  and  philosophers  do,  that  is,  as  a  monarch  placed  on 
the  earth  for  the  disgrace  and  misfortune  of  humanity, — a  monster  of  Machia- 
vellianism, anxious  to  diffuse  darkness,  in  order  to  maintain  himself  in  safety 
in  his  cruelty  and  perfidy?  I  will  not  undertake  to  justify,  on  all  points,  the 
policy  of  Philip  II. ;  I  will  not  deny  that  there  are  exaggerations  in  the  eulo- 
giums  which  some  Spanish  writers  have  given  to  that  prince.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  cannot  be  doubted,  that  Protestants  and  the  political  enemies  of 
Philip  II.  have  ever  been  careful  to  denounce  him.  And  do  you  know  why 
Protestants  have  done  this  ?  It  is  because  it  was  he  who  prevented  Protestant- 
ism from  penetrating  into  Spain;  it  was  he  who,  at  that  period  of  agitation, 
maintained  the  cause  of  Catholicity.  Let  us  set  aside  the  great  events  of  the 
rest  of  Europe,  of  which  each  one  will  judge  as  he  pleases;  let  us  limit  our- 
selves to  Spain.  We  do  not  fear  to  assert,  that  the  introduction  of  Protestant- 
,ism  into  that  country  was  imminent  and  inevitable  without  the  system  which 
he  pursued.  Whether  Philip  used  the  Inquisition  for  political  purposes,  in 
certain  cases,  is  not  the  question  we  have  to  examine  here ;  but  at  least  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  it  was  not  a  mere  instrument  of  ambitious  projects;  it 
was  an  institution  strengthened  and  maintained  in  presence  of  an  imminent 
danger. 

It  appears,  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Inquisition  at  this  time,  that  Pro- 
testantism began  to  spread  in  an  incredible  manner  in  Spain ;  eminent  ecclesias- 
tics, monks,  nuns,  seculars  of  distinction,  in  a  word,  individuals  of  the  most 
influential  classes,  were  attached  to  the  new  errors.  Could  the  efforts  of  Pro- 
testants to  introduce  their  creed  into  Spain  remain  altogether  unproductive, 
when  they  employed  every  stratagem  in  their  ardor  to  introduce  their  books? 
They  went  so  far  as  to  place  their  prohibited  writings  in  casks  of  Champagne 
and  Burgundy  wine,  with  so  much  art  as  to  deceive  the  custom-house  men: 
thus  wrote  the  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Paris. 

To  perceive  the  whole  danger,  it  is  enough  to  observe  with  attention  the  state 
of  minds  in  Spain  at  this  time ;  besides,  incontestable  facts  come  in  support  of 
conjectures.  The  Protestants,  taking  great  care  to  declaim  against  abuses, 
represented  themselves  as  reformers,  and  labored  to  draw  to  their  side  all  who 
were  animated  by  an  ardent  desire  for  reform.  This  desire  for  reform  had  ex- 
isted for  a  long  time  in  the  Church ;  but  with  some  it  was  inspired  by  bad  inten- 
tions ;  in  other  words,  the  specious  name  of  reform  concealed  the  real  intention 
of  many,  which  was  to  destroy.  At  the  same  time,  with  some  sincere  Catholics, 
this  desire,  although  pure  in  principle,  went  to  imprudent  zeal,  and  reached  an 
ill-regulated  ardor.  It  is  probable  that  such  zeal,  carried  to  too  great  an  extent, 
was,  with  many,  changed  into  acrimony ;  thence  a  certain  facility  in  receiving 
the  insidious  suggestions  of  the  enemies  of  the  Church.  Many  people  who  had 


212  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

begun  with  indiscreet  zeal,  perhaps  fell  into  exaggeration,  then  into  bitterness, 
and  finally  into  heresy.  Spain  was  not  exempt  from  this  disposition  of  mind, 
from  whence  the  course  of  events  might  have  drawn  very  bitter  results,  if  Pro- 
testantism had  obtained  any  footing  on  our  soil.  We  know  that  the  Spaniards 
at  the  Council  of  Trent  distinguished  themselves  by  their  reforming  zeal,  and 
their  boldness  in  expressing  their  opinions.  Let  us  remark,  moreover,  that  reli- 
gious discord  being  once  introduced  into  a  country,  minds  are  excited  by  dis- 
putes, they  are  irritated  by  frequent  shocks,  .and  it  sometimes  happens  that 
respectable  men  precipitate  themselves  into  excesses  which  they  would  have 
abhorred  a  short  time  before.  It  is  difficult  to  say  with  precision  what  would 
have  happened  if  the  rigor  had  been  at  all  relaxed  on  this  point.  Certain  it  is, 
that,  when  reading  some  passages  of  Luis  Vives,  of  Arias  Montanus,  of  Car- 
ranza,  and  of  the  consultation  of  Melchior  Cano,  we  can  fancy  we  find,  at  the 
bottom  of  their  minds,  a  sort  of  disquietude  and  agitation,  which  may  best  be 
compared  to  those  heavy  murmurings  which  announce  from  afar  the  commence- 
ment of  a  tempest. 

The  famous  trial  of  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  Fray  Bartolome"  de  Carranza, 
is  one  of  the  facts  which  are  most  frequently  cited  to  show  the  arbitrary  nature 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  We  certainly  cannot  see  without 
emotion,  shut  up  in  prison  for  many  years,  one  of  the  most  learned  men  in 
Europe,  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  honored  with  the  intimate  confidence  of 
Philip  II.  and  the  Queen  of  England,  allied  in  friendship  with  the  most  distin- 
guished men  of  the  time,  and  known  to  all  Christendom  by  the  brilliant  part 
which  he  had  played  at  the  Council  of  Trent.  The  process  lasted  seventeen 
years;  and  although  the  cause  was  carried  to  Rome,  where  the  Archbishop 
must  have  found  powerful  friends,  a  declaration  of  innocence  in  his  favor  could 
not  be  obtained.  Without  staying  to  notice  the  many  incidents  of  a  cause  so 
long  and  so  complicated,  without  insisting  on  the  more  or  less  reason  which  the 
discourses  and  writings  of  Carranza  may  have  afforded  for  suspicions  against  his 
faith,  I  am  quite  certain,  in  my  own  mind,  that,  in  his  own  conscience  and  be- 
fore God,  he  was  perfectly  innocent.  Here  is  a  proof  that  places  my  opinion 
beyond  a  doubt.  A  short  time  after  the  judgment  was  given,  he  fell  ill ;  his 
malady  was  supposed  to  be  mortal,  and  the  sacraments  were  administered  to 
him.  At  the  moment  of  receiving  the  Viaticum,  in  the  presence  of  a  large 
concourse,  he  declared,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  that  he  had  never  left  the 
Catholic  faith,  that  his  conscience  acquitted  him  of  all  the  accusations  made 
against  him ;  and  he  confirmed  his  declaration  by  calling  to  witness  God,  in 
whose  presence  he  was,  whom  he  was  about  to  receive  under  the  most  sacred 
species,  and  before  whose  awful  tribunal  he  was  in  a  few  moments  to  appear. 
This  pathetic  act  drew  tears  from  all  present;  all  suspicions  against  him  were  dis- 
sipated as  by  a  breath,  and  a  new  sympathy  was  added  to  that  which  his  continued 
misfortunes  had  excited.  The  Sovereign  Pontiff  did  not  doubt  the  sincerity  of 
the  declaration,  as  a  magnificent  epitaph  was  placed  upon  his  tomb,  which  cer- 
tainly would  not  have  been  allowed  if  there  had  been  the  least  doubt  of  it.  It 
certainly  would  be  rash  to  refuse  to  believe  a  declaration  so  explicit  from  the 
mouth  of  such  a  man  as  Carranza,  expiring,  and  in  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ 
Himself. 

After  having  paid  this  tribute  to  the  knowledge,  virtues,  and  misfortunes  of 
Carranza,  it  remains  for  us  to  examine  whether,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
purity  of  his  conscience,  it  can  be  justly  said  that  his  trial  was  a  perfidious 
intrigue,  carried  on  by  envy  and  hatred.  This  is  not  the  place  to  examine  the 
immense  procedure  in  this  case ;  but  since  allusion  has  been  made  to  it  to  con- 
demn Philip  II.  and  the  adversaries  of  Carranza,  I  wish,  in  my  turn,  to  make 
some  observations,  to  endeavor  to  place  the  affair  in  its  proper  light.  In  the 
first  place,  is  it  not  astonishing  that  a  trial  devoid  of  all  foundation  should  have 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  213 

had  so  extraordinary  a  duration  ?  At  least  there  must  have  been  some  appear- 
ance of  it.  Besides,  if  the  cause  had  been  decided  in  Spain,  the  length  of  the 
trial  might  not  have  been  so  extraordinary.  But  it  was  not  so ;  the  cause  re- 
mained pending  in  Rome  many  years.  Were  the  judges  so  blind  or  so  wicked 
that  they  could  not  discover  the  calumny,  or  that  they  wanted  the  virtue  to 
destroy  it,  supposing  it  to  have  been  as  clear  and  evident  as  it  has  been  pre- 
tended ?  It  may  be  replied  to  this,  that  the  intrigues  of  Philip  II.,  who  was 
determined  on  the  destruction  of  the  Archbishop,  prevented  the  truth  from 
appearing  j  in  proof  of  this  assertion,  have  we  not  the  difficulties  which  the  king 
made  to  allow  the  prisoner  to  be  transferred  to  Rome  ?  It  was  necessary,  it  is 
said,  for  Pius  V.  to  effect  this  by  the  threat  of  excommunication.  I  will  not 
deny  that  Philip  II.  attempted  to  aggravate  the  situation  of  the  Archbishop, 
and  wished  for  a  sentence  little  favorable  to  the  illustrious  accused.  Yet,  before 
deciding  that  the  conduct  of  the  king  was  criminal,  we  must  know  whether  he 
acted  thus  from  personal  resentment,  from  conviction,  or  from  the  suspicion  that 
the  Archbishop  inclined  towards  Lutheranism.  Carranza,  before  his  disgrace, 
was  highly  favored  and  esteemed  by  Philip,  as  appears  from  the  missions  which 
were  confided  to  him  in  England,  and  from  his  elevation  to  the  first  ecclesias- 
tical dignity  in  Spain.  How,  then,  can  we  presume  that  so  much  good- will  was 
converted  on  a  sudden  into  personal  and  violent  hatred  ?  Is  it  not,  at  least, 
necessary  that  history  should  afford  a  fact  in  support  of*  this  conjecture  ?  Now, 
I  find  this  nowhere  in  history,  nor  am  I  aware  that  others  have  done  so.  If 
Philip  took  so  decided  a  part  against  the  Archbishop,  it  was  evidently  because 
he  believed,  or  strongly  suspected  him  of  being  heretical.  In  that  case,  Philip 
may  have  been  rash,  imprudent — all  that  you  please;  but  it  cannot  be  said 
that,  in  the  pursuit,  he  was  moved  by  the  spirit  of  vengeance,  or  by  low  ani- 
mosity. 

Other  men  of  the  time  were  equally  accused.  Among  the  rest,  Melchior 
Cano.  Carranza  himself  seemed  to  be  suspicious ;  he  bitterly  complained  that 
Melchior  Cano  had  ventured  to  say  that  the  Archbishop  was  as  heretical  as 
Luther.  But  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  when  relating  the  fact  in  the  life  of  Car- 
ranza, asserts  that  Cano,  hearing  this,  openly  denied  it,  saying,  that  he  had  said 
nothing  of  the  kind.  Indeed,  the  mind  is  easily  inclined  to  believe  him ;  men 
with  intellects  as  favored  as  his,  have,  in  their  own  dignity,  too  powerful  a  pre- 
servative against  baseness,  to  allow  them  to  be  suspected  of  playing  the  infamous 
part  of  calumniators. 

I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  necessary  to  seek  for  the  cause  of  the  misfortunes 
of  Carranza  in  private  hatred  or  jealousy ;  it  is  found  in  the  critical  circum- 
stances of  the  time,  and  in  the  character  of  this  illustrious  man  himself.  The 
grave  symptoms  which  produced  alarm  lest  Protestantism  might  make  prose- 
lytes in  Spain ;  the  efforts  of  the  Protestants  to  introduce  their  books  and  emis- 
saries there ;  the  experience  of  what  happened  in  other  countries,  and  particu- 
larly in  the  kingdom  of  France,  created  so  much  dread  in  men's  minds,  rendered 
them  so  fearful  and  mistrustful,  that  the  least  suspicion  of  error,  above  all,  in 
persons  elevated  in  dignity  or  distinguished  for  their  knowledge,  occasioned  dis- 
quietude and  apprehension.  We  are  aware  of  the  hot  disputes  which  took  place 
with  respect  to  the  Polyglot  of  Antwerp  and  Arias  Montanus,  and  we  are  not 
ignorant  of  the  sufferings  of  the  famous  Fray  Luis  de  Leon,  and  some  other 
illustrious  men  of  that  time.  Another  conjuncture  which  contributed  to  push 
things  to  extremes  was,  the  political  situation  of  Spain  with  respect  to  strangers. 
The  Spanish  monarchy  had  too  many  enemies  and  rivals  for  her  not  to  have 
reason  to  fear  that  heresy,  in  the  hands  of  her  adversaries,  would  become  a 
means  of  introducing  discord  and  civil  war  into  her  bosom.  These  causes  united, 
naturally  rendered  Philip  suspicious  and  mistrustful ;  the  hatred  of  heresy  com- 
bining in  his  mind  with  the  desire  of  self-preservation,  he  showed  himself  severe 


214  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

and  inexorable  with  respect  to  all  that  could  affect  the  purity  of  the  Catholic 
faith  in  his  empire. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  character  of  Carranza 
was  not  exactly  what  was  required,  in  such  critical  times,  to  avoid  all  dangerous 
wanderings.  We  perceive,  in  reading  his  commentaries  on  the  Catechism,  that 
he  was  a  man  of  acute  penetration,  of  vast  erudition,  of  profound  learning,  of 
severe  character,  and  of  a  heart  generous  and  frank.  He  spoke  his  thoughts 
without  circumlocution,  without  regard  to  the  displeasure  which  his  words  might 
give  to  this  person  or  that.  When  he  believed  that  he  had  discovered  an  abuse, 
he  pointed  it  out  and  condemned  it  openly,  wherein  he  resembled  his  supposed 
adversary,  Melchior  Cano,  in  more  features  than  one.  The  accusations  against 
him  in  the  trial  were  founded,  not  only  on  his  writings,  but  also  on  some  of  his 
sermons  and  private  conversations.  I  know  not  to  what  extent  he  exceeded  the 
just  limits ;  but  I  hesitate  not  to  affirm,  that  a  man  who  wrote  in  the  tone  which 
we  find  in  his  works,  must  have  expressed  himself  viva  voce  with  great  force, 
and  perhaps  with  excessive  boldness.  It  must  be  added,  to  speak  the  whole 
truth,  that  when  treating  of  justification,  in  his  commentaries  on  the  Catechism, 
he  does  not  explain  himself  with  all  the  clearness  desirable,  and  is  wanting  in 
the  simplicity  required  by  the  unhappy  circumstances  of  the  times.  Men  versed 
in  this  delicate  matter  know  how  delicate  certain  points  are.  These  points  were 
then  the  subject  of  the  errors  of  Germany;  and  it  maybe  easily  imagined  how 
much  the  attention  must  have  been  fixed  on  the  words  of  Carranza,  and  how 
alarming  the  least  shadow  of  ambiguity  must  have  been.  It  is  certain  that,  at 
Rome  he  was  not  acquitted  of  all  the  accusations ;  he  was  compelled  to  abjure 
a  series  of  propositions,  with  respect  to  which  he  was  judged  liable  to  suspicion; 
and  some  penances  were  imposed  on  him.  Carranza  on  his  death-bed  protested 
his  innocence ;  but  he  took  care  to  declare  that  he  did  not  regard  the  sentence 
of  the  Pope  as  unjust.  The  explanation  of  the  enigma  is  this :  the  innocence 
of  the  heart  is  not  always  accompanied  by  the  prudence  of  the  lips. 

I  have  dwelt  upon  this  famous  cause  because  it  involves  considerations  which 
strikingly  exhibit  the  spirit  of  the  age.  These  considerations  have,  besides,  the 
advantage  of  showing  the  truth  in  its  proper  light,  and  prevent  every  thing 
being  explained  according  to  the  wretched  measure  of  the  malice  of  men.  There 
is  unhappily  a  tendency  to  explain  all  in  this  way;  and  it  may  be  truly  said, 
that  men  too  often  give  a  just  foundation  for  it ;  yet,  whenever  there  is  no  evi- 
dent necessity  to  do  so,  we  ought  to  abstain  from  condemnation.  The  picture 
of  the  history  of  humanity  is  sombre  enough  in  itself;  let  us  not  take  pleasure 
in  darkening  it  still  more  by  new  stains.  We  often  call  crime  that  which  was 
only  ignorance.  Man  is  inclined  to  evil ;  but  he  is  not  less  subject  to  error,  and 
error  is  not  always  culpable. 

Moreover,  I  believe  that  to  Protestants  themselves  were  owing  the  rigor  and 
anxious  mistrust  which  the  Inquisition  of  Spain  displayed  at  that  time.  They 
excited  a  religious  revolution;  and  it  is  a  constant  law,  that  all  revolutions 
either  destroy  the  power  assailed,  or  render  it  more  harsh  and  severe.  What 
before  was  looked  upon  as  indifferent,  is  now  considered  as  suspected ;  and  what, 
in  all  other  circumstances,  would  only  have  appeared  a  fault,  is  now  regarded 
as  a  crime.  Men  are  in  continual  dread  of  seeing  liberty  converted  into  licen- 
tiousness ;  and  as  revolutions  destroy  all,  while  they  profess  to  reform,  whoever 
ventures  to  speak  of  reform,  runs  the  risk  of  being  blamed  as  a  disturber.  Even 
prudent  conduct  is  stigmatized  as  hypocritical  caution ;  frank  and  sincere  lan- 
guage is  termed  insolence  and  dangerous  suggestion ;  reserve  is  a  concealment 
full  of  cunning ;  even  silence  itself  assumes  a  meaning — it  becomes  farming 
dissimulation.  We  have  seen  so  many  things  come  to  pass  in  our  days,  that  we 
are  placed  in  an  incomparable  situation  easily  to  understand  the  various  phases 
of  the  history  of  humanity.  It  is  an  undoubted  fact,  that  Protestantism  pro- 


.PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  215 

duced  a  reaction  in  Spain.  Its  errors  and  excesses  were  the  reason  why  the 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  power  infinitely  restrained  the  liberty  which  had  been 
previously  enjoyed  in  all  that  related  to  religion.  Spain  was  preserved  from  the 
Protestant  doctrines,  when  all  the  probabilities  were  in  favor  of  their  being 
introduced  there,  in  one  way  or  another.  It  is  clear  that  this  could  not  be 
obtained  without  extraordinary  efforts.  Spain,  at  that  time,  appears  to  me  like 
a  place  besieged  by  a  powerful  enemy,  where  the  leaders  continually  watched, 
not  only  against  attacks  from  without,  but  also  against  treason  from  within.  I 
will  confirm  these  observations  by  an  example,  which  will  serve  for  many  others. 
Let  us  remember  what  took  place  with  respect  to  Bibles  in  the  vulgar  tongue } 
we  shall  then  have  an  idea  of  what  passed  with  relation  to  all  the  rest,  accord- 
ing to  the  natural  order  of  things.  I  have  before  me  a  testimony  of  what  I 
have  just  said,  as  respectable  as  it  is  worthy  of  interest — that  of  Carranza  him- 
self. Hear  what  he  says  in  his  prologue  to  his  commentaries  on  the  Christian 
Catechism  :  "  Before  the  heresies  of  Luther  had  come  from  the  infernal  regions 
to  the  light  of  this  world,  I  do  not  know  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  the  vulgar 
tongue  were  anywhere  forbidden.  In  Spain,  Bibles  were  translated  into  it  by 
order  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns,  at  the  time  when  the  Moors  and  Jews  were 
allowed  to  live  among  the  Christians  according  to  their  own  law.  After  the 
expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Spain,  the  judges  of  religion  found  that  some  of 
those  who  had  been  converted  to  our  holy  faith  instructed  their  children  in 
Judaism,  and  taught  them  the  ceremonies  of  the  law  of  Moses  by  means  of 
those  Bibles  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  which  they  took  care  to  have  printed  in  Italy, 
in  the  town  of  Ferrara.  This  is  the  real  cause  why  Bibles  in  the  vulgar  tongue 
were  forbidden  in  Spain ;  but  the  possession  and  reading  of  them  were  always 
allowed  to  colleges  and  monasteries,  as  well  as  to  persons  of  distinction  above 
all  suspicion."  Carranza  continues  to  give,  in  a  few  words,  the  history  of  these 
prohibitions  in  Germany,  France,  and  other  countries;  then  he  adds:  "In 
Spain,  which  was,  and  still  is,  by  the  grace  and  goodness  of  God,  pure  from  the 
cockle,  care  was  taken  to  forbid  generally  all  the  translations  of  the  Scriptures 
in  the  vulgar  tongue,  in  order  to  prevent  strangers  having  an  opportunity  of 
holding  controversy  with  simple  and  ignorant  persons,  and  also  because  they 
had,  and  still  have,  experience  of  certain  particular  cases,  and  of  the  errors 
which  began  to  arise  in  Spain  from  the  ill-understood  reading  of  certain  passages 
of  the  Bible.  What  I  have  just  stated  is  the  real  history  of  what  took  place  j 
this  is  why  the  Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue  was  prohibited/' 

This  curious  passage  of  Carranza  shows  us,  in  a  few  words,  the  progress  of 
things.  At  first  there  was  no  prohibition ;  but  the  abuse  committed  by  the 
Jews  provoked  one,  although  still  confined,  as  we  have  just  seen,  within  certain 
limits.  Afterwards  came  the  Protestants,  upsetting  all  Europe  by  means  of 
their  Bibles ;  Spain  is  threatened  with  the  introduction  of  the  new  errors ;  it  is 
discovered  that  some  persons  have  been  misled  by  the  false  interpretation  of 
certain  passages  of  the  Bible ;  they  are  compelled  to  take  away  this  weapon 
from  these  strangers,  who  attempt  to  use  it  to  seduce  simple  people :  from  that 
time  the  prohibition  becomes  rigorous  and  general. 

To  return  to  Philip  II.,  let  us  not  forget  that  this  monarch  was  one  of  the 
firmest  defenders  of  the  Catholic  Church ;  and  that  in  him  was  personified  the 
policy  of  the  faithful  ages,  amid  the  vertigo  which,  under  the  impulse  of  Pro- 
testantism, had  taken  possession  of  European  policy.  If  the  Catholic  Church,, 
amid  these  great  perturbations,  could  reckon  on  a  powerful  protection  from  the 
princes  of  the  earth,  it  was  in  great  measure  owing  to  Philip  II.  This  age 
was  critical  and  decisive  in  Europe.  If  it  is  true  that  he  was  unfortunate  in 
Flanders,  it  is  not  less  undoubted  that  his  power  and  ability  afforded  a  counter- 
poise to  the  Protestant  power,  which  prevented  it  making  itself  master  of  Eu- 
rope. Even  supposing  that  the  efforts  of  Philip  had  only  the  result  of  gaining 


216  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  . 

time,  by  breaking  the  first  shock  of  the  Protestant  policy,  this  was  not  a  slight 
service  rendered  to  the  Catholic  Church,  then  attacked  on  so  many  sides.  What 
would  have  happened  to  Europe^  if  Protestantism  had  been  introduced  into 
Spain  as  into  France  ?  if  the  Huguenots  had  been  able  to  count  on  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Peninsula  ?  And  what  would  have  happened  in  Italy,  if  she  had 
not  been  held  in  respect  by  the  power  of  Philip  ?  Would  not  the  sectaries  of 
Germany  have  succeeded  in  introducing  their  errors  there  ?  Here  I  appeal  to 
all  men  who  are  acquainted  with  history,  whether,  if  Philip  had  abandoned  his 
much-decried  policy,  the  Catholic  religion  would  not  have  run  the  risk  of  find- 
ing itself,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  under  the  hard  neces- 
sity of  existing  only  as  a  tolerated  religion  in  the  generality  of  the  kingdoms  of 
Europe?  Now,  we  know  what  this  toleration  is  worth  to  the  Catholic  Church; 
England  has  told  us  for  centuries  ;  Prussia  shows  us  at  this  moment,  and  Russia 
adds  her  testimony  in  a  manner  still  more  lamentable.  Such  is  the  point  of 
view  in  which  we  must  consider  Philip  II.  One  is  forced  to  allow  that,  consi- 
dered in  this  way,  that  prince  is  a  great  historical  personage, — one  of  those  who 
have  left  the  deepest  marks  on  the  policy  of  the  age  which  followed, — one  of 
those  who  exert  the  greatest  influence  after  them  on  the  course  of  events. 

Spaniards,  who  anathematize  the  founder  of  the  Escurial,  have  you,  then,  for- 
gotten our  history,  or  do  you  esteem  it  of  no  value  ?  Do  you  stigmatize  him 
as  an  odious  tyrant  ?  Do  you  not  know  that,  in  denying  his  glory,  in  covering 
it  with  ignominy,  you  efface  a  feature  of  your  own  glory,  and  throw  into  the 
mud  the  diadem  which  encircled  the  brows  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  ?  If  you 
cannot  pardon  Philip  II.  for  having  sustained  the  Inquisition, — if  that  rea- 
son alone  obliges  you  to  load  his  name  with  execration,  do  the  same  with  his 
illustrious  father,  Charles  V. ;  and,  going  back  to  Isabella  of  Castille,  write 
also  on  the  list  of  the  tyrants  and  scourges  of  humanity  that  name  which  was 
venerated  by  both  worlds,  and  which  is  the  emblem  of  the  glory  and  power  of 
the  Spanish  monarchy.  They  all  took  part  in  the  fact  which  excites  your  in- 
dignation ;  do  not  curse  some,  while  you  lavish  hypocritical  indulgence  on  the 
others.  If  that  indulgence  is  found  in  your  words,  it  is  that  the  feeling  of  na- 
tionality which  beats  in  your  bosom  compels  you  to  partiality — to  inconsistency ; 
you  recoil  when  you  are  about  to  efface  the  glories  of  Spain  with  a  stroke  of 
the  pen — to  wither  all  her  laurels — to  deny  your  country.  We  have  nothing 
left,,  unfortunately,  but  great  recollections ;  let  us  at  least  avoid  despising  them : 
these  recollections  are,  in  a  nation,  like  the  titles  of  ancient  nobility  in  a  fallen 
family;  they  raise  the  mind,  they  fortify  the  soul  in  adversity;  and,  nourishing 
hope  in  the  bottom  of  the  heart,  they  serve  to  prepare  what  is  to  come. 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  introduction  of  Protestantism  into  Spain  would 
have  been,  as  in  other  countries,  civil  war;  and  this  war  would  have  been  more 
fatal  to  us  than  to  other  people,  because  the  circumstances  were  much  more 
critical  for  us.  The  unity  of  the  Spanish  monarchy  could  not  have  resisted  the 
shocks  and  disturbances  of  intestine  dissension;  the  different  parts  were  so 
heterogeneous  among  themselves,  and  were  so  slightly  united,  that  the  least 
blow  would  have  parted  them.  The  laws  and  manners  of  the  kingdoms  of  Na- 
varre and  Aragon  were  very  different  from  those  of  Castille  ;  a  lively  feeling  of 
independence,  supported  by  frequent  meetings  of  their  own  Cortes,  was  kept 
alive  in  the  hearts  of  those  unconquered  nations ;  they  would  certainly  have 
availed  themselves  of  the  first  opportunity  to  shake  off  a  yoke  which  was  not 
pleasing  to  them.  Moreover,  in  the  other  provinces,  factions  were  not  wanting 
to  distract  the  country.  The  monarchy  would  have  been  miserably  divided  at  a 
time  when  it  was  necessary  to  make  head  in  the  affairs  of  Europe,  Africa,  and 
America.  The  Moors  were  still  in  sight  of  our  coasts;  the  Jews  had  not  had 
time  to  forget  Spain  :  certainly  both  would  have  availed  themselves  of  the  con- 
juncture to  raise  themselves  by  means  of  our  discords.  On  the  policy  of  Philip 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  217 

depended  not  only  the  tranquillity,  but  perhaps  even  the  existence  of  the  Spa- 
nish monarchy.  He  is  now  accused  of  having  been  a  tyrant ;  if  he  had  pur- 
sued another  course,  he  would  have  been  taxed  with  incapacity  and  weakness. 

One  of  the  most  unjust  attacks  of  the  enemies  of  religion  against  her  friends 
is,  to  attribute  bad  faith  to  them,  to  accuse  them  of  having  in  every  thing  false 
intentions,  tortuous  and  interested  views.  When  they  speak  of  the  Machiavel- 
lianism of  Philip  II.,  they  suppose  that  the  Inquisition,  while  apparently  only 
religious  in  its  object,  was,  in  reality,  an  obedient  instrument  of  policy  in  the 
hands  of  a  crafty  monarch.  Nothing  is  more  specious  to  the  man  in  whose 
eyes  history  is  only  a  matter  for  piquant  and  malicious  observations ;  but  no- 
thing is  more  false  according  to  facts.  Some  people,  seeing  in  the  Inquisition 
an  extraordinary  tribunal,  .have  not  been  able  to  imagine  the  existence  of  that 
exceptional  tribunal,  without  supposing,  in  the  monarch  who  sustained  and  en- 
couraged it,  profound  reasons,  and  views  carried  much  further  than  appears  on 
the  surface  of  things.  They  have  not  been  willing  to  see  that  an  epoch  has  its 
spirit,  its  own  manner  of  regarding  things,  its  own  system  of  action,  both  in 
doing  good  and  in  preventing  evil.  During  those  times,  when  all  the  nations  of 
Europe  appealed  to  fire  and  sword  to  decide  questions  of  religion,  when  Pro- 
testants and  Catholics  burnt  their  adversaries,  when  England,  France,  and  Ger- 
many assisted  at  the  bloodiest  scenes,  to  bring  a  heretic  to  the  scaffold  was  a 
natural  and  customary  thing,  which  gave  no  shock  to  prevailing  ideas.  We 
feel  our  hair  grow  stiff  on  our  heads  at  the  mere  idea  of  burning  a  man  alive. 
Placed  in  society  where  the  religious  sentiment  is  considerably  diminished; 
accustomed  to  live  among  men  who  have  a  different  religion,  and  sometimes 
none  at  all ;  we  cannot  bring  ourselves  to  believe  that  it  could  be  at  that  time 
quite  an  ordinary  thing  to  see  heretics  or  the  impious  led  to  punishment.  But, 
if  we  read  the  authors  of  the  time,  we  shall  see  the  immense  difference  on  this 
point  between  their  manners  and  ours ;  and  we  shall  remark,  that  our  language 
of  moderation  and  toleration  would  not  even  have  been  understood  by  the  man  of 
the  sixteenth  century. 

Do  you  know  what  Carranza  himself,  who  suffered  so  much  from  the  Inqui- 
sition, thought  of  this  matter  ?  Every  time  that  he  has  occasion  to  touch  on 
this  point  in  the  work  which  I  have  quoted,  he  expresses  the  ideas  of  his  time, 
without  even  staying  to  prove  them ;  he  gives  them  as  undoubted  principles. 
In  England,  with  Queen  Mary,  he  did  not  fear  to  express  his  opinions  as  to  the 
rigor  with  which  heretics  ought  to  be  treated;  and  he  was  certainly  far  from 
suspecting  that  his  name  would  one  day  be  made  use  of  to  attack  this  intole- 
rance. Kings  and  peoples,  ecclesiastics  and  seculars,  were  all  agreed  on  this 
point.  What  would  be  said  now-a-days  of  a  king  who  would  carry  with  his  own 
hands  the  wood  to  burn  heretics,  and  would  condemn  blasphemers  to  have  their 
tongues  pierced  with  a  hot  iron  ?  Now,  the  first  of  these  things  is  related  of 
St.  Ferdinand,  and  we  know  that  the  second  was  done  by  St.  Louis.  We  now 
exclaim  in  seeing  Philip  II.  assisting  at  an  auto-da-fe ;  but,  if  we  consider  that 
the  court,  the  great  men,  all  that  was  most  select  in  society,  surrounded  the 
king  on  these  occasions,  we  shall  understand  that,  if  this  spectacle  is  horrible 
and  intolerable  to  us,  it  was  not  so  in  the  eyes  of  those  men,  widely  different 
from  us  in  ideas  and  feelings.  And  let  it  not  be  said  that  they  were  forced 
there  by  the  will  of  the  monarch, — that  they  were  compelled  to  obey :  this  was 
not  the  effect  of  the  monarch's  will ;  it  was  only  a  consequence  of  the  spirit  of 
the  age.  No  monarch  would  have  been  sufficiently  powerful  to  perform  such  a 
ceremony,  if  the  spirit  of  the  age  had  been  opposed  to  it ;  besides,  no  monarch 
is  so  hard  and  insensible  as  not  to  feel  the  influence  of  the  times  in  which  he 
lives.  Suppose  the  most  absolute  despot  of  our  time,  Napoleon,  at  the  height 
of  his  power,  or  the  present  Emperor  of  Kussia,  and  see  whether  they  could 
thus  violate  the  manners  of  the  age. 

28  T 


218  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

An  anecdote  is  related  which  is  little  adapted  to  confirm  the  opinion  of  those 
who  assert  that  the  Inquisition  was  a  political  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Philip. 
As  it  paints  in  a  curious  and  interesting  manner  the  customs  and  ideas  of  the 
age,  I  will  insert  it  here.  Philip  II.  held  his  court  at  Madrid;  a  certain 
preacher,  in  a  sermon  delivered  in  presence  of  the  king,  advanced,  that  sove- 
reigns had  an  absolute  power  over  the  persons  as  well  as  over  the  property  of  their 
subjects.  The  proposition  was  not  of  a  nature  to  displease  a  king ;  the  preacher 
at  one  blow  relieved  kings  from  all  control  over  the  exercise  of  their  power. 
Now,  it  seems  that  at  that  time  all  men  were  not  in  such  abject  subjection  to 
despotic  control  as  we  have  been  led  to  believe ;  some  one  was  found  to  denounce 
to  the  Inquisition  the  words  in  which  the  preacher  had  not  been  ashamed  to 
flatter  the  absolute  power  of  kings.  Surely  the  orator  had  chosen  a  secure 
asylum;  and  our  readers  may  well  suppose  that  this  denunciation  coming  into 
collision  with  the  power  of  Philip,  the  Inquisition  would  have  maintained  a 
prudent  silence.  Yet  it  was  not  so  :  the  Inquisition  made  an  inquiry,  found 
the  proposition  contrary  to  sound  doctrine,  and  the  preacher,  who  was  perhaps 
far  from  expecting  such  a  reward,  had  divers  penances  imposed  on  him,  and  was 
condemned  to  retract  publicly  his  proposition  in  the  same  place  where  he  had 
made  it.  The  retractation  took  place  with  all  the  ceremonies  of  a  juridical  pro- 
ceeding ;  the  preacher  declared  that  he  retracted  his  proposition  as  erroneous ; 
he  explained  the  reasons  by  reading,  as  he  had  been  directed,  the  following 
words,  well  worthy  of  remark:  "Indeed,  messieurs,  kings  have  no  other  power 
over  their  subject*  than  that  which  is  given  to  them  by  the  divine  and  human  law; 
they  have  none  proceeding  from  their  own  free  and  absolute  will.''  This  is  re- 
lated by  D.  Antonio  Perez,  as  may  be  seen  at  length  in  the  note  which  corre- 
sponds to  the  present  chapter.  We  know,  moreover,  that  he  was  not  a  fanatical 
partisan  of  the  Inquisition. 

This  took  place  at  the  time  which  some  persons  never  mention  without  stig- 
matizing it  with  the  words  obscurantism,  tyranny,  and  superstition.  Yet  I 
doubt  whether,  at  a  time  nearer  to  us — that,  for  example,  when  it  is  asserted 
that  light  and  liberty  dawned  on  Spain  under  the  reign  of  Charles  III. — a 
public  and  solemn  condemnation  of  despotism  would  have  been  carried  so  far. 
This  condemnation,  at  the  time  of  Philip  II.,  did  as  much  honor  to  the  tribunal 
which  ordered  it  as  to  the  monarch  who  consented  to  it. 

With  respect  to  knowledge,  it  is  a  calumny  to  say  that  a  design  was  formed 
to  maintain  and  perpetuate  ignorance.  Certainly  the  conduct  of  Philip  does 
not  indicate  such  a  design,  when  we  see  this  prince,  not  content  with  favoring 
the  great  enterprise  of  the  Polyglot  of  Antwerp,  recommending  to  Arias  Mon- 
tanus  to  devote  to  the  purchase  of  chosen  works,  printed  or  manuscript,  the 
money  which  would  revert  to  the  printer  Plantinus,  to  whom  the  king 
had  advanced  a  large  sum  to  aid  in  the  enterprise.  This  chosen  collection  was 
to  be  placed  in  the  library  of  the  monastery  of  the  Escurial,  which  was  then 
built.  The  king  had  also  charged  Don  Francis  de  Alaba,  his  ambassador  hi 
France,  to  collect  in  that  kingdom  the  best  books  which  it  was  possible  for  him  to 
procure,  as  he  himself  says  in  his  letter  to  Arias  Montanus.  No;  the  history 
of  Spain,  with  respect  to  intolerance  in  religious  matters,  is  not  so  black  as  it 
has  been  represented.  When  foreigners  reproach  us  with  cruelty,  we  will  reply 
that,  when  Europe  was  stained  with  blood  by  civil  wars,  Spain  was  at  peace. 
As  to  the  number  of  persons  who  perished  on  the  scaffold  or  died  in  exile,  we 
challenge  the  two  nations  who  claim  to  be  at  the  head  of  civilization,  France 
and  England,  to  show  us  their  statistics  on  that  subject  at  the  same  time,  and 
to  compare  them  with  ours :  we  do  not  fear  the  comparison. 

In  proportion  as  the  danger  of  the  introduction  of  Protestantism  into  Spain 
diminished,  so  did  the  rigor  of  the  Inquisition.  We  may  observe,  moreover, 
that  the  procedure  of  that  tribunal  always  became  milder,  in  accordance  with 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  219 

the  spirit  of  criminal  legislation  in  the  other  countries  of  Europe.  Thus  we 
see  the  auto-da-fe  becoming  more  rare  as  we  approach  our  own  times,  so  that, 
at  the  end  of  the  last  century,  the  Inquisition  was  only  a  shadow  of  what  it 
had  been.  It  is  useless  to  insist  on  this  point*  which  nobody  denies,  and  on 
which  we  are  in  unison  with  the  most  ardent  enemies  of  that  tribunal ;  and  this 
it  is  which,  in  our  eyes,  proves,  in  the  most  convincing  manner,  that  we  must 
seek  in  the  ideas  and  manners  of  the  time,  what  people  have  attempted  to  find 
in  the  cruelty,  in  the  wickedness,  or  in  the  ambition  of  men.  If  the  doctrines 
of  those  who  plead  for  the  abolition  of  the  punishment  of  death  are  carried 
into  effect,  posterity,  when  reading  the  executions  of  our  time,  will  be  seized 
with  the  same  horror  with  which  we  view  the  punishment  of  times  past,  and 
the  gibbet  and  the  guillotine  will  figure  in  the  same  rank  as  the  ancient 
Quemaderos.  (26) 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS   IN   THEMSELVES. 

RELIGIOUS  institutions  are  another  of  those  points  whereon  Protestantism 
and  Catholicity  are  in  complete  opposition  to  each  other:  the  first  abhors,  the 
second  loves  them ;  the  one  destroys  them,  the  other  establishes  and  encourages 
them.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  Protestantism,  whenever  it  is  introduced,  is  to 
attack  religious  institutions  by  its  doctrines  and  its  acts;  it  labors  to  destroy 
them  immediately;  one  would  say  that  the  pretended  Reformation  cannot  behold 
without  irritation  those  holy  abodes,  which  continually  remind  it  of  the  igno- 
minious apostacy  of  its  founder.  Religious  vows,  especially  that  of  chastity, 
have  been  the  subject  of  the  most  cruel  invectives  on  the  part  of  Protestants; 
but  it  must  be  observed,  that  what  is  said  now,  and  what  has  been  repeated  for 
three  centuries,  is  only  the  echo  of  the  first  voice  which  was  raised  in  Ger- 
many ;  and  what  was  that  voice  ?  It  was  the  voice  of  a  monk  without  modesty, 
who  penetrated  into  the  sanctuary  and  carried  away  a  victim.  All  the  pomp 
of  learning  employed  to  combat  a  sacred  dogma  is  insufficient  to  hide  so  impure 
an  origin.  Through  the  excitement  of  the  false  prophet  we  perceive  the  impure 
flames  which  devour  his  heart. 

Let  us  observe  in  passing,  that  the  same  thing  took  place  with  respect  to  the 
celibacy  of  the  clergy.  Protestants,  from  the  beginning,  could  not  endure  this; 
they  threw  off  the  mask,  and  condemned  it  without  disguise;  they  attempted 
to  combat  it  with  a  certain  ostentation  of  learning;  but,  at  the  bottom  of  all 
their  declamation,  what  do  we  find  ?  The  clamor  of  a  priest  who  has  forgotten 
his  duty ;  who  strives  against  the  remorse  of  his  conscience,  and  endeavors  to 
hide  his  shame  by  diminishing  the  horror  of  the  scandal  by  the  allegations  of 
falsehood.  If  such  conduct  had  been  pursued  by  the  Catholics,  all  the  arms  of 
ridicule  would  have  been  employed  to  cover  them  with  contempt,  to  stamp  it, 
as  it  deserves,  with  the  brand  of  infamy;  but  it  was  a  man  who  declared  deadly 
war  against  Catholicity :  that  was  enough  to  turn  away  the  contempt  of  philo- 
sophers, and  find  indulgence  for  the  declamation  of  a  monk  whose  first  argu- 
ment against  celibacy  was,  to  profane  his  vows  and  consummate  a  sacrilege. 

The  rest  of  the  disturbers  of  that  age  imitated  the  example  of  so  worthy  a 
master.  All  demanded  and  required  from  Scripture  and  philosophy  a  veil  to 
cover  their  weakness  and  baseness.  Just  punishment !  blindness  of  the  mind 
was  the  result  of  corruption  of  the  heart ;  impudence  sought  and  obtained  the 
companionship  of  error.  Never  is  the  mind  more  vile  than  when,  to  excuse  a 
fault,  it  becomes  the  accomplice  of  it;  then  it  is  not  deceived,  but  prostituted. 

This  hatred  of  religious  institutions  has  been  inherited  by  philosophy  from 
Protestantism.  This  is  the  reason  why  all  revolutions,  excited  and  guided  by 


220  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

Protestants  or  philosophers,  have  been  signalized  by  their  intolerance  towards 
the  institutions  themselves,  and  by  their  cruelty  towards  those  who  belonged  to 
them.  What  the  law  could  not  do  was  completed  by  the  dagger  and  the  torch 
of  the  incendiary.  What  escaped  the  catastrophe  was  left  to  the  slow  punish- 
ment of  misery  and  famine.  On  this  point,  as  well  as  on  many  others,  it  is 
manifest  that  the  infidel  philosophy  is  the  daughter  of  the  Reformation.  It  is 
useless  to  seek  for  a  more  convincing  proof  of  this  than  the  parallel  of  the  his- 
tories of  both,  in  all  that  relates  to  the  destruction  of  religious  institutions ; 
the  same  flattery  of  kings,  the  same  exaggeration  of  the  civil  power,  the  same 
declamation  against  the  pretended  evil  inflicted  on  society,  the  same  calumnies; 
we  have  only  to  change  the  names  and  the  dates.  And  we  must  also  remark 
this  peculiarity,  that,  in  this  matter,  the  difference  which,  apparently,  ought  to 
have  resulted  from  the  progress  of  toleration  and  the  softening  of  manners  in 
recent  times,  has  scarcely  been  felt. 

But  is  it  true  that  religious  institutions  are  as  contemptible  as  they  have  been 
represented  ?  is  it  true  that  they  do  not  even  deserve  attention,  and  that  all  the 
questions  relating  to  them  can  be  solved  by  merely  pronouncing  the  word 
fanaticism?  Does  not  the  man  of  observation,  the  real  philosopher,  find  in 
them  any  thing  worthy  of  attracting  his  attention  ?  It  is  difficult  to  believe 
that  such  was  the  nullity  of  these  institutions,  whose  history  is  so  grand,  and 
which  still  preserve  in  their  existence  the  promise  of  a  great  future.  It  is 
difficult  to  believe  that  such  institutions  are  not  worthy  of  attention  in  the 
highest  degree,  and  that  their  study  is  wholly  devoid  of  lively  interest  and 
solid  profit.  We  see  them  appear  at  every  epoch  of  Church  history;  their 
memorials  and  monuments  are  found  every  moment  under  our  feet ;  they  are 
preserved  in  the  regions  of  Asia,  in  the  sands  of  Africa,  in  the  cities  and  soli- 
tudes of  America;  in  fine,  when,  after  so  much  adversity,  we  see  them  more 
or  less  prosperous  in  the  various  countries  of  Europe,  sending  forth  again  fresh 
shoots  in  those  lands  where  their  roots  had  been  the  most  deeply  torn  up,  there 
naturally  arises  in  the  mind  a  spirit  of  curiosity  to  examine  this  phenomenon, 
to  inquire  what  is  the  origin,  the  genius,  and  the  character  of  these  institutions. 
Those  who  love  to  descend  into  the  heart  of  philosophical  questions  discover,  at 
first  sight,  that  there  must  be  there  an  abundant  mine  of  the  most  precious  in- 
formation for  the  science  of  religion,  of  society,  and  of  man.  He  who  has  read 
the  lives  of  the  ancient  fathers  of  the  desert  without  being  touched,  without 
feeling  profound  admiration,  and  being  filled  with  grave  and  lofty  thoughts;  he 
who,  treading  under  his  feet  with  indifference  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  abbey, 
has  not  called  up  in  fancy  the  shades  of  the  cenobites  who  lived  and  died  there ; 
he  who  passes  coldly  through  the  corridors  and  cells  of  convents  half  demo- 
lished, and  feels  no  recollections,  and  not  even  the  curiosity  to  examine, — he 
may  close  the  annals  of  history,  and  may  cease  to  study  the  beautiful  and  the 
sublime.  There  exist  for  him  no  historical  phenomena,  no  beauty,  no  sublimity; 
his  mind  is  in  darkness,  his  heart  is  in  the  dust. 

With  the  intention  of  hiding  the  intimate  connection  which  subsists  between 
religious  institutions  and  religion  herself,  it  has  been  said  that  she  can  exist 
without  them.  This  is  an  incontrovertible  truth,  but  abstract  and  wholly  use- 
less— a  barren  and  isolated  assertion,  which  can  throw  no  light  upon  science, 
nor  serve  as  any  practical  guide — an  insidious  truth,  which  only  tends  entirely 
to  change  the  whole  state  of  the  question,  and  persuade  men  that  when  reli- 
gious institutions  are  concerned,  religion  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter. 
There  is  here  a  gross  sophism,  which  is  too  much  employed,  not  only  on  this 
question,  but  on  many  others.  This  consists  in  replying  to  all  difficulties  by  a 
proposition  perfectly  true  in  itself,  but  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  ques- 
tion. By  this  means,  attention  is  turned  another  way ;  the  palpable  truth  which 
is  presented  to  the  mind  makes  men  wander  from  the  principal  object,  and 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  221 

induces  them  to  take  that  for  a  solution  which  is  only  a  distraction.  With 
respect,  for  example,  to  the  support  of  the  clergy  and  divine  worship,  it  is  said, 
"  Temporals  are  altogether  different  from  spirituals."  When  the  ministers  of 
religion  are  systematically  calumniated,  "  Religion,"  they  say,  "  is  one  thing, 
and  her  ministers  are  another."  If  it  is  wished  to  represent  the  conduct  of 
Rome  for  many  centuries  as  an  uninterrupted  chain  of  injustice,  of  corruption, 
and  of  invasion  of  right,  all  reply  is  anticipated  by  saying,  "  The  supremacy  of 
the  Sovereign  Pontiff  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  vices  of  Popes  or  their  ambi- 
tion." Reflections  perfectly  just,  and  truths  palpable,  no  doubt,  which  are  very 
useful  in  certain  cases,  but  which  writers  of  bad  faith  cunningly  employ  to  con- 
ceal from  the  reader  the  real  object  they  have  in  view.  Such  are  the  jugglers 
who  attract  the  attention  of  the  simple  multitude  on  one  side,  while  their  com- 
panions perform  their  criminal  operations  on  the  other. 

Because  a  thing  is  not  necessary  to  the  existence  of  another,  it  does  not  fol- 
low that  the  first  does  not  originate  in  the  second, — does  not  find  in  the  spirit 
of  the  latter  its  peculiar  and  permanent  existence,  and  that  a  system  of  intimate 
and  delicate  relation  does  not  subsist  between  them.  The  tree  can  subsist  with- 
out flowers  and  fruits  j  these  can  certainly  fall  without  destroying  the  trunk ; 
but  as  long  as  the  tree  shall  exist,  will  it  ever  cease  to  give  proofs  of  its  vigor 
and  its  beauty,  and  to  offer  its  flowers  to  the  eye,  and  its  fruits  to  the  taste  ? 
The  stream  may  constantly  flow  in  its  crystal  bed  without  the  green  margin 
which  embellishes  its  sides ;  but  while  its  source  is  not  dried  up — as  long  as  the 
fertilizing  water  penetrates  the  ground,  can  its  favored  banks  remain  dry,  bar- 
ren, without  color  and  ornament?  Let  us  apply  these  images  to  our  subject. 
It  is  certain  that  religion  can  exist  without  religious  communities,  and  that  their 
ruin  does  not  necessarily  entail  that  of  religion  herself.  More  than  once  it  has 
been  seen  that  in  countries  where  religious  institutions  have  been  destroyed,  the 
Catholic  faith  has  been  long  preserved.  But  it  is  not  less  certain,  that  there  is 
a  necessary  dependence  between  them  and  religion ;  that  is,  that  she  has  given 
being  to  them,  that  she  animates  them  with  her  spirit,  and  nourishes  them  with 
her  substance  :  this  is  the  reason  why  they  immediately  germinate  wherever  the 
Catholic  faith  takes  root ;  and  if  they  have  been  driven  from  a  country  where 
she  continues  to  exist,  they  will  reappear.  Without  alluding  to  the  examples 
of  other  countries,  do  we  not  see  this  phenomenon  take  place  in  France  in  a 
remarkable  manner  ?  The  number  of  convents  of  men  and  women  which  are 
again  established  on  the  French^soil  is  already  very  considerable.  Who  would 
have  told  the  men  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  the  Legislative  Assembly,  the 
Convention,  that  half  a  century  should  not  elapse  without  seeing  religious  insti- 
tutions reappear  and  flourish  in  France,  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts  to  destroy 
even  their  memory  ?  "  If  that  happen,"  they  would  have  said,  "  it  will  be  be- 
cause the  revolution  which  we  are  making  will  not  be  allowed  to  triumph — 
because  Europe  will  have  again  imposed  despotism  upon  us;  then,  and  then 
only,  will  be  witnessed  in  France — in  Paris — in  this  capital  of  the  Christian 
world — the  re-establishment  of  religious  institutions,  that  legacy  of  fanaticism 
and  superstition,  transmitted  to  us  by  the  ideas  and  manners  of  an  age  which 
has  passed  away,  never  to  return." 

Senseless  men  !  your  revolution  has  triumphed;  you  have  conquered  Europe ; 
the  old  principles  of  the  French  monarchy  have  been  erased  from  legislation, 
institutions,  and  manners ;  the  genius  of  war  has  led  your  doctrines  in  triumph 
over  Europe,  and  they  were  gilded  by  the  rays  of  your  glory.  Your  principles, 
all  your  recollections  have  again  triumphed  at  a  recent  period ;  they  still  live  in 
all  their  force  and  pride,  personified  in  some  men  who  glory  in  being  the  heirs 
of  what  they  call  the  glorious  Revolution  of  '89 ;  and  yet,  in  spite  of  so  many 
triumphs,  although  your  revolution  has  only  receded  as  much  as  was  necessary  the 
better  to  secure  its  conquests,  religious  institutions  have  again  arisen — they  ex- 

vJ 


222  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

tend,  they  are  propagated  everywhere,  and  they  regain  an  important  place  in  the 
annals  of  our  times.  To  prevent  this  revival,  it  would  have  been  necessary  to 
extirpate  religion ;  it  was  not  enough  to  persecute  her ;  faith  remained  like  a 
precious  germ  covered  by  stones  and  thorns ;  Providence  sends  down  a  ray  of 
that  divine  star  which  softens  stones,  and  gives  life  and  fertility ;  the  tree  rises 
again  in  all  its  beauty,  in  spite  of  the  ruins  which  hindered  its  growth  and  de- 
velopment, and  its  leaves  are  immediately  covered  with  charming  blossoms  : — 
behold  the  religious  institutions  which  you  thought  were  for  ever  annihilated  1 

The  example  which  we  have  just  mentioned  clearly  shows  the  truth  of  what 
we  wish  to  establish,  with  respect  to  the  intimate  connection  which  exists  be- 
tween religion  and  religious  institutions.  Church  history  furnishes  proofs  in 
support  of  this  truth.  Besides,  the  mere  knowledge  of  religion,  and  of  the 
nature  of  the  institutions  of  which  we  speak,  would  suffice  to  prove  it  to  us, 
even  if  we  had  not  history  and  experience  in  our  favor. 

The  force  of  general  prejudice  on  this  subject  is  such,  that  it  is  necessary  to 
descend  to  the  root  of  things,  to  show  the  complete  mistake  of  our  adversaries. 
What  are  religious  institutions  considered  generally  ?  Putting  aside  the  differ- 
ences, the  changes,  the  alterations  necessarily  produced  by  variety  of  times, 
countries,  and  other  circumstances,  we  will  say  that  a  religious  institute  is  a 
society  of  Christians  living  together,  under  certain  rules,  for  the  purpose  of  prac- 
tising the  Gospel  precepts.  We  include,  in  this  definition,  even  the  orders  which 
are  not  bound  by  a  vow.  It  will  be  seen  that  we  have  considered  the  religious 
institution  in  its  most  general  sense,  laying  aside  all  that  theologians  and  canon- 
ists say  with  respect  to  the  conditions  indispensable  to  constitute  or  complete  its 
essence.  We  must,  moreover,  observe  that  we  ought  not  to  exclude  from  the 
honorable  denomination  of  religious  institutes,  those  associations  which  possess 
all  the  conditions  except  the  vows.  The  Catholic  religion  is  fertile  enough  to 
produce  good  by  means  and  forms  widely  different.  In  the  generality  of  reli- 
gious institutions,  she  has  shown  us  what  man  can  do  by  binding  himself  by  a 
vow,  for  his  whole  life,  to  a  holy  abnegation  of  his  own  will ;  but  she  has  also 
wished  to  show  us  that,  while  leaving  him  at  liberty,  she  could  attach  him  by  a 
variety  of  ties,  and  make  him  persevere  until  death,  as  if  he  had  been  obliged 
by  a  perpetual  vow.  The  congregation  of  the  oratory  of  St.  Philip  Neri,  which 
is  found  in  this  latter  category,  is  certainly  worthy  of  figuring  among  religious 
institutions  as  one  of  the  finest  monuments  of  the  Catholic  Church.  I  am  aware 
that  the  vow  is  comprised  in  the  essence  of  religious  institutes,  as  they  are  com- 
monly understood ;  but  my  only  object  now  is,  to  vindicate  this  kind  of  associa- 
tion against  Protestants.  Now  we  know  that  they  condemn  indiscriminately, 
associations  bound  by  vows  and  those  which  only  consist  of  the  permanent  and 
free  adhesion  of  the  persons  who  compose  them.  All  that  has  the  form  of  a 
religious  community  is  regarded  by  them  with  a  look  of  anger.  When  they 
proscribed  the  religious  orders,  they  included  in  the  same  fate  those  which  had 
vows  and  those  which  had  not.  Consequently,  when  defending  them,  we  must 
class  them  together.  Moreover,  this  will  not  prevent  our  considering  the  vow 
in  itself,  and  justifying  it  before  the  tribunal  of  philosophy. 

I  do  not  imagine  that  it  is  necessary  to  say  more  to  show  that  the  object  of 
religious  institutions — that  is,  as  we  have  just  said,  the  putting  in  practice  of 
the  Gospel  counsels — is  in  perfect  uniformity  with  the  Gospel  itself.  And  let  us 
well  observe  that,  whatever  may  be  the  name,  whatever  may  be  the  form  of 
the  institutions,  they  have  always  for  their  object  something  more  than  the 
simple  observance  of  the  precepts ;  the  idea  of  perfection  is  always  included, 
then,  either  in  the  active  or  the  contemplative  life.  To  keep  the  Divine  command- 
ments is  indispensable  to  all  Christians  who  wish  to  possess  eternal  life ;  the 
religious  orders  attempt  a  more  difficult  path ;  they  aim  at  perfection.  This  is 
the  object  of  the  men  who,  after  having  heard  these  words  from  the  mouth  of 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  223 

their  Divine  Master :  "  If  you  wish  to  be  perfect,  go  sell  all  you  have,  and  give 
it  to  the  poor,"  have  not  departed  sorrowful,  like  the  young  man  in  the  Gospel, 
but  have  embraced  with  courage  the  enterprise  of  quitting  all  and  following 
Jesus  Christ. 

We  have  now  inquired  whether  association  is  the  best  means  to  carry  into 
execution  so  holy  an  object.  It  would  be  easy  for  me  to  show  this  by  adducing 
various  texts  of  Scripture,  where  the  true  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion,  and 
the  will  of  our  Divine  Master,  are  clearly  shown  on  this  point ;  but  the  taste  of 
our  age,  and  the  self-evidence  even  of  the  truths  in  question,  warn  us  to  avoid, 
as  much  as  possible,  all  that  savors  of  theological  discussion.  I  will  remove 
the  question,  then,  from  this  level,  to  consider  it  in  a  light  purely  historical 
and  philosophical ;  that  is  to  say,  without  accumulating  citations  and  texts,  I 
will  prove  that  religious  institutes  are  perfectly  conformable  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Christian  religion ;  and  that  consequently  that  spirit  has  been  deplorably  mis- 
taken by  Protestants,  when  they  have  condemned  or  destroyed  them.  If  phi- 
losophers, while  they  do  not  admit  the  truth  of  religion,  still  avow  that  it  is 
useful  and  beautiful,  I  will  prove  to  them  that  they  cannot  condemn  those 
institutions  which  are  the  necessary  result  of  it.  In  the  cradle  of  Christianity, 
when  men  preserved,  in  all  their  energy  and  purity,  the  sparks  from  the 
tongues  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  in  those  times,  when  the  words  and  examples  of  its 
Divine  Founder  were  still  fresh,  when  the  number  of  the  faithful  who  had  had 
the  happiness  of  seeing  and  hearing  Him  was  still  very  great  in  the  Church, 
we  see  the  Christians,  under  the  direction  of  the  Apostles  themselves,  unite, 
have  all  their  property  in  common ;  thus  forming  only  one  family,  the  Father 
of  which  was  in  heaven,  and  which  had  only  one  heart  and  one  soul. 

I  will  not  dispute  as  to  the  extent  of  this  primitive  proceeding ;  I  will  abstain 
from  analyzing  the  various  circumstances  which  accompanied  it,  and  from  ex- 
amining how  far  it  resembled  the  religious  institutions  of  latter  times;  it  is 
enough  to  state  its  existence,  and  show  therefrom  what  is  the  true  spirit  of 
religion  with  respect  to  the  most  proper  means  to  realize  evangelical  perfection. 
I  will  only  allude  to  the  fact,  that  Cassian,  in  the  description  which  he  gives 
of  the  commencement  of  religious  institutions,  assigns  as  their  cradle  the  pro- 
ceeding we  have  just  mentioned,  and  which  is  reported  in  the  Acts^  of  the 
Apostles.  According  to  the  same  author,  this  kind  of  life  was  never  wholly 
interrupted ;  so  that  there  were  always  some  fervent  Christians  who  continued 
it ;  thus  attaching,  by  a  continued  chain,  the  existence  of  the  monks  to  the 
primitive  associations  of  the  apostolical  times.  After  having  described  the 
kind  of  life  of  the  first  Christians,  and  traced  the  alterations  of  the  times  that 
followed,  Cassian  continues  thus :  "  Those  who  preserved  the  apostolical  fervor 
in  this  way,  recalling  primitive  perfection,  quitted  towns,  and  the  society  of 
those  who  believed  that  they  were  allowed  to  live  with  less  severity ;  they  began 
to  choose  secret  and  retired  places,  where  they  could  follow  in  private  the  rules 
which  they  remembered  to  have  been  appointed  by  the  Apostles  for  the  whole 
body  of  the  Church  in  general.  Thus  commenced  the  formation  of  the  disci- 
pline of  those  who  had  quitted  that  contagion,  as  they  lived  separate  from  the 
rest  of  the  faithful;  abstaining  from  marriage,  and  having  no  communication 
with  the  world,  even  with  their  own  families.  In  the  progress  of  time,  the 
name  of  monks  was  given  to  them,  in  consideration  of  their  singular  and  soli- 
tary life."  (Cottat.  18,  cap.  5.) 

Times  of  persecution  immediately  followed,  which,  with  some  interruptions, 
that  may  be  called  moments  of  repose,  lasted  till  the  conversion  of  Constantine. 
There  were,  then,  during  this  time,  some  Christians  who  attempted  to  continue 
the  mode  of  life  of  the  apostolical  years.  Cassian  clearly  indicates  this  in  the 
passage  which  we  have  just  read.  He  omits  to  say  that  this  primitive  life  was 
necessarily  modified,  in  its  exterior  form,  by  the  calamities  with  which  the 


224  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

Church  was  afflicted  at  that  period.  In  all  that  time  we  ought  not  to  look  for 
Christians  living  in  community ;  we  shall  find  them  confessing  Jesus  Christ, 
with  imperturbable  calmness,  on  the  rack,  amid  all  torments,  in  the  circus, 
where  they  were  torn  to  pieces  by  wild  beasts,  on  the  scaffold,  where  they 
quietly  gave  up  their  heads  to  the  axe  of  the  executioner.  But  observe  what 
happened  even  during  the  time  of  persecution ;  the  Christians,  of  whom  the 
world  was  not  worthy,  pursued  in  the  towns  like  wild  beasts,  wandered  about 
in  solitude,  seeking  refuge  in  the  deserts.  The  solitudes  of  the  East,  the  sand 
and  rocks  of  Arabia,  the  most  inaccessible  places  of  the  Thebaid,  receive  those 
troops  of  fugitives,  who  dwell  in  the  abodes  of  wild  beasts,  in  abandoned  graves, 
in  dried-up  cisterns,  in  the  deepest  caverns,  only  asking  for  an  asylum  for  medi- 
tation and  prayer.  And  do  you  know  the  result  of  this  ?  These  deserts,  in 
which  the  Christians  wandered,  like  a  few  grains  of  sand  driven  by  the  wind, 
became  peopled,  as  it  were  by  magic,  with  innumerable  religious  communities. 
There  they  meditated,  prayed,  and  read  the  Gospel ;  hardly  had  the  fruitful 
seed  touched  the  earth,  when  the  precious  plant  arose  in  a  moment. 

Admirable  are  the  designs  of  Providence !  Christianity,  persecuted  in  the 
towns,  fertilizes  and  embellishes  the  deserts ;  the  precious  grain  requires  for  its 
development  neither  the  moisture  of  the  earth  nor  the  breeze  of  a  mild  atmo- 
sphere ;  when  carried  through  the  air  on  the  wings  of  the  storm,  the  seed  loses 
nothing  of  its  vitality;  when  thrown  on  a  rock,  it  does  not  perish.  The  fury 
of  the  elements  avails  nothing  against  the  work  of  God,  who  has  made  the 
north  wind  His  courser  :  the  rock  ceases  to  be  barren  when  He  pleases  to  fer- 
tilize it.  Did  He  not  make  pure  water  spring  forth  at  the  mysterious  touch  of 
His  Prophet's  rod  ? 

When  peace  was  given  to  the  Church  by  the  conqueror  of  Maxentius,  the 
germs  contained  in  the  bosom  of  Christianity  were  able  to  develope  themselves 
everywhere ;  from  that  moment  the  Church  was  never  without  religious  com- 
munities. With  history  in  our  hands,  we  may  defy  the  enemies  of  religious 
institutions  to  point  out  any  period,  however  short,  when  these  institutions  had 
entirely  disappeared.  Under  some  form  or  in  some  country,  they  have  always 
perpetuated  the  existence  which  they  had  received  in  the  early  ages  of  Chris- 
tianity.^ The  fact  is  certain  and  constant,  and  is  found  in  every  page  of  eccle- 
siastical history ;  it  plays  an  important  part  in  all  the  great  events  in  the  annals 
of  the  Church.  It  is  found  in  the  west  and  in  the  east,  in  modern  and  in  an- 
cient times,  in  the  prosperity  and  in  the  adversity  of  the  Church ;  when  the 
pursuit  of  religious  perfection  was  an  honor  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  as  well 
as  when  it  was  an  object  of  persecution,  raillery,  and  calumny.  What  clearer 
proof  can  there  be  that  there  is  an  intimate  connection  between  religious  insti- 
tutions and  religion  herself?  What  more  is  required  to  show  us  that  they  are 
her  spontaneous  fruit  ?  In  the  moral  and  in  the  .physical  order  of  things,  the 
constant  appearance  of  the  one  following  the  other,  is  regarded  as  a  proof  of  the 
reciprocal  dependence  of  two  phenomena.  If  these  phenomena  have  towards 
each  other  the  relations  of  cause  and  effect — if  we  find  in  the  essence  of  the  one 
all  the  principles  that  are  required  in  the  production  of  the  other,  the 
first  is  called  the  cause  and  the  other  the  effect.  Wherever  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  established,  religious  communities  are  found  under  some  form  or 
other ;  they  are,  therefore,  its  spontaneous  effect.  I  do  not  know  what  reply 
can  be  made  to  so  conclusive  an  argument. 

By  viewing  the  question  in  this  way,  the  favor  and  protection  which  religious 
institutions  always  found  with  the  Pontiff  is  naturally  explained.  It  was  his 
duty  to  act  in  conformity  with  the  spirit  which  animates  the  Church,  of  which 
he  is  the  chief  ruler  upon  earth  j  it  is  certainly  not  the  Pope  who  has  made  the 
regulation,  that  one  of  the  means  most  apt  to  lead  men  to  perfection  is  to  unite 
themselves  in  associations  under  certain  rules,  in  conformity  with  the  instruc- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  225 

tions  of  their  Divine  Master.  The  Eternal  Lord  thus  ruled  in  the  secrets  of 
His  infinite  wisdom,  and  the  conduct  of  the  Popes  could  not  be  contrary  to  the 
designs  of  the  Most  High.  It  has  been  said  that  interested  views  interposed ; 
it  has  been  said  that  the  policy  of  the  Popes  found  in  these  institutions  a  power- 
ful means  of  sustaining  and  aggrandizing  itself.  But  can  you  not  see  any  thing 
but  the  sordid  instruments  of  cunning  policy  in  the  societies  of  the  primitive 
faithful,  in  the  monasteries  of  the  solitudes  of  the  East,  in  that  crowd  of  insti- 
tutions which  have  had  for  their  object  only  the  sanctification  of  their  own  mem- 
bers and  the  amelioration  of  some  of  the  great  evils  of  humanity  ?  A  fact  so 
general,  so  great,  so  beneficent,  cannot  be  explained  by  views  of  interest  and 
narrow  designs ;  its  origin  is  higher  and  nobler ;  and  he  who  will  not  seek  for 
it  in  heaven  ought  at  least  to  seek  for  it  in  something  greater  than  the  projects 
of  a  man  or  the  policy  of  a  court ;  he  ought  to  seek  for  lofty  ideas,  sublime 
feelings,  capable,  if  they  do  not  mount  to  heaven,  at  least  of  embracing  a  large 
part  of  the  earth ;  nothing  less  is  here  required  than  one  of  those  thoughts  which 
preside  over  the  destinies  of  the  human  race. 

Some  persons  may  be  inclined  to  imagine  private  designs  on  the  part  of  the 
Popes,  because  they  see  their  authority  interfere  in  all  the  foundations  of  later 
ages,  and  their  approbation  constitute  the  validity  of  the  rules  of  religious  insti- 
tutions ;  but  the  course  pursued  in  this  respect  by  ecclesiastical  discipline  shows 
us  that  the  most  active  intervention  of  the  Popes,  far  from  emanating  from  private 
views,  has  been  called  for  by  a  necessity  of  preventing  an  excessive  multiplication 
of  the  religious  orders  in  consequence  of  an  indiscreet  zeal.  This  vigilance  in 
preventing  abuses  was  the  origin  of  this  supreme  intervention.  In  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries  the  tendency  to  new  foundations  was  so  strong  that  the 
most  serious  inconveniences  would  have  resulted  from  it,  without  a  continual 
watchfulness  on  the  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  authority.  Thus  we  see  the  Sove- 
reign Pontiff  Innocent  III.  ordain,  in  the  Council  of  Lateran,  that  whoever 
wished  to  found  a  new  religious  house  shall  be  bound  to  adopt  one  of  the  approved 
rules  and  institutions. 

But  let  us  pursue  our  design.  I  can  understand  how  those  who  deny  the 
truth  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  turn  into  ridicule  the  counsels  of  the  Gospel, 
bring  themselves  to  deny  all  that  is  celestial  and  divine  in  the  spirit  of  the  reli- 
gious communities  j  but  the  truth  of  religion  once  established,  I  cannot  conceive 
how  men  who  boast  of  following  its  laws  can  declare  themselves  the  enemies  of 
these  institutions  considered  in  themselves.  How  can  he  who  admits  the  prin- 
ciple refuse  the  consequence  ?  How  can  he  who  loves  the  cause  reject  the  effect? 
They  must  either  affect  a  religion  hypocritically,  or  they  profess  without  compre- 
hending it. 

In  default  of  any  other  proof  of  the  anti-evangelical  spirit  which  guided  the 
leaders  of  the  pretended  Reformation,  their  hatred  to  an  institution  so  evidently 
founded  on  the  Gospel  itself  should  sumce.  Did  not  these  enthusiasts  for 
reading  the  Bible  without  note  or  comment — they  who  pretend  to  find  all  its 
passages  so  clear — did  they  not  remark  the  plain  and  easy  sense  of  that  multi- 
tude of  passages  which  recommend  self-abnegation,  the  renunciation  of  all  pos- 
sessions, and  the  privation  of  all  pleasures  ?  These  words  are  plain — they  can- 
not be  taken  in  any  other  signification — they  do  not  require  for  their  compre- 
hension a  profound  study  of  the  sacred  sciences,  or  that  of  languages ;  and  yet 
they  have  not  been  heard  :  we  should  rather  say,  they  have  not  been  listened  to. 
The  intellect  has  understood,  but  the  passions  have  rejected  them. 

As  to  those  philosophers  who  have  regarded  religious  institutions  as  vain  and 
contemptible,  if  not  dangerous,  it  is  clear  that  they  have  meditated  but  little  on 
the  human  mind,  and  on  the  deep  feelings  of  our  hearts,  full  as  they  are  of 
mystery.  As  their  hearts  have  felt  nothing  at  the  sight  of  those  numbers  of 
men  and  women  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  sanctifying  themselves  or  others, 
29 


226  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

or  of  relieving  wants,  and  consoling  the  unfortunate,  it  is  but  too  clear  that  their 
souls  have  been  dried  up  by  the  breath  of  skepticism.  To  renounce  for  ever  all 
the  pleasures  of  life ;  to  live  in  solitude,  there  to  offer  one's  self,  in  austerity 
and  penance,  as  a  holocaust  to  the  Most  High  :  this,  certainly  is  a  matter  of 
horror  to  those  philosophers  who  have  only  viewed  the  world  through  their  own 
prejudices.  But  humanity  has  other  thoughts  ;  it  feels  itself  attracted  by  those 
objects  which  philosophers  find  so  vain,  so  devoid  of  interest,  so  worthy  of  horror. 

Wonderful  are  the  secrets  of  our  hearts  !  Although  enervated  by  pleasure, 
and  involved  in  the  whirlwind  of  amusement  and  mirth,  we  cannot  avoid  being 
seized  with  deep  emotion  at  the  sight  of  austerity  and  recollection  of  soul.  Soli- 
tude, and  even  sadness  itself,  exert  an  inexpressible  influence  over  us.  Whence 
comes  that  enthusiasm  which  moves  a  whole  nation,  excites  and  makes  it  follow, 
as  if  by  enchantment,  the  steps  of  a  man  whose  brow  is  marked  by  recollection, 
whose  features  display  austerity  of  life,  whose  clothes  and  manners  show  freedom 
from  all  that  is  earthly,  and  forgetfulness  of  the  world?  Now,  it  is  a  fact, 
proved  by  the  history  both  of  true  and  of  false  religions ;  so  powerful  a  means  of 
attracting  respect  and  esteem  has  not  remained  unknown  to  imposture  :  licen- 
tiousness and  corruption,  desirous  of  making  their  fortunes  in  the  world,  have  more 
than  once  felt  the  imperious  necessity  of  disguising  themselves  under  the  mantle 
of  austerity  and  purity.  What  at  first  sight  might  appear  the  most  opposed  to 
o\ir  feelings,  the  most  repugnant  to  our  tastes — this  shade  of  sadness  diffused 
over  the  recollection  and  solitude  of  the  religious  life — is  precisely  what  enchants 
and  attracts  us  the  most.  The  religious  life  is  solitary  and  pensive  j  therefore 
it  is  beautiful,  and  its  beauty  is  sublime.  Nothing  is  more  apt  than  this  subli- 
mity to  move  our  hearts  deeply,  and  make  indelible  impressions  on  them.  In 
reality,  our  soul  has  the  character  of  an  exile ;  it  is  affected  by  melancholy  objects 
only ;  it  has  not  attained  to  that  noisy  joy  which  requires  to  borrow  a  tint  of 
melancholy  only  for  the  sake  of  a  happy  c&ntrast.  In  order  to  clothe  beauty 
with  its  most  seductive  charms,  it  is  necessary  that  a  tear  of  anguish  should 
flow  from  her  eyes,  that  her  forehead  should  assume  an  air  of  sadness,  and  her 
cheeks  grow  pale  with  a  melancholy  remembrance.  In  order  that  the  life  of  a 
ihero  excite  a  lively  interest  in  us,  it  is  requisite  that  misfortune  be  his  companion, 
lamentation  his  consolation — that  disaster  and  ingratitude  be  the  reward  of  his 
virtues.  If  you  wish  that  a  picture  of  nature  or  art  should  strongly  attract  our 
.attention,  take  possession  of  and  absorb  the  powers  of  our  soul,  it  is  necessary 
that  .a  memorial  of  the  nothingness  of  man,  and  an  image  of  death,  should  be 
presented  to  our  minds  j  our  hearts  should  be  appealed  to  by  the  feelings  of  a 
tranquil  sadness ;  we  desire  to  see  sombre  tints  on  a  monument  in  ruins — the 
cross  reminding  us  of  the  abode  of  the  dead,  the  massive  walls  covered  with 
moss,  and  pointing  out  the  ancient  dwelling  of  some  powerful  man,  who,  after 
having  lived  on  earth  for  a  short  time,  has  disappeared. 

Joy  does  not  satisfy  us,  it  does  not  fill  our  hearts ;  it  intoxicates  and  dissipates 
them  for  a  few  moments ;  but  man  does  not  find  there  his  happiness,  because 
the  joys  of  earth  are  frivolous,  and  frivolity  cannot  attach  a  traveller  who,  far 
from  his  country,  walks  painfully  through  the  valley  of  tears.  Thence  it  comes 
that,  while  sorrow  and  tears  are  accepted — we  should  rather  say,  are  carefully 
sought  for  by  art — whenever  a  deep  impression  is  to  be  made  upon  the  soul, 
joy  and  smiles  are  inexorably  banished.  Oratory,  poetry,  sculpture,  painting, 
music,  have  all  constantly  followed  the  same  rule ;  or,  rather,  have  always  been 
governed  by  the  same  instinct.  It  certainly  required  a  lofty  spirit  and  a  heart 
of  fire  to  declare  that  the  soul  is  naturally  Christian.  In  these  few  words  an 
illustrious  thinker  has  known  how  to  express  all  the  relations  which  unite  the 
faith,  morality,  and  counsels  of  this  divine  religion,  with  all  that  is  most 
intimate,  delicate,  and  noble  in  our  hearts.  Do  you  know  Christian  pensiveness; 
that  grave  and  elevated  feeling  which  is  painted  on  the  forehead  of  the  Christian, 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  227 

like  a  memorial  of  sorrow  on  that  of  an  illustrious  proscribed  one  ;  this  feeling 
which  moderates  the  enjoyments  of  life  by  the  image  of  the  tomb,  and  lights  up  the 
depths  of  the  grave  with  the  rays  of  hope ;  that  pensiveness  so  natural  and  con- 
soling, so  grave  and  noble,  which  causes  diadems  and  sceptres  to  be  trodden 
under  foot  like  dust,  and  the  greatness  and  splendor  of  the  world  to  be  despised 
as  a  passing  illusion  ?  This  melancholy,  carried  to  its  perfection,  vivified  and 
fertilized  by  grace,  and  subjected  to  a  holy  rule,  is  what  presides  over  the  foun- 
dation of  religious  institutions,  and  accompanies  them  as  long  as  they  preserve 
their  primitive  fervor,  which  they  received  from  men  who  were  guided  by 
divine  light,  and  animated  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  This  holy  melancholy,  which 
carries  with  it  freedom  from  all  earthly  things,  is  the  feeling  which  the  Church 
wishes  to  instil  into  and  preserve  in,  the  religious  orders,  when  she  surrounds 
their  silent  abodes  with  a  shade  of  retirement  and  meditation. 

That  amid  the  fury  and  the  convulsions  of  parties,  a  mad  and  sacrilegious 
hand,  secretly  excited  by  malice,  should  plunge  a  fratricidal  dagger  into  an  inno- 
cent heart,  or  set  fire  to  a  peaceful  dwelling,  may  be  conceived  ;  for,  unhappily, 
the  history  of  man  abounds  in  crimes  and  frenzies;  but  that  the  essence  of 
religious  institutions  should  be  attacked,  that  their  spirit  should  be  considered 
narrow  and  imbecile,  that  they  should  be  deprived  of  the  noble  titles  which 
give  honor  to  their  origin,  and  the  beauties  which  adorn  their  history,  can  be 
allowed  neither  by  the  intellect  nor  by  the  heart.  A  false  philosophy,  which 
dries  up  and  withers  all  that  it  touches,  has  undertaken  so  mad  a  task.  But, 
setting  aside  religion  and  reason,  literature  and  the  fine  arts  have  rebelled 
against  this  attempt ;  literature  and  the  fine  arts,  which  have  need  of  old  recol- 
lections, and  which  are  indebted  for  their  wonders  to  lofty  thoughts,  to  grave 
and  noble  scenes,  and  deep  and  melancholy  feelings;  literature  and  the  arts, 
which  delight  in  transporting  the  mind  of  man  into  regions  of  light,  in  guiding 
the  imagination  through  new  and  unknown  paths,  and  in  ruling  the  heart  by 
mysterious  charms. 

No  ;  a  thousand  times  no  !  As  long  as  the  religion  of  that  God  made  man, 
who  had  not  where  to  repose  his  head,  and  who  sat  down  by  a  well  on  the  way- 
side to  rest,  like  an  humble  traveller,  shall  last ;  of  that  God-man,  whose  ap- 
pearance was  announced  to  the  nations  by  a  mysterious  voice  coming  from  the 
desert — by  the  voice  of  a  man  clothed  in  a  goat-skin,  whose  reins  were  bound 
with  a  leathern  girdle,  and  who  lived  on  nothing  but  locusts  and  wild  honey : 
as  long  as  this  divine  religion  xshall  last,  nothing  will  be  more  holy  or  more 
worthy  of  our  respect  than  those  institutions,  the  true  and  original  object  of 
which  is  to  realize  what  Heaven  intended  to  teach  man  by  such  eloquent  and 
sublime  lessons.  Times,  vicissitudes,  and  revolutions,  succeed  each  other ;  the 
institution  will  change  its  form,  will  undergo  alterations,  will  be  affected  more  or 
less  by  the  weakness  of  men,  by  the  cdrrosive  action  of  time,  and  the  destruc- 
tive power  of  events ;  but  it  will  live — it  will  never  perish.  If  one  society 
rejects  it,  it  will  seek  an  asylum  in  another;  driven  from  towns,  it  will  take 
refuge  in  forests ;  if  there  pursued,  it  will  flee  to  the  horrors  of  the  desert. 
There  will  always  be,  in  some  privileged  hearts,  an  echo  for  the  voice  of  that 
sublime  religion,  which,  holding  in  her  hand  a  standard  of  sorrow  and  love — 
the  sacred  standard  of  the  sufferings  and  death  of  the  Son  of  God — the  Cross, 
will  proclaim  to  men  :  "  Watch  and  pray,  that  you  enter  not  into  temptation  ; 
if  you  assemble  to  pray,  the  Lord  will  be  in  the  midst  of  you;  all  flesh  is  but 
grass  ;  life  is  a  dream  ;  above  your  heads  is  an  ocean  of  light  and  happiness ; 
under  your  feet  an  abyss ;  your  life  on  earth  is  a  pilgrimage,  an  exile."  Then 
she  marks  his  forehead  with  the  mysterious  ashes,  telling  him,  "  Thou  art  dust, 
and  unto  dust  thou  shalt  return/' 

We  shall  perhaps  be  asked  why  the  faithful  cannot  practise  evangelical  per- 
fection while  living  in  the  bosom  of  their  families,  without  assembling  in  com- 


228  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

munities  ?  We  shall  reply,  that  we  have  no  intention  of  denying  the  possibility 
0f  that  practice,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  world ;  and  we  willingly  acknowledge 
that  a  great  number  of  Christians  have  done  so  at  all  times,  and  do  so  now ; 
but  this  does  not  prove  that  the  surest  and  easiest  means  is  not  that  of  the  life 
in  community  with  others  who  have  the  same  object  in  view,  and  in  retirement 
from  all  the  things  of  this  world.  Laying  aside  for  a  moment  all  consideration 
of  religion,  are  you  not  aware  of  the  ascendency  which  the  spirit  of  repeated 
examples  exerts  on  those  with  whom  we  live  ?  Do  you  not  know  how  easily 
our  spirit  fails  when  we  find  ourselves  alone  in  a  difficult  enterprise  ?  Do  you 
not  know  that,  in  the  greatest  misfortunes,  it  is  a  consolation  to  behold  others 
participate  in  our  sorrows  ?  On  this  point,  as  well  as  on  all  others,  religion 
accords  with  sound  philosophy,  and  both  unite  in  explaining  to  us  the  profound 
meaning  contained  in  those  words  of  Scripture  :  il  Vse  soli  !  Wo  to  him  who  is 
alone  !" 

Before  concluding  this  chapter,  I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  vows  which 
commonly  accompany  religious  institutes.  Perhaps  they  are  one  of  the  princi- 
pal causes  of  the  violent  antipathy  of  Protestantism  against  these  institutions. 
Vows  render  things  fixed  and  stable ;  and  the  fundamental  principle  of  Pro- 
testantism does  not  admit  of  fixity  or  stability.  Essentially  separating  and 
anarchical,  this  principle  rejects  unity  and  destroys  the  hierarchy ;  dissolving 
in  its  nature,  it  allows  the  mind  neither  to  remain  in  a  permanent  faith  nor  to 
be  subject  to  rule.  For  if  virtue  itself  is  only  a  vague  entity,  which  has  no 
fixed  foundation — a  being  which  is  fed  on  illusions,  and  which  cannot  endure 
the  application  of  any  certain  and  constant  rule,  this  holy  necessity  of  doing 
well,  of  constantly  walking  in  the  path  of  perfection,  must  be  incomprehen- 
sible to  it,  and  in  the  highest  degree  repugnant;  this  necessity  must  appear  to 
it  inconsistent  with  liberty ;  as  if  man,  by  binding  himself  by  a  vow,  lost  his 
free  will ;  as  if  the  sanction  which  a  promise  given  to  God  imparts  to  a  design, 
at  all  diminished  the  merit  of  him  who  has  the  firmness  necessary  to  accomplish 
what  he  had  the  courage  to  promise. 

Those  who,  to  condemn  this  necessity  which  man  imposes  on  himself,  invoke 
the  rights  of  liberty  against  it,  seem  to  forget  that  this  effort  of  man  to  make 
himself  the  slave  of  good,  and  secure  his  own  future,  besides  the  sublime  dis- 
interestedness which  it  supposes,  is  the  vastest  exercise  which  man  can  make  of 
his  liberty.  By  one  act  alone,  he  disposes  of  his  whole  life,  and  by  fulfilling 
the  duties  resulting  from  that  act,  he  continually  fulfils  his  own  will.  But  we 
shall  be  told  that  man  is  so  inconstant :  this  is  the  reason  why,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  effects  of  this  inconstancy,  he  finds  himself  penetrating  into  the  vicis- 
situdes of  the  future,  renders  himself  superior  to  them,  and  governs  them  in 
advance.  But,  it  will  be  said,  in  that  case,  good  is  done  from  necessity  :  this 
is  true ;  but  do  you  not  know  that  the  necessity  of  doing  good  is  a  happy  one, 
and  in  some  measure  assimilates  man  with  God  ?  Do  you  not  know  that  Infi- 
nite Goodness  is  incapable  of  doing  evil,  and  Infinite  Holiness  can  do  nothing 
that  is  not  holy  ?  Theologians  explain  why  a  created  being  is  capable  of  sin- 
ning by  pointing  out  this  profound  reason.  "  It  is/'  they  say,  "  because  the 
creature  is  made  out  of  nothing."  When  man  forces  himself,  as  far  as  he  can, 
to  do  well,  when  he  thus  fetters  his  will,  he  ennobles  it,  he  renders  himself  more 
like  to  God,  he  assimilates  himself  to  the  state  of  the  blessed,  who  have  no 
longer  the  melancholy  liberty  of  doing  evil,  and  who  are  under  the  happy 
necessity  of  loving  God. 

The  name  of  liberty,  from  the  time  when  Protestants  and  false  philosophers 
took  possession  of  it,  seems  condemned  to  be  ill  understood  in  all  its  applica- 
tions. In  the  religious,  moral,  social,  and  political  order,  it  is  enveloped  in  such 
obscurity,  that  we  can  perceive  the  many  efforts  which  have  been  made  to  darken 
and  misrepresent  it.  Cicero  gives  an  admirable  definition  of  liberty  when  he 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  229 

says,  that  it  consists  in  being  the  slave  of  law.  In  the  same  way  it  may  be  said, 
that  the  liberty  of  the  intellect  consists  in  being  the  slave  of  truth ;  and  the 
liberty  of  the  will  in  being  the  slave  of  virtue ;  if  you  change  this,  you  destroy 
liberty.  If  you  take  away  the  law,  you  admit  force ;  if  you  take  away  the 
truth,  you  admit  error ;  if  you  take  away  virtue,  you  admit  vice.  If  you  ven- 
ture to  exempt  the  world  from  the  external  law,  from  that  law  which  embraces 
man  and  society,  which  extends  to  all  orders,  which  is  the  divine  wisdom  ap- 
plied to  reasonable  creatures;  if  you  venture  to  seek  for  an  imaginary  liberty 
out  of  that  immense  circle,  you  destroy  all ;  there  remains  in  society  nothing 
but  the  empire  of  brute  force,  and  in  man  that  of  the  passions ;  with  tyranny, 
and  consequently  slavery. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

OF   RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS   IN    HISTORY. — THE   FIRST    SOLITARIES. 

I  HAVE  just  examined  religious  institutions  in  a  general  point  of  view,  by 
considering  them  in  their  relations  with  religion  and  the  human  mind.  I  am 
now  going  to  take  a  glance  at  the  principal  points  of  their  history.  This  exami- 
nation, I  think,  will  show  us  an  important  truth :  viz.  that  the  appearance  of 
these  institutions  under  different  forms  has  been  the  expression  and  the  fulfil- 
ment of  great  moral  necessities,  and  a  powerful  means,  in  the  hands  of  Provi- 
dence, of  promoting  not  only  the  spiritual  good  of  the  Church,  but  also  the 
salvation  and  regeneration  of  society.  It  will  be  understood  that  it  is  not  pos- 
sible for  me  to  enter  into  details,  or  pass  in  review  the  numerous  religious 
institutions  which  have  existed;  besides,  this  is  not  necessary  for  my  object.  I 
shall  limit  myself,  therefore,  to  running  over  the  principal  phases  of  religious 
institutes,  and  making  a  few  remarks  on  each  of  them;  I  shall  act  like  the 
traveller  who,  being  unable  to  make  a  stay  in  the  country  through  which  he 
passes,  looks  at  it  for  a  short  time  from  the  highest  points.  I  will  begin  with 
the  solitaries  of  the  East. 

The  Colossus  of  the  Roman  Empire  threatened  an  approaching  and  stunning 
fall :  the  spirit  of  life  was  rapidly  becoming  extinguished,  and  there  was  no 
longer  any  hope  of  a  breath  to  reanimate  it.  The  blood  circulated  slowly  in  its 
veins;  the  evil  was  incurables  the  symptoms  of  corruption  everywhere  mani- 
fested themselves,  and  this  agony  was  exactly  coincident  with  the  critical  and 
formidable  hour  when  it  was  necessary  to  collect  all  its  forces  to  resist  the 
violent  shock  which  was  about  to  destroy  it.  The  barbarians  appeared  on  the 
frontiers  of  the  empire,  like  the  carnivorous  animals  attracted  by  the  exhala- 
tions of  a  dead  body;  and  at  this  crisis  society  found  itself  on  the  eve  of  a 
fearful  catastrophe.  All  the  world  was  about  to  undergo  an  alarming  change ; 
the  next  day  was  not  likely  to  resemble  the  last ;  the  tree  was  about  to  be  torn 
tip ;  but  its  roots  were  too  deep  for  it  to  be  extirpated  without  changing  the 
whole  face  of  the  soil  where  it  was  planted.  The  greatest  refinement  had  to 
contend  with  barbarian  ferocity, — the  effeminate  luxury  of  southern  nations 
with  the  energy  of  the  robust  sons  of  the  forest;  the  result  of  the  struggle 
could  not  be  doubtful.  Laws,  customs,  manners,  monuments,  arts  and  sciences, 
— all  the  civilization  and  refinement  acquired  during  the  course  of  many  ages 
was  all  in  peril,  all  foreboded  approaching  ruin,  all  understood  that  God  had 
appointed  an  end  to  the  power,  and  even  the  existence  of  the  rulers  of  the 
globe.  The  barbarians  were  only  the  instrument  of  Providence;  the  hand  which 
had  given  a  mortal  blow  to  the  mistress  of  the  world,  the  queen  of  nations,  was 
that  formidable  hand  which  touches  mountains  with  fire,  and  reduces  them  to 
ashes,  which  touches  the  rocks  and  melts  them  like  metal;  it  was  the  hand  of 

U 


230  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

Him  who  sends  forth  His  fiery  breath  upon  the  nations,  and  burns  them  up 
like  straw. 

The  world  must  be  the  prey  of  chaos  for  a  short  time ;  but  was  not  light 
again  to  come  upon  it  ?  Was  mankind  to  be  melted,  like  gold  in  the  furnace, 
in  order  to  come  out  more  brilliant  and  more  pure  ?  Were  ideas  respecting  God 
and  man  to  be  corrected  ?  Were  more  delicate  and  exalted  notions  of  morality 
to  be  diffused  ?  Was  it  reserved  for  the  heart  of  man  to  receive  more  grave 
and  sublime  inspirations,  to  emerge  from  its  corrupt  state,  and  live  in  an  atmo- 
sphere higher  and  more  worthy  of  an  immortal  being  ?  Yes  !  Providence  thus 
decreed,  and  His  infinite  wisdom  has  brought  about  this  end  by  ways  which 
man  could  not  understand. 

Christianity  was  already  spread  over  the  face  of  the  world ;  her  holy  doc- 
trines, rendered  fruitful  by  grace,  prepared  the  complete  regeneration  of  the 
world;  but  it  was  necessary  that  mankind  should  again  receive  a  new  impulse 
from  her  divine  hands,  that  the  mind  of  man  should  be  moved  by  a  new  shock, 
that  it  might  take  its  proper  flight,  and  raise  itself  at  once  to  the  exalted  posi- 
tion which  was  intended  for  it,  and  from  which  it  was  never  to  descend.  His- 
tory tells  us  of  the  obstacles  which  opposed  the  establishment  and  development 
of  Christianity.  According  to  the  warlike  expression  of  the  Prophet,  God  was 
compelled  to  assume  His  sword  and  buckler ;  by  the  strength  of  wonderful  pro- 
digies, He  broke  the  resistance  of  the  passions,  destroyed  every  knowledge 
which  raised  itself  against  the  knowledge  of  God,  scattered  all  the  powers 
which  rebelled  against  Him,  and  extinguished  the  pride  and  obstinacy  of  hell. 
When,  after  three  centuries  of  persecution,  victory  declared  itself  throughout 
the  world  in  favor  of  the  true  religion ;  when  the  temples  of  the  false  gods 
were  deserted,  and  those  idols  which  were  not  yet  overthrown  trembled  on  their 
pedestals;  when  the  sign  of  Calvary  was  inscribed  on  the  Labarum  of  the 
Caesars,  and  the  legions  of  the  empire  bowed  religiously  before  the  Cross,  then 
had  the  moment  arrived  for  Christianity  to  realize,  in  a  permanent  manner,  in 
those  sublime  institutions  conceived  and  established  by  herself  alone,  the  lofty 
counsels  given  three  centuries  before  in  Palestine.  The  wisdom  of  philosophers 
had  been  vain ;  the  time  was  come  to  realize  the  wisdom  of  the  Carpenter  of 
Nazareth,  of  Him  who,  without  having  consulted  human  learning,  had  pro- 
claimed and  taught  truths  unknown  to  the  most  privileged  of  mortals. 

The  virtues  of  the  Christians  had  already  emerged  from  the  obscurity  of  the 
catacombs ;  they  were  to  be  resplendent  in  the  light  of  heaven  and  amid  peace, 
as  they  had  formerly  shone  in  the  depths  of  dungeons  and  amid  the  flames. 
Christianity  had  obtained  possession  of  the  sceptre  of  command,  as  of  the 
domestic  hearth ;  her  disciples,  who  now  were  multitudinous,  no  longer  lived  in 
a  community  of  goods ;  it  is  clear  that  entire  continence,  and  complete  freedom 
from  all  earthly  things,  could  no  longer  be  the  mode  of  life  of  the  regenerated 
families.  The  world  was  to  continue ;  the  duration  of  the  human  race  was  not 
to  cease  at  this  point  of  its  career ;  therefore,  all  Christians  were  not  to  observe 
the  lofty  counsels  which  convert  the  life  of  man  on  earth  into  the  angelic.  A 
great  number  of  them  were  to  belong  to  those  who,  in  order  to  obtain  eternal 
life,  were  satisfied  with  keeping  the  precepts,  without  aspiring  to  the  sublime 
perfection  which  results  from  the  renouncement  of  all  that  is  earthly,  and  the 
complete  abnegation  of  self.  Yet  the  Founder  of  the  Christian  religion  was 
unwilling  that  the  counsels  which  He  had  given  to  men  should  be  for  a  moment 
without  some  disciples  amid  the  coldness  and  dissipation  of  the  world.  He  had 
not  given  them  in  vain ;  and,  besides,  the  practice  of  them,  although  confined 
to  a  limited  number  of  the  faithful,  exerted  on  all  sides  a  beneficent  influence 
which  facilitated  and  secured  the  observance  of  the  precepts.  The  force  of 
example  exerts  so  powerful  an  ascendency  over  the  human  heart,  that  it  is  often 
suificient  of  itself  to  triumph  over  the  strongest  and  most  obstinate  resistance ; 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  231 

there  is  something  in  our  hearts  which  inclines  them  to  sympathize  with  all 
that  approaches  them,  whether  good  or  evil;  and  there  seems  to  be  a  secret 
stimulus  urging  us  to  follow  others,  whatever  direction  they  may  take.  There- 
fore it  is  that  there  are  so  many  advantages  in  the  establishment  of  religious 
institutions,  in  which  the  virtues  and  austerity  of  life  are  given  as  an  example  to 
the  generality  of  men,  and  make  an  eloquent  reproach  to  the  errors  of  passion. 

Providence  desired  to  attain  this  great  end  by  singular  and  extraordinary 
means;  the  Spirit  of  God  breathed  on  the  earth,  and  immediately  the  men  and 
power  to  commence  this  great  work  appeared.  The  frightful  deserts  of  Thebaid, 
the  burning  solitudes  of  Arabia,  Palestine,  and  Syria,  show  us  men  rudely  clad, 
with  a  mantle  of  goat-skin  on  their  shoulders,  and  a  plain  cowl  on  their  heads : 
behold  all  the  luxury  with  which  they  confound  the  vanity  and  pride  of  world- 
lings! Their  bodies,  exposed  to  the  rays  of  the  most  burning  sun  and  the 
most  severe  cold,  besides  being  attenuated  by  long  fasts,  resemble  walking 
spectres  who  have  arisen  from  the  dust  of  their  sepulchres.  The  herbs  of  the 
earth  are  their  only  food,  water  their  only  drink;  the  labor  of  their  hands  pro- 
cures for  them  the  scanty  resources  they  require.  Under  the  direction  of  a 
venerable  old  man,  whose  claims  to  rule  are  a  long  life  passed  in  the  desert,  and 
hairs  grown  white  amid  privations  and  austerities,  they  constantly  keep  the 
profoundest  silence;  their  lips  are  opened  only  to  pronounce  the  words  of 
prayer;  their  voice  is  only  heard  to  intone  a  hymn  of  praise  to  God.  For  them 
the  world  has  ceased  to  exist ;  the  relations  of  friendship,  the  sweet  ties  of 
family  and  relationship,  are  all  broken  by  a  spirit  of  perfection,  carried  to  an 
extent  which  surpasses  all  earthly  considerations.  The  cares  of  property  do 
not  disturb  them ;  before  retiring  to  the  desert,  they  have  abandoned  all  to  him 
who  was  to  succeed  them ;  or  they  have  sold  all  they  had,  and  given  the  price 
to  the  poor.  The  Holy  Scriptures  are  the  nourishment  of  their  minds;  they 
learn  by  heart  the  words  of  that  divine  book ;  they  meditate  on  them  unceas- 
ingly, beseeching  the  Lord  to  grant  that  they  may  understand  them  aright.  In 
their  retired  meetings,  nothing  is  heard  but  the  voice  of  some  venerable  ceno- 
bite,  explaining  with  naive  simplicity  and  touching  unction  the  sense  of  the 
sacred  text ;  but  always  in  such  a  way  as  to  draw  profit  for  the  purification  of 
souls. 

The  number  of  these  solitaries  was  so  great  that  we  could  not  credit  it,  if  it 
were  not  vouched  for  by  eye-witnesses  worthy  of  the  highest  respect.  As  to 
their  sanctity,  spirit  of  penance,  and  purity  of  life,  we  cannot  doubt  them  after 
the  testimonies  of  Rufinus,  Palladius,  St.  Jerome,  St.  John  Chrysostom,  St.  Au- 
gustine, and  all  the  other  illustrious  men  who  distinguished  themselves  at  that 
time.  The  fact  is  singular,  extraordinary,  prodigious;  but  no  one  can  question 
its  historical  truth;  it  is  attested  by  all  who  came  to  the  desert  from  all  parts  to 
seek  for  light  in  their  doubts,  cures  for  their  evils,  and  pardon  for  their  sins.  I 
could  quote  a  thousand  authorities  to  prove  what  I  have  said ;  but  I  will  content 
myself  with  one,  which  shall  suffice  for  all — that  of  St.  Augustine.  Hear  how 
this  holy  doctor  describes  the  life  of  these  extraordinary  men  :  "  These  fathers, 
not  only  very  holy  in  their  manners,  but  very  learned  in  the  Christian  doctrine, 
excellent  men  in  all  respects,  do  not  govern  with  pride  those  whom  they  justly 
call  their  sons,  on  account  of  the  high  authority  of  those  who  command,  and  the 
ready  will  of  those  who  obey.  At  the  decline  of  day,  one  of  them,  still  fasting, 
quits  his  habitation,  and  all  assemble  to  hear  their  master.  Each  of  these 
fathers  has  at  least  three  thousand  under  his  direction;  for  the  number  is  some- 
times much  greater.  They  listen  with  incredible  attention,  in  profound  silence, 
manifesting  by  their  groans,  or  tears,  or  by  their  modest  and  tranquil  joy,  the 
various  feelings  which  the  discourse  excites  in  their  souls."  (St.  Augustin.  lib.  1, 
J)e  Moribus  Ecclesice,  cap.  31.) 

But  it  will  be  said,  Of  what  use  were  these  men,  except  for  their  own  sancti- 


232  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

fication  ?  what  good  did  they  do  to  society  ?  what  influence  did  they  exert  on 
ideas  ?  what  change  did  they  make  in  manners  ?  If  we  admit  that  this  plant 
of  the  desert  was  beautiful  and  fragrant,  yet  what  did  it  avail  ?  it  remained 
sterile.  It  certainly  would  be  an  error  to  think  that  so  many  thousands  of  soli- 
taries did  not  exercise  great  influence.  In  the  first  place,  and  to  speak  only  of 
what  relates  to  ideas,  we  must  observe,  that  the  monasteries  of  the  East  arose 
within  reach,  and  under  the  eyes  of,  the  schools  of  philosophy.  Egypt  was  the 
country  where  the  cenobetic  life  flourished  the  most.  Now  every  one  is  aware 
of  the  high  renown  which  the  schools  of  Alexandria  enjoyed  a  short  time  before. 
On  all  sides  of  the  Mediterranean — on  that  border  of  land  which,  beginning  in 
Libya,  terminates  in  the  Black  Sea — men's  minds  were  at  that  time  in  a  state 
of  extraordinary  motion.  Christianity  and  Judaism,  the  doctrines  of  the  East 
and  those  of  the  West — all  was  collected  and  accumulated  in  this  part  of  the 
world  ;  the  remains  of  the  ancient  schools  of  Greece  were  formed  of  the  trea- 
sures, which  the  course  of  ages  and  the  passage  of  the  most  famous  nations  of 
the  earth  had  brought  to  those  countries.  New  and  gigantic  events  were  come 
to  throw  floods  of  light  upon  the  character  and  the  value  of  ideas ;  minds  had 
felt  shocks  which  did  not  allow  them  any  longer  to  be  contented  with  the  quiet 
lessons  contained  in  the  dialogues  of  the  ancient  masters.  From  these  famous 
countries  came  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  early  ages  of  Christianity ;  and  we 
know  from  their  works  the  extent  and  elevation  of  mind  which  man  had  attained 
at  that  time.  Was  it  possible  that  a  phenomenon  so  extraordinary — a  girdle  of 
monasteries  and  hermitages,  embracing  this  zone  of  the  world,  and  showing 
themselves  in  the  face  of  the  schools  of  philosophy — should  not  exert  great  influ- 
ence on  men's  minds?  The  ideas  of  the  solitaries  passed  incessantly  from  the 
desert  into  the  towns  ;  since,  in  spite  of  all  the  care  which  they  took  to  avoid 
the  contact  of  the  world,  the  world  sought  and  approached  them,  and  continually 
came  to  receive  their  inspirations. 

When  we  see  the  nations  crowd  to  the  solitaries  the  most  eminent  for  their 
sanctity,  to  implore  from  their  wisdom  a  remedy  for  suffering  and  a  consolation 
in  misfortunes;  when  we  see  these  venerable  men  impart,  together  with  the 
unction  of  the  Gospel,  the  sublime  lessons  which  they  had  learned  during  long 
years  of  meditation  and  prayer  in  the  silence  of  solitude,  it  is  impossible  not  to 
understand  how  much  these  communications  must  have  contributed  to  correct 
an^  elevate  ideas  relating  to  religion  and  morality,  and  to  amend  and  purify 
morals.  Let  us  not  forget  that  the  human  mind  was,  as  it  were,  materialized  by 
the  corruption  and  grossness  of  the  pagan  religion.  The  worship  of  nature,  of 
sensible  forms,  was  so  deeply  rooted  that,  in  order  to  raise  minds  to  the  concep- 
tion of  superior  things,  a  strong  and  extraordinary  reaction  was  required ;  it 
was  necessary  in  some  measure  to  annihilate  matter  in  order  to  present  to  man 
only  the  mind.  The  life  of  the  solitaries  was  the  best  adapted  to  produce  this 
effect.  In  reading  the  history  of  these  times,  we  seem  to  find  ourselves  trans- 
ported out  of  this  world;  the  flesh  has  disappeared,  and  there  remains  nothing 
but  the  spirit;  and  the  force  which  has  been  employed  in  order  to  subdue  the 
flesh  is  such — they  have  insisted  so  much  on  the  vanity  of  earthly  things — that 
reality  itself  is  changed  into  illusion,  and  the  physical  world  vanishes  to  make 
way  for  the  moral  and  intellectual ;  all  the  ties  of  earth  have  been  broken ;  man 
puts  himself  in  intimate  communication  with  Heaven.  Miracles  multiply  exceed- 
ingly in  these  lives;  apparitions  continually  appear;  the  abodes  of  the  solitaries 
are  arenas  where  earthly  means  are  nothing  ;  good  angels  struggle  against  de- 
mons, heaven  against  hell,  God  against  Satan  :  the  earth  is  there  only  to  serve 
as  a  field  of  battle ;  the  body  exists  no  longer  except  to  be  consumed  as  a  holo- 
caust on  the  altars  of  virtue,  in  the  presence  of  the  demon  who  struggles 
furiously  to  render  it  the  slave  of  vice. 

What  has  become  of  the  idolatrous  worship  which  Greece  paid  to  sensible 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  233 

forms,  that  adoration  which  it  offered  to  nature  by  deifying  all  that  was  deli- 
cious and  beautiful,  all  that  could  interest  the  senses  and  the  heart  ?  What  a 
profound  change !  the  same  senses  are  subjected  to  the  most  severe  privations ; 
they  are  most  strictly  circumcised  in  heart;  and  man,  who  then  scarcely  at- 
tempted to  raise  his  mind  above  the  earth,  now  keeps  it  constantly  fixed  on 
Heaven.  It  is  impossible  to  form  an  idea  of  what  we  are  attempting  to  describe, 
without  having  read  the  lives  of  these  solitaries ;  to  understand  all  the  effect  of 
their  great  prodigies,  it  is  necessary  to  have  spent  many  hours  over  these  pages, 
where,  so  to  speak,  nothing  is  found  which  follows  the  natural  course  of  things. 
It  is  not  enough  to  imagine  pure  lives,  austerities,  visions,  and  miracles ;  it  is 
necessary  to  see  all  this  collected  together,  and  carried  to  the  most  wonderful 
extent  in  the  path  of  perfection. 

If  you  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  action  of  grace  in  facts  so  surprising ;  if  you 
will  not  see  any  supernatural  effect  in  this  religious  movement ;  I  say  more,  if 
you  go  so  far  as  to  suppose  that  the  mortification  of  the  flesh  and  the  elevation 
of  the  soul  are  carried  to  blamable  exaggeration,  still  you  cannot  help  allowing 
that  such  a  reaction  was  very  likely  to  spiritualize  ideas,  to  awaken  the  moral 
and  intellectual  forces  in  man,  and  to  concentrate  all  within  himself,  by  giving 
him  the  sentiment  of  that  interior,  intimate,  and  moral  life,  with  which,  until 
then,  he  had  not  been  occupied.  The  forehead  which,  till  then,  had  been  bent 
towards  the  earth,  was  raised  towards  the  Divinity;  something  nobler  than 
material  enjoyments  was  offered  to  the  mind,  and  the  brutal  excesses  authorized 
by  the  example  of  the  false  divinities  of  paganism,  at  length  appeared  an  offence 
against  the  high  dignity  of  human  nature. 

In  the  moral  order,  the  effect  must  have  been  immense.  Man,  until  then, 
had  not  even  imagined  that  it  was  possible  to  resist  the  impetuosity  of  his  pas- 
sions. There  were  found,  it  is  true,  in  the  cold  morality  of  a  few  philosophers, 
certain  maxims  intended  to  restrain  the  dangerous  passions;  but  this  morality 
was  only  in  the  books,  the  world  did  not  regard  it  as  practicable,  and  if  some 
men  attempted  to  realize  it,  they  did  so  in  such  a  manner  that,  far  from  giving 
it  credit,  they  rendered  it  contemptible.  What  did  it  avail'to  abandon  riches 
and  profess  freedom  from  all  earthly  things,  as  some  philosophers  did,  if  at  the 
same  time  they  appeared  so  vain,  so  full  of  themselves,  that  it  was  evident  that 
they  only  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  pride  ?  It  was  to  overturn  all  the  idols  in 
order  to  place  themselves  on  the  altar,  and  reign  there  without  rival  gods ;  this 
was  not  to  direct  the  passions,  ^o  subject  them  to  reason,  but  to  create  a  mon- 
ster passion  surpassing  and  devouring  all.  Humility,  the  foundation-stone 
whereon  the  solitaries  raised  the  edifice  of  their  virtue,  placed  them  immediately 
in  a  position  infinitely  superior  to  that  of  the  ancient  philosophers  who  were  dis- 
tinguished for  a  life  more  or  less  severe.  In  fine,  men  were  taught  to  avoid  vice 
and  practise  virtue,  not  for  the  futile  pleasure  of  being  regarded  and  admired, 
but  for  superior  motives  founded  on  the  relations  of  man  with  God,  and  the 
destinies  of  eternity.  From  that  moment  man  knew  that  it  was  not  impossible 
for  him  to  triumph  over  evil,  in  the  obstinate  struggle  which  he  felt  continually 
going  on  within  himself.  At  the  sight  of  so  many  thousands  of  persons  of 
both  sexes  who  followed  a  rule  of  life  so  pure  and  austere,  mankind  took  fresh 
courage,  and  were  convinced  that  the  paths  of  virtue  were  not  impracticable  for 
them. 

The  generous  confidence  with  which  man  was  inspired  by  the  sight  of  such 
sublime  examples,  lost  nothing  of  its  strength  in  presence  of  the  Christian 
dogma,  which  does  not  allow  actions  meritorious  of  eternal  life  to  be  attributed 
to  man  himself,  and  teaches  him  the  necessity  of  divine  aid,  if  he  wishes  to 
escape  the  paths  of  perdition.  This  dogma,  which,  on  the  other  hand,  accords 
so  well  with  the  daily  lessons  of  experience  as  to  human  frailty,  far  from  destroy- 
ing the  strength  of  the  mind  or  diminishing  its  courage,  on  the  contrary,  ani- 
30  u2 


234  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

mates  it  more  and  more  to  persevere  in  spite  of  all  obstacles.  When  man  thinks 
himself  alone,  when  he  does  not  feel  himself  supported  by  the  powerful  hand 
of  Providence,  he  walks  with  the  tottering  steps  of  infancy;  he  wants  confi- 
dence in  himself,  in  his  own  strength;  the  object  he  has  in  view  seems  too 
distant,  the  enterprise  too  arduous,  and  he  is  discouraged.  The  dogma  of  grace, 
as  it  is  explained  by  the  Catholic  Church,  is  not  that  fatalist  doctrine,  the  mo- 
ther of  despair,  which  has  hardened  the  heart  among  Protestants,  as  Grotius 
laments.  It  is  a  doctrine  which,  leaving  man  all  his  free  will,  teaches  him  the 
necessity  of  superior  aid ;  but  that  aid  will  be  abundantly  furnished  him  by  the 
infinite  goodness  of  God,  who  has  shed  His  blood  for  him  in  torments  and  igno- 
miny, and  has  breathed  out  for  him  His  last  sigh  on  Mount  Calvary. 

It  seems  as  if  Providence  had  been  pleased  to  choose  a  climate  where  man- 
kind could  make  a  trial  of  their  strength  vivified  and  sustained  by  grace.  It 
was  under  a  sky  apparently  the  most  fatal  for  the  corruption  of  the  soul,  in 
countries  where  the  relaxation  of  the  body  naturally  leads  to*  relaxation  of  mind, 
and  where  even  the  air  that  they  breathed  inclined  to  pleasure, — it  was  there 
that  the  greatest  energy  of  mind  was  displayed,  that  the  greatest  austerities 
were  practised,  and  the  pleasures  of  the  senses  were  proscribed  and  banished 
with  the  greatest  severity.  The  solitaries  fixed  their  abodes  in  deserts  within 
the  influence  of  the  balmy  breezes  of  the  neighboring  lands ;  from  their  moun- 
tains and  sandy  hills  their  eyes  could  distinguish  the  peaceful  and  smiling  coun- 
tries which  invited  to  pleasure  and  enjoyment ;  like  the  Christian  virgin  who 
abandoned  her  obscure  cave  to  go  and  place  herself  in  the  hollow  of  a  rock, 
whence  she  saw  the  palace  of  her  fathers  overflowing  with  riches,  pleasures, 
and  delights,  while  she  herself  lamented  like  a  solitary  dove  in  the  holes  of  the 
rock.  From  that  time  all  climates  were  good  for  virtue ;  austerity  of  morals 
did  not  at  all  depend  on  the  proximity  of  the  equatorial  line ;  the  morality  of 
man,  like  man  himself,  could  live  in  all  climates.  When  the  most  perfect  con- 
tinence was  practised  in  so  wonderful  a  manner  under  the  sky  which  we  have 
described,  the  monogamy  of  Christianity  could  well  be  established  and  pre- 
served. When,  in  the  secrets  of  the  Eternal,  the  time  had  arrived  for  calling 
a  people  to  the  light  of  truth,  it  mattered  not  whether  they  lived  amid  the 
snows  of  Scandinavia,  or  on  the  burning  plains  of  India.  The  spirit  of  the 
divine  laws  was  not  to  be  confined  within  the  narrow  circle  which  the  Esprit 
des  Loix  of  Montesquieu  has  attempted  to  assign  it. 


CHAPTER   XL. 

ON   RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS   IN   THE   EAST. 

THE  influence  exercised  by  the  lives  of  the  solitaries  of  the  East  over  reli- 
gion and  morality  is  beyond  a  doubt ;  in  truth  it  is  not  easy  to  appreciate  it  in 
all  its  extent  and  in  all  its  effects ;  but  it  is  not  the  less  true  and  real  on  that 
account.  It  has  not  marked  the  doctrines  of  humanity  like  those  thundering 
events  the  effects  of  which  are  often  inadequate  to  their  promises;  but  it  is  like 
a  beneficial  rain  which,  diffusing  itself  gently  over  the  thirsty  earth,  fertilizes 
the  meadows  and  the  fields.  If  it  were  possible  for  man  to  comprehend  and 
distinguish  the  vast  assemblage  of  causes  which  have  contributed  to  raise  his 
mind,  to  give  him  a  lively  consciousness  of  his  immortality,  and  to  render  a 
return  to  his  ancient  degradation  almost  impossible,  perhaps  it  would  be  found 
that  the  wonderful  phenomenon  of  the  Eastern  solitaries  had  a  considerable 
share  in  that  immense  change.  Let  us  not  forget  that  from  thence  did  the  great 
men  of  the  East  receive  their  inspiration ;  St.  Jerome  lived  in  a  cave  at  Beth- 


PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  235 

lehem,  and  the  conversion  of  St.  Augustine  was  accompanied  by  a  holy  emula- 
tion excited  in  his  mind  by  reading  the  life  of  St.  Anthony  the  Abbot. 

The  monasteries  which  were  founded  in  the  East  and  West  in  imitation  of 
these  early  establishments  of  the  solitaries,  were  a  continuation  of  them,  although 
with  many  differences,  in  consequence  of  times  and  circumstances.  Thence  came 
the  Basils,  the  Gregories,  the  Chrysostoms,  and  so  many  distinguished  men,  the 
glory  of  the  Church.  If  a  miserable  spirit  of  dispute,  ambition,  and  pride, 
sowing  the  seeds  of  discord,  had  not  prepared  the  rupture  which  was  to  deprive 
the  East  of  the  vivifying  influence  of  the  Roman  See,  perhaps  the  ancient  mo- 
nasteries of  the  East  would  have  served,  like  those  of  the  West,  to  prepare  a 
social  regeneration,  by  forming  one  people  out  of  the  conquerors  and  the  con- 
quered. 

It  is  evident  that  the  want  of  unity  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  weakness 
of  the  East ;  I  will  not  deny  that  their  position  was  very  different  from  ours ; 
the  enemy  opposed  to  them  did  not  at  all  resemble  the  barbarians  of  the  North; 
but  I  am  not  sure  that  it  was.  easier  to  subdue  the  latter  than  it  was  to  rule  the 
nations  by  whom  the  East  was  conquered.  In  the  East,  the  victory  remained 
with  the  aggressors,  as  with  us;  but  a  conquered  nation  is  not  dead;  its  defeat 
does  not  take  from  it  all  the  great  advantages  which  are  able,  by  giving  it  a 
moral  ascendency  over  the  conquerors,  to  prepare,  in  silence,  their  transforma- 
tion, if  not  their  expulsion.  The  northern  barbarians  conquered  the  South  of 
Europe ;  but  the  South,  in  its  turn,  triumphed  over  them  by  the  Christian  reli- 
gion ;  the  barbarians  were  not  driven  out,  but  they  were  transformed.  Spain 
was  conquered  by  the  Arabs,  and  the  Arabs  could  not  be  transformed ;  but  they 
were  driven  out  in  the  end.  If  the  East  had  preserved  unity,  if  Constantino- 
ple and  the  other  episcopal  sees  had  remained  subject  to  Rome  like  those  of  the 
West ;  in  a  word,  if  all  the  East  had  been  contented  to  be  a  member  of  a  great 
body,  instead  of  having  the  ambitious  pretensions  of  being  a  great  body  itself, 
I  consider  it  certain  that,  after  the  conquest  of  the  Saracens,  a  struggle,  at  once 
intellectual,  moral,  and  physical,  would  have  been  engaged  in;  a  profound 
change  would  have  been  worked  in  the  conquered  nation,  or  the  struggle 
would  have  ended  by  the  conquering  barbarians  being  driven  back  to  their 
deserts. 

It  will  be  said  that  the  transformation  of  the  Arabs  was  the  work  of  ages. 
But  was  not  that  of  the  barbarians  of  the  North  so  likewise  ?  Was  this  great 
work  finished  by  their  conversion^ to  Christianity  ?  A  considerable  part  of  them 
were  Arians ;  and  besides,  they  understood  the  Christian  ideas  so  ill,  they 
found  the  practice  of  Gospel  morality  so  difficult,  that  for  a  long  time  it  was 
almost  as  difficult  to  treat  with  them  as  with  nations  of  a  different  religion.  On 
the  other  hand,  let  us  not  forget  that  the  irruption  of  the  barbarians  was  not  a 
solitary  event;  an  event  which,  when  once  finished,  did  not  recur;  it  was  con- 
tinued for  ages.  But  the  force  of  the  religious  principle  in  the  West  was  such, 
that  all  the  invading  nations  were  compelled  to  retire,  or  were  forced  to  bend 
to  the  ideas  and  manners  of  the  countries  they  had  recently  acquired.  The 
defeat  of  the  hordes  of  Attila,  the  victories  of  Charlemagne  over  the  Saxons 
and  the  other  nations  beyond  the  Rhine,  the  successive  conversion  of  the  various 
idolatrous  nations  of  the  North  by  means  of  the  missionaries  sent  from  Rome, 
— in  fine,  the  vicissitudes  and  the  final  result  of  the  invasions  of  the  Normans, 
and  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  Christians  of  Spain  over  the  Moors  after  a  war 
of  eight  centuries,  are  so  many  decisive  proofs  of  what  I  have  just  laid  down — 
viz.  that  the  West,  vivified  and  fortified  by  Catholic  unity,  had  had  the  secret 
of  assimilating  and  appropriating  to  itself  all  that  it  was  not  able  to  reject,  and 
the  force  to  reject  all  that  it  could  not  make  its  own. 

This  is  what  was  wanting  in  the  East :  the  enterprise  was  not  more  difficult 
there  than  in  the  West.  If  the  West  alone  was  able  to  liberate  the  Holy  Se- 


236  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

pulchre,  the  West  and  East  together  would  never  have  lost  it ;  or,  at  least,  after 
having  freed  it,  they  would  have  kept  it  for  ever.  The  same  cause  prevented 
the  monasteries  of  the  East  from  attaining  to  the  same  vitality  and  energy 
which  distinguished  those  of  the  West ;  therefore,  they  have  always  been  seen 
to  grow  weak  with  time,  without  producing  any  thing  great,  and  capable  of  pre- 
venting social  dissolution,  of  silently  preparing  and  slowly  elaborating  regene- 
ration for  posterity,  after  the  calamities  with  which  it  pleased  Providence  to 
afflict  ancient  times.  He  who  has  seen  in  history  the  brilliant  commencement 
of  the  Eastern  monasteries,  cannot  behold  without  pain  the  decline  of  their 
strength  and  splendor  in  the  course  of  ages,  after  the  ravages  caused  by  inva- 
sion, wars,  and  finally,  the  deadly  influence  of  the  schism  of  Constantinople ; 
the  ancient  abodes  of  so  many  men  illustrious  for  science  and  sanctity  gradually 
disappeared  from  the  page  of  history  like  expiring  lamps,  or  the  dying  fires  of 
an  abandoned  camp. 

Immense  injury  was  done  to  all  the  branches  of  human  knowledge  by  this 
decline,  which,  after  having  rendered  the  East  barren,  ended  by  destroying  it. 
If  we  pay  attention,  we  shall  see  that,  amid  the  great  shocks  and  revolutions 
which  disturbed  Europe,  Africa,  and  Asia,  the  natural  refuge  for  the  remains 
of  ancient  knowledge,  was  not  the  West,  but  the  East.  It  was  not  in  our  mo- 
nasteries that  the  books,  and  other  intellectual  riches,  of  which  quieter  and 
happier  generations  were  one  day  to  enjoy  the  benefit,  should  naturally  have 
been  preserved ;  this,  it  would  seem,  belonged  to  the  monasteries  of  the  eastern 
countries;  those  lands,  where  the  most  different  civilizations  were  brought 
together  and  commingled  as  on  neutral  ground;  those  regions,  where  the 
human  mind  had  displayed  the  greatest  activity,  and  taken  the  highest  flights ; 
where  the  most  abundant  treasures  of  tradition  and  sciences,  and  the  beauties 
of  art  were  accumulated ;  in  a  word,  it  was  in  this  vast  mart  of  all  the  riches 
of  the  civilization  and  refinement  of  all  nations, — it  was  in  this  sanctuary  and 
museum  of  antiquity,  that  the  intellectual  patrimony  of  future  generations 
ought  to  have  been  preserved. 

Let  it  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  the  monasteries  of  the  East  were  of  no 
service  to  the  human  mind;  the  science  and  literature  of  Europe  are  still  mind- 
ful of  the  impulse  which  was  communicated  to  them,  by  the  arrival  of  the  pre- 
cious materials  thrown  upon  the  coasts  of  Italy,  after  the  taking  of  Constanti- 
nople :  but  even  these  riches,  brought  to  Europe  by  a  few  men,  driven  upon 
our  shores  by  a  tempest,  came  to  us,  like  the  remains  of  a  shipwrecked  crew, 
who,  after  having  with  difficulty  saved  their  lives  from  the  fury  of  the  waves, 
have  only  preserved  in  their  benumbed  hands  some  gold  and  a  few  precious 
stones. 

For  this  reason,  precisely,  do  we  lament,  because  from  the  example  we  have 
adduced,  we  are  enabled  the  better  to  understand  the  immense  riches  of  the 
vessel  which  was  lost ;  this  makes  us  grieve  the  more  bitterly  that  the  early 
times  of  the  illustrious  cenobites  of  the  East  have  not  been  brought  down  to 
our  day  by  a  continued  chain.  When  we  see  their  works  overflow  with  sacred 
and  profane  learning,  when  their  labors  show  us  proofs  of  indefatigable  activity, 
we  think  with  sorrow  of  the  inestimable  treasures  which  their  libraries  must 
have  contained. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  the  justness  of  the  melancholy  reflections  we  have  here  made, 
it  must  be  allowed  that  the  influence  of  these  monasteries  never  ceased  to  be 
extremely  useful  to  the  preservation  of  knowledge.  The  Arabs,  in  the  times 
of  their  success,  showed  themselves  to  be  intelligent  and  cultivated ;  and  Eu- 
rope, in  many  respects,  is  indebted  to  them  for  much  advancement.  Bagdad 
and  Grenada,  during  the  middle  ages,  are  two  brilliant  centres  of  intellectual 
movement  and  art,  which  serve  not  a  little  to  diminish  the  sombre  effect  of  the 
barbarities  of  Islamism  :  they  are  two  tranquil  and  pleasing  features  in  a  fright- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  237 

ful  picture.  If  it  were  possible  to  follow  the  history  of  intellectual  develop- 
ment among  the  Arabs,  through  the  transformations  and  catastrophes  of  the 
East,  perhaps  we  should  find  in  the  sciences  of  the  nations  which  they  con- 
quered or  destroyed  the  origin  of  much  of  their  progress.  It  is  certain  that 
their  own  civilization  did  not  contain  any  vital  principle  favorable  to  the 
development  of  the  mind ;  we  have  a  proof  of  this  in  their  religious  and  social 
organization,  and  in  the  small  results  which  they  obtained,  after  having  been 
for  so  many  centuries  peacefully  established  in  the  conquered  countries.  Their 
whole  system,  with  respect  to  letters  and  intellectual  cultivation,  is  founded  on 
that  stupid  maxim,  uttered  by  one  of  their  chiefs,  when  he  condemned  an  im- 
mense library  to  the  flames  :  "  If  these  books  are  contrary  to  the  Alcoran,  they 
should  be  burnt  as  pernicious ;  if  they  are  not  contrary  to  it,  they  should  be 
burnt  as  useless." 

We  read  in  Palladius,  that  the  monks  of  Egypt  did  not  content  themselves 
with  working  with  rude  and  simple  objects,  but  that  they  devoted  themselves 
to  labors  of  all  kinds.  These  thousands  of  men,  who,  belonging  to  all  classes 
and  to  all  countries,  embraced  the  solitary  life,  must  have  brought  to  the  desert 
a  large  treasure  of  knowledge.  We  know  how  far  the  human  mind  can  go 
when  left  to  itself,  and  applied  to  a  fixed  occupation;  there  is  always  some 
reason  for  thinking  that  a  great  part  of  the  valuable  ideas  on  the  secrets  of 
nature,  the  utility  and  properties  of  certain  ingredients,  the  principles  of  some 
of  the  arts  and  sciences,  knowledge  which  formed  the.  rich  patrimony  of  the 
Arabs  at  the  time  when  they  appeared  in  Europe,  were  nothing  but  the  remains 
of  ancient  learning,  gathered  by  them  in  countries  which  had  formerly  been 
inundated  by  men  from  all  parts.  We  must  remember  that  at  the  time  of  the 
first  invasions  of  the  northern  barbarians,  when  Spain,  the  south  of  France, 
Italy,  the  north  of  Africa,  and  all  the  islands  adjacent  to  these  countries,  were 
ravaged  by  these  terrible  men,  the  East  became  a  refuge,  an  asylum,  for  all 
those  who  could  undertake  the  voyage.  Thus  the  treasures  of  Western  science 
accumulated  every  day  in  these  countries ,  this  emigration  from  all  the  Western 
regions  may  have  contributed,  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  to  convey  to  the  East 
the  remains  of  ancient  knowledge,  which  afterwards  came  to  us  transformed  and 
disfigured  by  the  hands  of  the  Arabs. 

Deeply  convinced  of  the  nothingness  of  the  world  by  so  long  a  succession  of 
heavy  misfortunes,  these  unfortunate  men  felt  the  religious  sentiment  strength- 
ened in  their  hearts  j  the  fugitives  assembled  in  the  East  listened  with  lively 
emotion  to  the  energetic  words  ^of  the  solitary  of  the  cave  of  Bethlehem.  A 
great  many  of  them  retired  into  the  monasteries,  where  they  found  relief  for 
their  wants,  and  consolation  for  their  souls ;  thus  did  the  Eastern  monasteries 
gain  a  great  addition  of  valuable  knowledge  and  information  of  all  sorts. 

If  European  civilization  one  day  become  complete  mistress  of  the  countries 
which  now  groan  under  the  Mussulman  yoke,  perhaps  it  will  be  given  to  the 
history  of  science  to  add  a  noble  page  to  its  labors,  when,  through  the  obscu- 
rities of  the  times,  and  by  means  of  manuscripts  discovered  by  curiosity  or 
chance,  she  shall  have  found  the  thread  which  shall  lead  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
connection  of  Arabian  science  with  that  of  antiquity.  The  succession  of  trans- 
formations will  then  be  displayed,  and  we  shall  understand  how  the  science  of 
the  sons  of  Omar  has  appeared  to  have  a  different  origin  in  our  eyes.  The 
archives  of  Spain  contain,  in  documents  relating  to  the  dominion  of  the  Sara- 
cens, riches,  the  examination  of  which  may  be  said  not  yet  to  be  commenced ; 
perhaps  they  will  throw  some  light  on  this  point.  There  is  no  doubt  that  they 
afford  matter  for  careful  investigation,  extremely  curious  for  appreciating  these 
two  very  different  civilizations,  the  Mohammedan  and  the  Christian. 


238 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

OP  RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS  IN  THE   HISTORY  OP   THE  WEST. 

LET  us  now  examine  religious  institutions,  such  as  they  appear  in  the  West, 
but  laying  aside  those  which,  although  established  in  various  parts  of  the 
West,  were  only  a  sort  of  ramification  of  the  Eastern  monasteries.  We  observe 
that  the  religious  establishments  among  us  added  to  the  Gospel  spirit,  the  prin- 
ciple of  their  foundation,  a  new  character,  that  of  conservative,  restorative,  and 
regenerative  associations.  The  monks  of  the  West  were  not  content  with  sanc- 
tifying themselves ;  from  the  first  they  influenced  society.  The  light  and  life 
which  their  holy  abodes  contained,  labored  to  enlighten  and  fertilize  the  chaos 
of  the  world.  I  do  not  know  in  history  a  nobler  or  more  consoling  spectacle 
than  that  which  is  presented  to  us  by  the  foundation,  existence,  and  develop- 
ment of  the  religious  institutions  of  Europe.  Society  had  need  of  strong  efforts 
to  preserve  its  life  in  the  terrible  crisis  through  which  it  had  to  pass.  The  secret 
of  strength  is  in  the  union  of  individual  forces,  in  association ;  and  it  is  remark- 
able that  this  secret  has  been  taught  to  European  society  as  if  by  a  revelation 
from  heaven.  Every  thing  shakes,  falls  to  pieces,  and  perishes.  Religion, 
morality,  public  authority,  laws,  manners,  sciences,  and  arts — every  thing  has 
sustained  immense  losses,  every  thing  goes  to  ruin ;  and  judging  of  the  future 
fate  of  the  world  according  to  human  probabilities,  the  evils  are  so  great  and 
numerous  that  a  remedy  appears  impossible. 

The  observer  who,  fixing  his  eyes  upon  those  desolate  times,  finds  there  St. 
Bennet  giving  life  to  and  animating  the  religious  institutions,  organizing  them, 
giving  them  his  wise  rule  and  stability,  imagines  that  he  sees  an  angel  of  light 
issuing  from  the  bosom  of  darkness.  Nothing  can  be  imagined  better  calcu- 
lated to  restore  to  dissolved  society  a  principle  of  life  capable  of  reorganizing 
it,  than  the  extraordinary  and  sublime  inspiration  which  guided  this  man.  Who 
does  not  know  what  at  that  time  was  the  condition  of  Italy — I  should  rather 
say,  of  the  whole  of  Europe  ?  What  ignorance,  what  corruption,  what  elements 
of  social  dissolution  !  What  desolation  everywhere  !  and  it  is  amid  this  deplo- 
rable state  of  things  that  the  holy  solitary  appears,  the  child  of  an  illustrious 
family  of  Norcia,  resolved  to  combat  the  evil  which  threatens  to  invade  the 
world.  His  arms  are  his  virtues ;  the  eloquence  of  his  example  gives  him  an 
irresistible  ascendency;  elevated  above  the  whole  age,  burning  with  zeal,  and 
yet  full  of  prudence  and  discretion,  he  founds  that  institution  which  is  to  re- 
main amid  the  revolution  of  ages,  like  the  pyramids  unmoved  by  the  storms  of 
the  desert. 

What  idea  has  there  been  more  grand,  more  beneficent,  more  full  of  fore- 
sight and  wisdom  ?  At  a  time  when  knowledge  and  virtue  had  no  longer  an 
asylum,  when  ignorance,  corruption,  and  barbarism  rapidly  extended  their  con- 
quests, was  it  not  a  grand  idea  to  raise  a  refuge  for  misfortune,  to  form  a 
sacred  deposit  for  the  precious  monuments  of  antiquity,  and  to  open  schools  of 
knowledge  and  virtue,  where  men  destined  one  day  to  figure  in  the  vortex  of 
the  world  might  come  for  instruction  ?  When  the  reflecting  man  fixes  his 
attention  on  the  silent  abode  of  Monte  Cassino,  where  the  sons  of  the  most 
illustrious  families  of  the  empire  are  seen  to  come  from  all  parts  to  that  monas- 
tery; some  with  the  intention  of  remaining  there  for  ever,  others  to  receive  a 
good  education,  and  soon  to  carry  back  to  the  world  a  recollection  of  the  serious 
inspirations  which  the  holy  founder  had  received  at  Subiaco ;  when  the  monas- 
teries of  the  order  are  seen  to  multiply  everywhere,  to  be  established  as  great 
centres  of  activity  in  all  places — in  the  plains,  in  the  forests,  in  the  most  unin- 
habited countries;  he  cannot  help  bending,  with  profound  veneration,  before 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  239 

the  extraordinary  man  who  has  conceived  such  grand  designs.  If  we  are 
unwilling  to  acknowledge  in  St.  Bennet  a  man  inspired  by  Heaven,  at  least  we 
ought  to  consider  him  as  one  of  those  geniuses  who,  from  time  to  time,  appear 
on  earth  to  become  the  tutelary  angels  of  the  human  race. 

Not  to  acknowledge  the  powerful  effect  of  such  institutions  would  be  to  show 
but  little  intelligence.  When  society  is  dissolved,  it  requires  not  words,  not 
projects,  not  laws,  but  strong  institutions,  to  resist  the  shock  of  the  passions, 
the  inconstancy  of  the  human  mind,  and  the  destructive  power  of  events ;  in- 
stitutions which  raise  the  mind,  pacify  and  ennoble  the  heart,  and  establish  in 
society  a  deep  movement  of  reaction  and  resistance  to  the  fatal  elements  which 
lead  it  to  destruction.  If  there  exists,  then,  an  active  mind,  a  generous  heart, 
a  soul  animated  by  a  feeling  of  virtue,  they  will  all  hasten  to  seek  a  refuge  in 
the  sacred  asylums ;  it  is  not  always  granted  to  them  to  change  the  course  of 
the  world,  but  at  least,  as  men  of  solitude  and  sacrifice,  they  labour  to  instruct 
and  calm  their  own  minds,  and  they  shed  a  tear  of  compassion  over  the  sense- 
less generations  who  are  agitated  by  great  disasters.  From  time  to  time  they 
succeed  in  making  their  voices  heard  amid  the  tumult,  to  alarm  the  hearts  of 
the  wicked  by  accents  which  resemble  the  formidable  warnings  of  Heaven ; 
thus  they  diminish  the  force  of  the  evil  while  it  is  impossible  to  prevent  it 
entirely ;  by  constantly  protesting  against  iniquity,  they  prevent  its  acquiring 
prescriptive  right;  in  attesting  to  future  generations,  by  a  solemn  testimony, 
that  there  were  always,  amid  darkness  and  corruption,  men  who  made  efforts  to 
enlighten  the  world  and  to  restrain  the  torrent  of  vice  and  crime,  they  preserve 
faith  in  truth  and  virtue,  and  they  reanimate  the  hopes  of  those  who  are  after- 
wards placed  in  similar  circumstances.  Such  was  the  action  of  the  monks  in 
the  calamitous  times  of  which  we  speak ;  such  was  their  noble  and  sublime 
mission  to  promote  the  interests  of  humanity. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  said  that  the  immense  properties  acquired  by  the  monas- 
teries were  an  abundant  recompense  for  their  labors,  and  perhaps  also  a  proof 
that  their  exertions  were  little  disinterested.  No  doubt,  if  we  look  at  things  in 
the  light  in  which  certain  writers  have  represented  them,  the  wealth  of  the 
monks  will  appear  as  the  fruit  of  unbounded  cupidity,  of  cruelty,  and  perfidious 
policy;  but  we  have  the  whole  of  history  to  refute  the  calumnies  of  the  ene- 
mies of  religion ;  and  impartial  philosophy,  while  acknowledging  that  all  that 
is  human  is  liable  to  abuse,  takes  care  to  assume  a  higher  position,  to  regard 
things  en  masse,  and  to  consider  them  in  the  vast  picture  where  so  many  centu- 
ries have  painted  their  features.,,  It  therefore  despises  the  evil,  which  is  only 
the  exception,  while  it  contemplates  and  admires  the  good,  which  is  the  rule. 

Besides  the  numerous  religious  motives  which  brought  property  into  the 
hands  of  the  monks,  there  is  another  very  legitimate  one,  which  has  always 
been  regarded  as  one  of  the  justest  titles  of  acquisition.  The  monks  cultivated 
waste  lands,  dried  up  marshes,  constructed  roads,  restrained  rivers  within  their 
beds,  and  built  bridges  over  them ;  that  is  to  say,  in  countries  which  had  under- 
gone another  kind  of  general  deluge,  they  renewed,  in  some  measure,  what  the 
first  nations  had  done  to  restore  the  revolutionized  globe  to  its  original  form. 
A  considerable  portion  of  Europe  had  never  received  cultivation  from  the  hands 
of  men ;  the  forests,  the  rivers,  the  lakes,  the  thorny  thickets,  were  as  rough  as 
they  had  been  left  by  the  hands  of  nature.  The  monasteries  which  were 
founded  here  and  there  may  be  regarded  as  the  centres  of  action,  which  the 
civilized  nations  established  in  the  new  countries,  the  faces  of  which  they  pro- 
posed to  change  by  their  powerful  colonies.  Did  there  ever  exist  a  more  legiti- 
mate title  for  the  possession  of  large  properties  ?  Is  not  he  who  reclaims  a 
waste  country,  cultivates  it,  and  fills  it  with  inhabitants,  worthy  of  preserving 
large  possessions  there  ?  Is  not  this  the  natural  course  of  things  ?  Who  knows 
how  many  cities  and  towns  arose  and  flourished  under  the  shadow  of  the  abbeys? 


240  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

Monastic  properties,  besides  their  substantial  utility,  had  another,  which  per- 
haps has  not  been  sufficiently  noticed.  The  situation  of  a  great  part  of  the 
nations  of  Europe,  at  the  time  we  speak  of,  much  resembled  the  state  of  fluc- 
tuation and  inconstancy  in  which  nations  are  found,  who  have  not  yet  made  any 
progress  in  the  career  of  civilization  and  refinement.  The  idea  of  property, 
one  of  the  most  fundamental  in  all  social  organization,  was  but  little  rooted. 
Attacks  on  property  at  that  time  were  very  frequent,  as  well  as  attacks  on  per- 
sons. The  man  who  is  constantly  compelled  to  defend  his  own,  is  also  con- 
stantly led  to  usurp  the  property  of  others ;.  the  first  thing  to  do  to  remedy  so 
great  an  evil,  was  to  locate  and  fix  the  population  by  means  of  the  agricultural 
life,  and  to  accustom  them  to  respect  for  property,  not  only  by  reasons  drawn 
from  morality  and  private  interest,  but  also  by  the  sight  of  large  domains  be- 
longing to  establishments  regarded  as  inviolable,  and  against  which  a  hand 
could  not  be  raised  without  sacrilege.  Thus  religious  ideas  were  connected  with 
social  ones,  and  they  slowly  prepared  an  organization  which  was  to.be  completed 
in  more  peaceable  times. 

Add  to  this  a  new  necessity,  the  result  of  the  change  which  took  place  at 
that  time  in  the  habits  of  the  people.  Among  the  ancients,  scarcely  any  other 
life  than  that  of  cities  was  known;  life  in  the  country,  that  dispersion  of  an 
immense  population,  which  in  modern  times  forms  a  new  nation  in  the  fields, 
was  not  known  among  the  ancients  \  and  it  is  remarkable  that  this  change  in 
the  mode  of  life  was  realized  exactly  when  the  most  calamitous  circumstances 
seemed  to  render  it  the  most  dangerous  and  difficult.  It  is  to  the  existence  of 
the  monasteries  in  fields  and  in  retired  places  that  we  owe  the  establishment 
and  consolidation  of  this  new  kind  of  life,  which,  no  doubt,  would  have  been 
impossible  without  the  ascendency  and  the  beneficial  influence  of  the  powerful 
abbeys.  These  religious  foundations  joined  all  the  riches  and  the  power  of  feu- 
dal lords  with  the  mild  and  beneficent  influence  of  religious  authority. 

How  much  does  not  Germany  owe  to  the  monks !  Did  they  not  bring  her 
lands  into  cultivation,  make  her  agriculture  flourish,  and  cover  her  with  a 
numerous  population  ?  How  much  are  not  France,  Spain,  and  England  indebted 
to  them  !  It  is  certain  that  this  latter  country  would  never  have  reached  the 
high  degree  of  civilization  of  which  she  now  boasts,  if  the  apostolic  labors  of  the 
missionaries  who  penetrated  thither  in  the  sixth  century  had  not  drawn  her  out 
of  the  darkness  of  gross  idolatry.  And  who  were  these  missionaries  ?  Was 
not  the  chief  of  them  Augustine,  a  monk  full  of  zeal,  sent  by  a  Pope  who  had 
also  been  a  monk,  St.  Gregory  the  Great  ?  Where  do  you  find,  amid  the  confu- 
sion of  the  middle  ages,  the  great  writers  of  knowledge  and  virtue,  except  in 
those  solitary  abodes  whence  issue  St.  Isidore,  the  Archbishop  of  Seville ;  the 
holy  abbot  St.  Columbanus ;  St.  Aurelian,  Bishop  of  Aries ;  St.  Augustine,  the 
Apostle  of  England ;  that  of  Germany,  St.  Boniface ;  Bede,  Cuthbert,  Auperth, 
Paul,  monks  of  Monte  Cassino ;  Hincmar  of  Rheims,  brought  up  at  the  monas- 
tery of  St.  Denis ;  St.  Peter  Damiens,  St.  Ives,  Lanfranc,  and  so  many  others, 
who  form  a  generation  of  distinguished  men,  resembling  in  no  respect  the  other 
men  of  their  time. 

Besides  the  service  rendered  to  society  by  the  monks  in  religion  and  morals, 
they  conferred  inestimable  benefits  on  letters  and  science.  It  has  already  been 
observed  more  than  once,  that  letters  took  refuge  in  the  cloisters,  and  that  the 
monks,  by  preserving  and  copying  the  ancient  manuscripts,  prepared  the  mate- 
rials which  were  one  day  to  assist  in  the  restoration  of  human  learning.  But 
we  must  not  limit  their  merit  to  that  of  mere  copyists.  Many  of  them  advanced 
far  in  science,  many  ages  in  advance  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived.  Not 
content  with  the  laborious  task  of  preserving  and  putting  into  order  the  ancient 
manuscripts,  they  rendered  the  most  eminent  service  to  history  by  compiling 
chronicles.  Thereby,  while  continuing  the  tradition  of  the  most  important 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  241 

branches  of  study,  they  collected  the  contemporary  history,  which,  perhaps, 
without  their  labor  would  have  been  lost.  Adon,  Archbishop  of  Vienne, 
brought  up  in  the  Abbey  of  Ferriere,  writes  a  universal  history,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world  to  his  own  time ;  Abbon,  monk  of  St.  Germain-des-Pre's, 
composes  a  Latin  poem,  in  which  he  relates  the  siege  of  Paris  by  the  Normans; 
Aymon  of  Aquitaine  writes  the  history  of  the  French  in  four  books ;  St.  Ives 
publishes  a  chronicle  of  their  kings ;  the  German  monk  Witmar  leaves  us  the 
chronicle  of  Henry  I.,  of  the  Kings  Otho  and  Henry  II.,  which  is  much 
esteemed  for  its  candor,  and  has  been  published  many  times ;  Leibnitz  has  used 
it  to  throw  light  on  the  history  of  Brunswick.  Adhemar  is  the  author  of  a 
chronicle,  which  embraces  the  whole  time  from  829  to  1029.  Glaber,  monk 
of  Cluny,  has  composed  a  much-esteemed  history  of  the  events  which  happened 
in  France  from  980  to  his  own  time ;  Herman,  a  chronicle  which  embraces  the 
six  ages  of  the  world  down  to  the  year  1054.  In  fine,  we  should  never  finish 
if  we  were  .to  mention  the  historical  labors  of  Sigebert,  Guibert,  Hugh,  Prior 
of  St.  Victor,  and  so  many  other  illustrious  men,  who,  rising  above  their  times, 
applied  themselves  to  labors  of  this  kind ;  of  which  we  cannot  easily  appreciate 
the  difficulty  and  the  high  degree  of  merit,  we  who  live  in  an  age  when  the 
means  of  knowledge  are  become  so  easy,  when  the  accumulated  riches  of  so 
many  ages  are  inherited,  and  when  we  find  on  all  sides  wide  and  well-beaten 
paths.  Without  the  existence  of  religious  institutions,  without  the  asylum  of 
the  cloisters,  these  eminent  men  would  never  have  been  formed.  Not  only  had 
the  sciences  and  letters  been  lost  sight  of,  but  ignorance  was  so  great,  that 
seculars  who  knew  how  to  read  and  write  were  very  rare.  Surely  such  circum- 
stances were  not  well  adapted  to  form  men  of  merit  enough  to  do  honor  to  ad- 
vanced ages.  Who  has  not  often  paused  to  contemplate  the  distinguished  tri- 
umvirate, Peter  the  Venerable,  St.  Bernard,  and  the  Abbot  Suger  ?  May  it  not 
be  said  that  the  twelfth  century  is  elevated  above  its  rank  in  history,  by  pro- 
ducing a  writer  like  Peter  the  Venerable,  an  orator  like  St.  Bernard,  and  a 
statesman  like  Suger  ? 

These  ages  show  us  another  celebrated  monk,  whose  influence  on  the  progress 
of  knowledge  has  not  been  rated  at  its  just  value  by  many  critics  who  love  only 
to  point  out  defects :  I  mean  Gratian.  Those  who  have  declaimed  against  him, 
eager  to  look  for  his  mistakes,  should  have  placed  themselves  in  the  position  of 
a  compiler  in  the  thirteenth  century,  at  a  time  when  all  resources  were  wanting, 
when  the  lights  of  criticism  were  yet  to  be  created ;  they  would  then  have  seen 
whether  the  bold  enterprise  of  the  monk  was  not  attended  with  more  success 
than  there  was  reason  to  hope  for.  The  profit  which  was  drawn  from  the  col- 
lection of  Gratian  is  incalculable.  By  giving  in  a  small  compass  a  great  part 
of  what  was  most  precious  in  antiquity  with  respect  to  civil  and  canon  law ;  by 
making  an  abundant  collection  of  texts  from  the  holy  fathers,  applied  to  all 
kinds  of  subjects,  he  awakened  a  taste  for  that  species  of  research;  he  created 
the  study  of  them ;  he  made  an  immense  step  towards  satisfying  one  of  the  first 
necessities  of  modern  nations,  the  formation  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  codes.  It 
will  be  said  that  the  errors  of  Gratian  were  contagious,  and  that  it  would  have 
been  better  to  have  recourse  directly  to  the  originals ;  but  to  read  the  originals 
it  was  necessary  to  know  them ;  it  was  necessary  to  be  informed  of  their  exist- 
ence, to  be  excited  by  the  desire  of  explaining  a  proposed  difficulty,  to  have 
acquired  a  taste  for  researches  of  that  kind ;  all  this  was  wanting  before  Gra- 
tian; all  this  was  brought  out  by  his  enterprise.  The  general  favor  with 
which  his  labors  were  received  is  th;e  most  convincing  proof  of  their  merit ;  and 
if  it  be  objected  that  this  favor  was  owing  to  the  ignorance  of  the  time,  I  will 
reply,  that  we  owe  a  tribute  of  gratitude  to  any  one  who  throws  a  ray  of  light 
on  the  darkness,  however  feeble  and  wavering  this  ray  may  be. 

31  V 


242 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

OF  RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS   DURING   THE    SECOND   HALF   OF   THE   MIDDLE 
AGES.      THE   MILITARY   ORDERS. 

THE  rapid  view  which  we  have  just  taken  of  religious  institutions  from  the 
irruption  of  the  barbarians  to  the  twelfth  century,  has  shown  us  that  the  monas- 
tic foundations,  during  that  time,  were  a  powerful  support  for  that  remaining 
portion  of  society  which  was  ready  to  fall  to  pieces  in  the  universal  ruin  ;  an 
asylum  for  misfortune,  for  virtue,  and  for  knowledge ;  a  storehouse  for  the  pre- 
cious monuments  of  antiquity,  and  in  some  measure  an  assemblage  of  civilizing 
associations,  which  labored  in  silence  at  the  reconstruction  of  the  social  edifice, 
by  neutralizing  the  force  of  the  dissolving  principles  which  had  ruined  its  basis ; 
they  were,  besides,  a  nursery  for  forming  the  men  who  were  required  for  the 
elevated  posts  in  Church  and  State.  In  the  twelfth  and  the  following  centu- 
ries, these  institutions  take  a  new  form,  and  assume  a  character  very  different 
from  that  which  we  have  just  pointed  out.  Their  aim  remains  not  less  highly 
religious  and  social ;  but  the  times  are  changed,  and  we  must  remember  the 
words  of  the  Apostle,  omnia  omnibus.  Let  us  examine  the  causes  and  the 
results  of  these  novelties. 

Before  going  further,  I  will  say  a  few  words  on  the  religious  military  orders, 
the  name  of  which  sufficiently  indicates  their  double  character  of  monk  and  sol- 
dier. The  union  of  the  monastic  state  with  war  :  what  a  monstrous  mixture  ! 
will  be  the  cry.  In  spite  of  the  supposed  monstrosity,  this  union  was  in  con- 
formity with  the  natural  and  regular  order  of  things ;  it  was  a  strong  remedy 
applied  to  very  great  evils ;  a  rampart  against  imminent  dangers ;  in  a  word, 
the  expression  of  a  great  European  necessity.  This  is  not  the  place  to  relate 
the  annals  of  the  military  orders,  annals  which,  like  the  most  illustrious  history, 
afford  wonderful  and  interesting  pictures,  with  that  mixture  of  heroism  and  reli- 
gious inspiration  which  assimilates  history  with  poetry.  It  is  enough  to  pro- 
nounce the  names  of  the  knights  of  the  Temple,  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  of 
the  Teutonic  order,  of  St.  Raymond,  of  the  Abbot  of  Fitero,  of  Calatrava, 
instantly  to  remind  the  reader  of  a  long  series  of  marvellous  events,  forming 
one  of  the  noblest  pages  in  the  history  of  that  time.  Let  us  omit  these  narra- 
tions, which  do  not  regard  us ;  but  let  us  pause  for  a  moment  to  examine  the 
origin  and  spirit  of  these  famous  institutions. 

The  Cross  and  the  Crescent  were  enemies  irreconcilable  by  nature,  and  urged 
to  the  greatest  fury  by  a  long  and  bloody  struggle.  Both  had  great  power  and 
vast  designs;  both  were  supported  by  brave  nations,  full  of  enthusiasm  and 
ready  to  throw  themselves  on  each  other;  both  had  great  hopes  of  success 
founded  on  former  achievements;  on  which  side  will  the  victory  remain  ?  What 
course  ought  the  Christians  to  pursue  in  order  to  avoid  the  dangers  which 
threaten  them?  Is  it  better  quietly  to  await  the  attack  of  the  Mussulmen  in 
Europe,  or  make  a  levy  en  masse  to  invade  Asia  and  seek  the  enemy  in  his  own 
country,  where  he  believes  himself  to  be  invincible  ?  The  problem  was  solved 
in  the  latter  way;  the  Crusades  took  place,  and  centuries  have  given  their  suf- 
frage as  to  the  wisdom  of  that  resolution.  What  avails  a  little  declamation 
affecting  to  favor  the  cause  of  justice  and  humanity?  Let  no  one  allow  himself 
to  be  dazzled ;  the  philosophy  of  history  taught  by  the  lessons  of  experience, 
enriched  with  a  more  abundant  treasure  of  knowledge,  the  fruit  of  a  more  atten- 
tive study  of  the  facts,  has  given  a  decisive  judgment  in  this  case  ;  in  this,  as 
in  other  cases,  religion  has  retired  in  triumph  from  the  tribunal  of  philosophy. 
The  Crusades,  far  from  being  considered  as  an  act  of  barbarism  and  rashness, 
are  justly  regarded  as  a  chef-d'oeuvre  of  policy,  which,  after  having  secured  the 
independence  of  Europe,  gave  to  the  Christian  nations  a  decided  preponderance 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  243 

over  the  Mussulmen.  The  military  spirit  was  thereby  increased  and  strength- 
ened among  European  nations ;  they  all  received  a  feeling  of  fraternity,  which 
transformed  them  into  one  people ;  the  human  mind  was  developed  in  many 
ways ;  the  state  of  feudal  vassals  was  improved,  and  feudality  was  urged  towards 
its  entire  ruin ;  navies  were  created,  commerce  and  manufactures  were  encou- 
raged ;  thus  society  received  from  the  Crusades  a  most  powerful  impulse  in  the 
career  of  civilization.  We  do  not  mean  to  say,  that  the  men  who  conceived 
them,  the  Popes  who  excited,  the  nations  who  undertook,  the  princes  and  lords 
who  promoted  them  with  their  power,  were  aware  of  the  whole  extent  of  their 
own  works,  or  even  had  a  glimpse  of  the  immensity  of  their  results;  it  is  enough 
that  they  settled  the  existing  question  in  the  way  the  most  favorable  to  the 
independence  and  prosperity  of  Europe;  this,  I  repeat,  is  enough.  I  would 
observe,  moreover,  that  we  should  attribute  so  much  the  more  importance  to 
things  as  human  foresight  has  had  little  share  in  the  events;  now  these  things 
are  nothing  less  than  the  principles  and  feelings  of  religion  in  connection  with 
the  preservation  and  happiness  of  society,  Catholicity  covering  with  her  aegis 
and  animating  with  her  breath  the  civilization  of  Europe. 

Such  were  the  Crusades.  Now,  remember  that  this  idea,  so  great  and 
generous,  was  conceived  with  a  degree  of  vagueness,  and  executed  with  that 
precipitation  which  is  the  fruit  of  the  impatience  of  ardent  zeal ;  remember  that 
this  idea — the  offspring  of  Catholicity,  which  always  converts  its  ideas  into 
institutions — was  to  be  realized  in  an  institution,  which  faithfully  represented 
it,  and  served,  as  it  were,  as  its  organ,  in  order  that  it  might  render  itself  felt, 
and  gain  strength  and  fruitfulness  for  its  support.  After  this,  you  will  look  for 
some  means  of  uniting  religion  and  arms;  and  you  will  be  filled  with  joy  when, 
under  a  cuirass  of  steel,  you  shall  find  hearts  zealous  for  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ — when  you  shall  see  this  new  kind  of  men,  who  devote  themselves  with- 
out reserve  to  the  defence  of  religion,  while  they  renounce  all  that  the  world 
can  offer — gentler  than  lambs,  bolder  than  lions,  in  the  words  of  St.  Bernard. 
Sometimes  they  assembled  in  community,  to  raise  their  voices  to  Heaven  in 
fervent  prayer;  sometimes  they  boldly  marched  to  battle,  brandishing  their 
formidable  lances,  the  terror  of  the  Saracens.  No ;  there  does  not  exist  in  the 
annals  of  history  an  event  so  colossal  as  the  Crusades,  and  you  might  search 
there  in  vain  for  an  institution  more  generous  than  the  military  orders.  In  the 
Crusades  we  see  numberless  nations  arise,  march  across  deserts,  bury  themselves 
in  countries  with  which  they  are  unacquainted,  and  expose  themselves  to  all  the 
rigors  of  climates  and  seasons^;  and  for  what  purpose  ?  To  deliver  a  tomb  ! 
Grand  and  immortal  movement,  where  hundreds  of  nations  advance  to  certain 
death — not  in  pursuit  of  a  miserable  self-interest— not  to  find  an  abode  in  milder 
and  more  fertile  countries — not  from  an  ardent  desire  to  obtain  for  themselves 
earthly  advantages — but  inspired  only  by  a  religious  idea,  by  a  jealous  desire  to 
possess  the  tomb  of  Him  who  expired  on  the  cross  for  the  salvation  of  the 
human  race !  When  compared  with  this,  what  becomes  of  the  lofty  deeds  of 
the  Greeks,  chanted  by  Homer  ?  Greece  arises  to  avenge  an  injured  husband ; 
Europe  to  redeem  the  sepulchre  of  a  God. 

When,  after  the  disasters  and  the  triumphs  of  the  Crusades,  we  see  the  mili- 
tary orders  appear,  sometimes  fighting  in  the  oriental  regions,  sometimes  in  the 
islands  of  the  Mediterranean,  sustaining  and  repelling  the  rude  assaults  of 
Islamism,  which,  emboldened  by  its  victories,  again  longs  to  throw  itself  on 
Europe,  we  imagine  that  we  behold  those  brave  men,  who,  on  the  day  of  a  great 
battle,  remain  alone  upon  the  field,  one  against  a  hundred,  securing  by  their 
heroism,  and  at  the  hazard  of  their  lives,  the  safety  of  their  companions  in  arms 
who  retire  behind  them.  Honor  and  glory  to  the  religion  which  has  been 
capable  of  inspiring  such  lofty  thoughts,  and  has  been  able  to  realize  such  great 
and  generous  enterprises ! 


244 
CHAPTER  XLIII. 

CONTINUATION   OP  THE    SAME    SUBJECT — EUROPE  IN  THE   THIRTEENTH 

CENTURY. 

PERHAPS  they  who  are  the  most  opposed  to  religious  communities  may  be 
reconciled  to  the  solitaries  of  the  East,  when  they  perceive  in  them  a  class  of 
men  who,  by  practising  the  most  sublime  and  austere  counsels  of  religion,  have 
communicated  a  generous  impulse  to  humanity,  have  raised  it  from  the  dust 
where  Paganism  had  held  it,  and  made  it  wing  its  flight  towards  purer  regions. 
To  accustom  man  to  grave  and  strict  morality ;  to  bring  back  the  soul  within 
itself;  to  give  a  lively  feeling  of  the  dignity  of  his  nature,  of  the  loftiness  of 
his  origin  and  his  destiny ;  to  inspire  him,  by  means  of  extraordinary  examples, 
with  confidence  that  the  mind,  aided  by  divine  grace,  can  triumph  over  the 
animal  passions,  and  make  man  lead  an  angelic  life  upon  earth :  these  are 
benefits  so  signal,  that  a  noble  heart  must  show  itself  grateful  and  full  of  lively 
interest  for  the  men  who  have  given  them  to  the  world.  As  to  the  monasteries 
of  the  West,  the  benefits  of  their  civilizing  influence  are  so  visible,  that  no  man 
who  loves  humanity  can  regard  them  with  animadversion ;  in  fine,  the  military 
orders  present  us  with  an  idea  so  noble,  so  poetical,  and  realize  in  so  admirable 
a  manner  one  of  those  golden  dreams  which  cross  the  human  mind  in  moments 
of  enthusiasm,  that  they  must  certainly  find  respectful  homage  in  every  heart 
which  beats  at  a  noble  and  sublime  spectacle. 

There  yet  remains  a  more  difficult  task,  that  of  presenting  at  the  tribunal  of 
philosophy — that  philosophy  so  indifferent  in  religious  matters — the  other  reli- 
gious communities  which  are  not  comprised  in  the  sketch  which  I  have  just 
made.  Judgments  of  great  severity  have  been  passed  upon  those  institutions 
which  I  have  now  to  speak  of;  but  in  such  things  justice  cannot  be  prescrip- 
tive. Neither  the  applause  of  irreligious  men,  nor  the  revolutions  which  upset 
all  that  stand  in  their  way,  can  prevent  the  truth  being  placed  in  its  true  light, 
and  folly  and  crime  being  stigmatized  with  disgrace. 

The  thirteenth  century  has  just  commenced ;  there  appears  a  new  kind  of 
men,  who,  under  different  titles,  denominations,  and  forms,  profess  a  singular  and 
extraordinary  way  of  life.  Some  put  on  clothing  of  coarse  cloth ;  they  renounce 
all  wealth  and  property;  they  condemn  themselves  to  perpetual  mendicity, 
spreading  themselves  over  the  country  and  the  towns  for  the  sake  of  gaining 
souls  for  Jesus  Christ.  Others  bear  on  their  dress  the  distinctive  mark  of  the 
redemption  of  man,  and  undertake  the  mission  of  releasing  from  servitude  the 
numberless  captives  who,  from  the  misfortune  of  the  times,  have  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  Mussulmen.  Some  erect  the  cross  in  the  midst  of  a  people  who 
eagerly  follow  them,  and  they  institute  a  new  devotion — a  constant  hymn  of 
praise  to  Jesus  and  to  Mary;  at  the  same  time  they  indefatigably  preach  the 
faith  of  the  Crucified.  Others  go  in  search  of  all  the  miseries  of  man,  bury 
themselves  in  hospitals,  in  all  the  asylums  of  misfortune,  to  succour  and  con- 
sole. They  all  bear  new  standards;  all  show  equal  contempt  for  the  world; 
they  all  form  a  portion  separate  from  the  rest  of  mankind ;  but  they  resemble 
neither  the  solitaries  of  the  East,  nor  the  sons  of  St.  Bennet.  The  new  monks 
arise  not  in  the  desert,  but  in  the  midst  of  society :  their  object  is  not  to  live 
shut  up  in  monasteries,  but  to  spread  themselves  over  the  fields  and  hamlets, 
to  penetrate  to  the  heart  of  the  great  masses  of  the  population,  and  to  make 
their  voices  heard  both  in  the  cottage  of  the  shepherd  and  in  the  palace  of  the 
monarch.  They  increase  on  all  sides  in  a  prodigious  manner.  Italy,  Germany, 
France,  Spain,  England,  receive  them ;  numerous  convents  arise  as  if  by 
enchantment  in  the  villages  and  towns;  the  Popes  protect  them  and  enrich 
them  with  many  privileges ;  kings  grant  them  the  highest  favors,  and  support 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  245 

them  in  their  enterprises ;  the  people  regard  them  with  veneration,  and  listen 
to  them  with  respectful  docility.  A  religious  movement  appears  on  all  sides ; 
religious  institutions,  more  or  less  resembling  each  other,  arise  like  the  branches 
from  the  same  trunk.  The  observer,  when  he  sees  this  immense  and  astonish- 
ing picture,  asks  himself,  What  are  the  causes  of  so  extraordinary  a  pheno- 
menon ?  whence  this  singular  movement  ?  what  is  its  tendency  ?  what  will  be 
its  effects  on  society  ? 

When  a  fact  of  such  high  importance  is  realized  all  at  once  in  many  different 
countries,  and  lasts  for  centuries,  it  is  a  proof  that  there  existed  very  powerful 
means  to  produce  it.  It  is  vain  to  be  entirely  forgetful  of  the  views  of  Provi- 
dence :  no  one  can  deny  that  such  a  fact  must  have  had  its  root  in  the  essence 
of  things  j  consequently  it  is  useless  to  declaim  against  the  men  and  the  insti- 
tutions. Acknowledging  this,  the  true  philosopher  will  not  lose  his  time  in 
anathematizing  the  fact,  but  he  will  examine  and  analyze  it.  No  declamation 
or  invectives  against  the  monks  can  efface  their  history ;  they  have  existed  for 
many  centuries,  and  centuries  do  not  retrace  their  steps. 

We  will  not  inquire  if  there  was  here  some  extraordinary  design  of  Providence, 
2»nd  we  will  lay  aside  the  reflections  which  religion  suggests  to  every  true 
Catholic ;  we  will  confine  ourselves  to  considering  the  religious  institutions  of 
modern  times  in  a  purely  philosophical  point  of  view ;  we  can  show  that  they 
were  not  only  very  conformable  to  the  well-being  of  society,  but  also  perfectly 
adapted  to  the  situation  in  which  it  was  placed  ;  we  can  show  that  they  displayed 
neither  cunning,  malice,  nor  vile  self-interest;  that  their  object  was  highly 
advantageous,  and  that  they  were  at  the  same  time  the  expression  and  the 
fulfilment  of  great  social  necessities. 

The  question  of  its  own  accord  assumes  the  position  in  which  we  have  just 
regarded  it ;  and  it  is  strange  that  men  have  not  acknowledged  all  the  importance 
of  the  magnificent  points  of  view  which  here  present  themselves. 

In  order  the  better  to  clear  up  this  important  matter,  I  will  enter  upon  an 
examination  of  the  social  condition  of  Europe  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak. 
As  soon  as  we  take  the  first  glance  at  this  epoch,  we  observe  that,  in  spite  of  the 
intellectual  rudeness  which  one  would  imagine  must  have  kept  nations  in  abject 
silence,  there  was  at  the  bottom  of  men's  minds  an  anxiety  which  deeply  moved 
and  agitated  them.  These  times  are  ignorant;  but  it  is  an  ignorance  which  is 
conscious  of  itself  and  which  longs  for  knowledge.  There  is  felt  a  want  of 
harmony  in  the  relations  and  institutions  of  society ;  but  that  want  is  everywhere 
felt  arid  acknowledged,  and  a  dontinual  agitation  indicates  that  this  harmony  is 
anxiously  desired  and  ardently  sought  for.  I  know  not  what  singular  character  is 
stamped  upon  the  nations  of  Europe,  but  we  do  not  find  there  the  symptoms  of 
death ;  they  are  barbarous,  ignorant,  corrupt,  any  thing  you  please ;  but,  as  if 
they  constantly  heard  a  voice  calling  them  to  light,  to  civilization,  to  a  new  life, 
they  incessantly  labor  to  leave  the  fatal  condition  into  which  unhappy  circum- 
stances have  plunged  them.  They  never  sleep  in  tranquillity  amid  the  darkness ; 
they  never  live  without  remorse  amid  the  corruption  of  manners.  The  echo  of 
virtue  continually  resounds  in  their  ears ;  flashes  of  light  appear  in  the  darkness ; 
a  thousand  efforts  are  made  to  advance  a  step  in  the  career  of  civilization ;  a 
thousand  times  they  are  vain  ;  but  they  are  renewed  as  often  as  they  are  repulsed ; 
the  generous  attempt  is  never  abandoned ;  they  fail  a  thousand  times ;  but  they 
never  lose  courage.  Courage  and  ardour  are  never  wanting.  There  is  this 
remarkable  difference  between  the  nations  of  Europe,  and  those  nations  among 
whom  the  Christian  religion  has  not  yet  penetrated,  or  from  whose  bosom  it  has 
been  banished.  Ancient  Greece  falls,  never  to  rise  again ;  the  Republics  of  the 
shore  of  Asia  disappear,  and  do  not  rise  out  of  their  ruins.  The  ancient  civili- 
zation of  Egypt  is  broken  to  pieces  by  the  conquerors,  and  posterity  has  scarcely 
preserved  a  remembrance  of  them.  Certainly  none  of  the  nations  on  the  coast 

v2 


246  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED^yiTH   CATHOLICITY. 

of  Africa  can  show  us  signs  which  reveal  the  ancient  country  of  St.  Cyprian,  of 
Tertullian  and  St.  Augustine.  Still  mofe ;  a  considerable  portion  of  Asia  has 
preserved  Christianity,  but  a  Christianity  separated  from  Rome ;  and  this  has 
been  unable  to  establish  or  regenerate  any  thing.  Political  power  has  aided 
and  protected  it,  but  the  nation  remains  feeble  ;  it  cannot  stand  erect ;  it  is  a 
dead  body,  incapable  of  advancing ;  it  is  not  like  Lazarus,  who  has  just  heard 
the  all-powerful  voice  :  "Lazarus,  come  forth;  Lazare  veniforas." 

This  anxiety,  this  agitation,  this  extreme  eagerness  towards  a  greater  and 
happier  future,  this  desire  for  reformation  in  manners,  for  enlargement  and  cor- 
rection in  ideas,  for  amelioration  in  institutions — the  distinctive  characteristics 
of  modern  nations — made  themselves  felt  in  a  fearful  manner  at  the  time  to 
which  we  allude.  I  will  say  nothing  of  the  military  history  of  those  times,  which 
would  furnish  us  with  abundant  proofs  of  our  assertion ;  I  will  confine  myself 
to  facts  which,  owing  to  their  religious  and  social  character,  have  the  greatest 
analogy  with  the  subject  which  now  occupies  us.  A  formidable  energy  of  mind, 
a  great  fund  of  activity,  a  simultaneous  development  of  the  most  ardent  passions, 
an  enterprising  spirit,  a  lively  desire  of  independence,  a  decided  inclination  to 
employ  violent  means,  an  extraordinary  zeal  for  proselytism,  ignorance  combined 
with  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  even  combined  with  enthusiasm  and  fanaticism  for 
all  that  bears  the  name  of  science ;  a  high  esteem  for  the  titles  of  nobility,  and 
of  illustrious  blood,  united  with  the  spirit  of  democracy,  and  a  profound  respect 
for  merit,  wherever  it  may  be  found ;  a  childlike  candor,  an  excessive  credu- 
lity, and,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  obstinate  indocility;  a  tenacious  spirit  of 
resistance,  fearful  stubbornness,  corruption,  and  licentiousness  of  manners,  allied 
with  admiration  for  virtue ;  a  taste  for  the  most  austere  practices,  combined  with 
an  inclination  for  the  most  extravagant  habits  and  manners ;  such  are  the  traits 
which  history  exhibits  among  these  nations. 

So  singular  a  mixture  appears  strange  at  first  sight ;  and  yet  nothing  was 
more  natural.  Things  could  not  be  otherwise :  societies  are  formed  under  the 
influence  of  certain  principles,  and  of  certain  particular  circumstances,  which 
impart  to  them  their  genius,  character,  and  countenance.  It  is  the  same  with 
society  as  with  individuals  ;  education,  instruction,  temperament,  and  a  thousand 
other  physical  and  moral  circumstances,  concur  in  forming  a  collection  of  influ- 
ences which  produce  qualities  the  most  different,  and  sometimes  the  most  contra- 
dictory. This  concurrence  of  different  causes  was  shown  in  a  singular  and  extra- 
ordinary manner  among  the  nations  of  Europe;  it  is  on  this  account  that  we 
observe  there  the  most  extravagant  and  discordant  effects.  Let  us  recollect  the 
history  of  those  nations  since  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire  to  the  end  of  the 
Crusades ;  never  did  an  assemblage  of  nations  present  a  combination  of  more 
varied  elements,  and  a  spectacle  of  greater  events.  The  moral  principles  which 
preside  over  the  development  of  these  nations  were  in  direct  opposition  to  their 
genius  and  situation.  These  principles  were  essentially  pure,  unchangeable  as 
the  God  who  had  established  them ;  radiant  with  light,  because  they  emanated 
from  the  source  of  all  light  and  life :  the  nations,  on  the  contrary,  were  igno- 
rant, rude,  fluctuating,  like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  and  corrupted,  as  was  to  be 
expected  of  every  thing  which  was  the  result  of  an  impure  mixture.  Wherefore 
a  terrible  struggle  took  place  between  principles  and  facts;  wherefore  there 
were  witnessed  the  most  extraordinary  contradictions,  according  as  good  and  evil 
alternately  preponderated.  Never  was  the  struggle  between  elements  which 
could  not  remain  at  peace,  more  clearly  seen ;  the  genii  of  good  and  of  evil 
seemed  to  descend  into  the  arena,  and  to  fight  hand  to  hand. 

The  nations  of  Europe  were  not  in  their  infancy,  for  they  were  surrounded 
by  old  institutions.  Full  of  the  recollections  of  ancient  civilization,  they  pre- 
served various  remains  of  it.  They  were  themselves  produced  by  the  mixture 
of  a  hundred  nations,  differing  in  laws,  customs,  and  manners.  They  were  not 


PROTESTANTISM   Cfy  PARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  247 

yet  adult  nations  ;  as  this  denomination  cannot  be  applied  either  to  individuals 
or  to  society  before  they  have  reached  a  certain  development,  from  which  the 
nations  of  Europe  were  still  far  removed.  It  is  very  difficult  to  find  a  word  to 
express  this  social  state  ;  it  was  neither  a  state  of  civilization,  nor  that  of  barba- 
rism ;  for  a  number  of  laws  and  institutions  existed  there,  which  certainly  did 
not  deserve  the  epithet  of  barbarous.  If  we  call  these  nations  semi-barbarous, 
perhaps  we  shall  approach  the  truth.  Words  are  of  little  importance,  if  we 
have  a  clear  idea  of  the  things. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  European  nations,  owing  to  a  long  series  of  revo- 
lutions, and  the  extraordinary  mixture  of  races,  of  ideas,  and  manners,  of  the 
conquerors  with  each  other,  and  of  the  conquerors  with  the  nations  conquered, 
had  a  large  portion  of  barbarism,  and  a  fruitful  germ  of  agitation  and  disorder. 
But  the  malignant  influence  of  these  elements  was  combated  by  the  action  of 
Christianity,  which  had  obtained  a  decided  preponderance  over  minds,  and 
which,  besides,  was  supported  by  powerful  institutions.  Christianity,  to  accom- 
plish this  difficult  work,  had  the  assistance  of  great  material  force.  The  Chris- 
tian doctrines,  which  penetrated  on  all  sides,  tended,  like  a  sweetening  liquid, 
to  soften  and  improve  every  thing;  but,  at  every  step,  the  mind  conies  into 
collision  with  the  senses,  morality  with  the  passions,  order  with  anarchy,  charity 
with  ferocity,  and  law  with  fact.  Thence  a  struggle,  which,  although  general 
to  a  certain  extent  in  all  times  and  countries,  since  it  is  founded  on  the  nature 
of  man,  was  then  more  rude,  violent,  and  clamorous.  The  two  most  opposite 
principles,  barbarism  and  Christianity,  were  then  face  to  face  in  the  same  arena, 
with  no  one  between  them.  Observe  these  nations  with  attention,  read  their 
history  with  reflection,  and  you  will  see  that  those  two  principles  are  constantly 
struggling,  and  constantly  contending  for  influence  and  preponderance ;  thence 
the  most  strange  situations,  and  the  most  singular  contrasts.  Study  the  charac- 
ter of  the  wars  of  that  time,  and  you  will  hear  the  holiest  maxims  constantly 
proclaimed;  legitimacy,  law,  reason,  and  justice  are  invoked;  the  tribunal  of 
God  is  incessantly  appealed  to :  this  is  the  influence  of  Christianity.  But,  at 
the  same  time,  you  will  be  afflicted  at  the  sight  of  numberless  acts  of  violence, 
of  cruelties,  atrocities,  pillages,  rapines,  murders,  fires,  and  disasters  without 
end :  this  is  barbarism.  If  you  look  at  the  Crusades,  you  will  observe  that 
grand  ideas,  vast  plans,  noble  inspirations,  social  and  political  views  of  the 
highest  importance,  fermented  in  men's  heads ;  that  all  hearts  overflowed  with 
noble  and  generous  feelings,  and  that  a  holy  enthusiasm,  transporting  men  out 
of  themselves,  rendered  them,  capable  of  heroic  actions :  this  is  the  influence 
of  Christianity.  But,  if  you  examine  the  execution,  you  will  see  disorder,  im- 
providence, want  of  discipline  in  the  armies,  injuries,  and  acts  of  violence;  you 
will  seek  in  vain  for  concert  and  harmony  among  those  who  take  part  in  the 
gigantic  and  perilous  enterprise :  there  is  barbarism.  Youths,  thirsting  for 
knowledge,  crowd  to  the  lectures  of  the  famous  masters,  from  the  most  distant 
countries;  Italians,  Germans,  English,  Spanish,  and  French  are  mingled  and 
confounded  around  the  chairs  of  Abelard,  Peter  Lombard,  Albertus  Magnus, 
and  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin;  a  powerful  voice  resounds  in  their  ears,  calling  them 
to  leave  the  shades  of  ignorance  and  raise  themselves  to  the  regions  of  science ; 
the  love  of  knowledge  animates  them;  the  longest  journeys  cannot  stop  them; 
the  enthusiasm  for  illustrious  masters  is  carried  to  an  indescribable  extent: 
behold  the  influence  of  Christianity ;  behold  her  constantly  stirring  and  illumi- 
nating the  mind  of  man,  never  allowing  him  to  repose  tranquilly  in  obscurity, 
and  continually  exciting  him  to  new  intellectual  labors  and  researches  after 
truth  !  But  behold  these  same  youths,  who  exhibit  such  noble  dispositions,  and 
inspire  such  legitimate  and  consoling  hopes;  are  they  not  also  those  licentious, 
restless,  and  turbulent  young  men,  giving  way  to  the  most  deplorable  acts  of 
violence,  continually  fighting  in  the  streets,  and  forming  in  the  midst  of  great 


248  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

cities  a  small  republic,  an  unruly  democracy,  where  there  is  much  difficulty  in 
maintaining  law  and  good  order  ?  Behold  here  barbarism  ! 

It  is  good,  it  is  perfectly  conformable  to  the  spirit  of  religion,  that  the  guilty- 
man  who  raises  a  repentant  and  humiliated  heart  to  God,  should  manifest  his 
feeling  and  the  affliction  of  his  soul  by  external  acts;  that  he  should  labor  to 
fortify  his  mind,  and  restrain  his  evil  inclinations,  by  employing  the  rigors  of 
gospel  austerity  against  his  flesh :  all  this  is  sovereignly  reasonable,  just,  holy, 
and  conformable  to  the  maxims  of  the  Christian  religion,  which  thus  ordains 
for  the  justification  and  sanctification  of  the  sinner,  to  repair  the  injury  done 
to  the  souls  of  others  by  the  scandal  of  a  bad  life.  But  that  penitents,  half 
naked,  should  wander  about  loaded  with  chains,  carrying  horror  and  alarm 
everywhere,  as  happened  at  this  time,  when  we  see  ecclesiastical  authority  com- 
pelled to  repress  the  abuse :  this  marks  the  spirit  of  rudeness  and  ferocity  which 
always  accompany  the  state  of  barbarism.  Nothing  is  more  true,  noble,  and 
salutary  for  society,  than  to  imagine  God  always  ready  to  defend  innocence,  to 
protect  it  against  injustice  and  calumny,  and  to  raise  it  above  humiliation  and 
disgrace,  by  restoring  to  it,  sooner  or  later,  the  purity  and  lustre  of  which  they 
have  attempted  to  deprive  it.  This  supposition  is  an  effect  of  faith  in  Provi- 
dence— that  faith  emanating  from  Christian  ideas,  which  represent  to  us  God 
as  embracing  the  whole  world  in  his  view,  reaching  with  his  penetrating  eye  the 
deepest  recesses  of  the  heart,  and  not  even  excluding  the  meanest  of  his 
creatures  from  his  paternal  love.  But  who  does  not  perceive  the  infinite  distance 
which  separates  this  pure  faith  from  the  trials  by  fire,  water,  and  single  com- 
bat ?  Who  does  not  here  discover  rudeness  confounding  all  things — the  spirit 
of  violence  laboring  to  subject  every  thing  to  a  rigorous  law — attempting,  in 
some  measure,  to  oblige  God  himself  to  comply  with  our  wants  and  caprices,  in 
order  to  interpose  the  testimony  of  his  solemn  miracles,  whenever  it  suits  our 
pleasure  or  convenience  to  find  out  the  truth  ? 

I  introduce  these  contrasts  here  in  order  to  awaken  the  recollections  of  those 
who  have  read  history,  and  to  enable  me  to  establish,  in  a  few  words,  the  simple 
and  general  formula  which  sums  up  all  those  periods  :  "  Barbarism  tempered  by 
religion ;  religion  disfigured  by  barbarism." 

In  the  study  of  history  we  constantly  encounter  a  serious  obstacle,  which 
renders  it  always  difficult,  and  sometimes  impossible,  to  understand  it  perfectly. 
We  make  the  mistake  of  referring  every  thing  to  ourselves,  and  to  the  objects 
which  surround  us — a  mistake  which  is  excusable,  no  doubt,  since  it  has  its  root 
in  our  own  nature,  but  against  which  we  must  be  carefully  on  our  guard,  if  we 
wish  to  avoid  deplorable  errors.  We  imagine  the  men  of  other  times  to  be  like 
ourselves;  without  thinking  of  it,  we  communicate  to  them  our  own  ideas, 
manners,  inclinations,  and  even  temperaments ;  and,  after  having  fashioned  men 
who  exist  only  in  our  own  imaginations,  we  desire  and  demand  that  the  real 
men  should  act  in  the  same  manner  as  these  imaginary  men;  and  at  the  slightest 
discord  between  the  historical  facts  and  our  unreasonable  suppositions,  we  cry 
out  that  it  is  strange  and  monstrous,  taxing  with  being  strange  and  monstrous 
what  was  perfectly  regular  and  ordinary  according  to  the  epoch. 

It  is  the  same  with  respect  to  laws  and  institutions :  when  we  do  not  find 
them  according  to  the  types  which  we  have  under  our  eyes,  we  declaim  against 
the  ignorance,  iniquity,  and  cruelty  of  the  men  who  have  conceived  and  esta- 
blished them.  If  we  wish  to  form  an  exact  idea  of  an  epoch,  it  is  necessary  to 
transport  ourselves  there — to  make  an  effort  of  imagination,  in  order,  as  it 
were,  to  live  and  converse  with  its  men ;  it  is  not  enough  to  hear  the  recital  of 
the  events,  it  is  necessary  to  witness  them,  to  become  one  of  the  spectators,  one 
of  the  actors,  if  possible;  it  is  necessary  to  call  forth  generations  from  the 
tomb,  and  make  them  act  under  our  eyes.  I  shall  be  told  that  this  is  very  diffi- 
cult. I  grant  it ;  but  it  is  necessary,  if  we  wish  that  our  knowledge  of  history 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  249 

should  be  something  more  than  a  mere  notion  of  names  and  dates.  It  is  quite 
sure  that  we  do  not  know  an  individual  well,  unless  acquainted  with  his  ideas, 
character,  and  conduct.  It  is  the  same  with  a  society :  if  we  are  ignorant  by 
what  doctrines  it  was  guided,  what  was  its  manner  of  considering  and  feeling 
things,  we  shall  see  the  events  only  superficially — we  shall  know  the  words  of 
the  law,  but  we  shall  not  penetrate  its  spirit  or  genius;  when  contemplating  an 
institution,  we  shall  see  only  the  external  frame-work,  without  reaching  the 
mechanism,  or  guessing  the  moving  machinery.  If  we  attempt  to  avoid  these 
defects,  it  is  certain  that  the  study  of  history  becomes  the  most  difficult  of  all ; 
but  this  knowledge  has  been  wanting  for  a  long  time.  The  secrets  of  man  and 
the  mysteries  of  society  are,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  important  subject  which 
can  be  proposed  to  the  human  mind,  and  the  most  arduous,  the  most  difficult, 
and  the  least  accessible  to  the  generality  of  intellects. 

The  individual  in  the  times  to  which  we  allude  was  not  the  individual  of 
to-day ;  his  ideas  were  very  different,  his  manner  of  seeing  and  feeling  was  not 
ours,  his  soul  was  of  quite  another  temper  from  our  own ;  what  is  inconceivable 
to  us,  was  perfectly  natural  to  men  of  those  times ;  they  took  pleasure  in  what 
is  now  repugnant  to  us. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Europe  had  already  experienced 
the  powerful  shock  of  the  Crusades ;  the  sciences  began  to  germinate ;  the  spirit 
of  commerce  was  in  some  degree  developed ;  the  taste  for  industry  made  itself 
felt ;  and  the  inclination  of  men  to  enter  into  communication  with  other  men, 
and  of  nations  to  mingle  with  other  tfations,  was  every  day  extended  and  increased. 
The  feudal  system,  already  shaken,  was  about  to  fall  to  pieces ;  the  power  of  the 
commonalty  rapidly  increased;  the  spirit  of  enfranchisement  showed  itself 
everywhere ;  in  fine,  owing  to  the  almost  complete  abolition  of  slavery,  and  to 
the  change  effected  by  the  Crusades  in  the  condition  of  vassals  and  serfs,  Europe 
was  covered  with  a  numerous  population  who  knew  not  slavery,  and  who  bore 
with  difficulty  the  feudal  yoke.  Yet  this  population  was  still  far  from  possess- 
ing all  that  is  necessary  to  rise  to  the  rank  of  free  citizens.  Modern  democracy 
already  offered  itself  to  the  view,  with  its  great  advantages,  its  numerous  diffi- 
culties, its  immense  problems,  which  still  embarrass  and  disconcert  us,  after  so 
many  centuries  of  trial  and  experience.  The  lords  preserved  in  great  measure 
their  habits  of  barbarism  and  ferocity,  by  which  they  had  been  unfortunately 
distinguished  at  former  periods ;  the  royal  power  was  far  from  having  acquired 
that  force  and  prestige  necessary  for  ruling  such  opposite  elements,  and  to  raise 
itself  in  the  midst  of  society  asx  a  symbol  of  respect  for  all  interests — a  centre  of 
reunion  for  all  forces,  and  a  sublime  personification  of  reason  and  justice. 

In  the  same  century,  wars  began  to  assume  a  character  more  popular,  and 
consequently  more  vast  and  important ;  the  agitations  of  the  people  began  to 
wear  the  aspect  of  political  commotions.  Already  we  discover  something  more 
than  the  ambition  of  emperors  attempting  to  impose  their  yoke  on  Italy ;  we 
have  no  longer  petty  kings  who  contend  for  a  crown  or  a  province,  or  counts  or 
barons  who,  followed  by  their  serfs,  fight  with  each  other  or  with  the  neigh- 
boring municipalities,  covering  the  land  with  blood  and  rapine.  We  observe 
in  the  movements  of  that  period  something  more  important  and  alarming. 
Numerous  nations  arise  and  crowd  around  a  banner  on  which,  instead  of  the 
ensigns  of  a  baron  or  of  a  monarch,  appears  the  name  of  a  system  of  doctrines. 
No  doubt,  the  lords  take  part  in  the  struggle,  and  their  power  raises  them  still 
far  above  the  crowd  which  surrounds  and  follows  them ;  but  the  cause  in  ques- 
tion is  not  that  of  these  men ;  they  are  accounted  something  in  the  problems 
of  the  times ;  but  mankind  looks  beyond  the  horizon  of  castles.  This  agitation 
and  movement,  produced  by  the  appearance  of  new  religious  and  social  doc- 
trines, is  the  announcement  and  the  beginning  of  that  chain  of  revolutions 
which  Europe  has  to  undergo. 
32 


250  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

The  evil  did  not  consist  in  the  disposition  of  nations  to  carry  out  their  ideas, 
and  refuse  to  take  as  their  only  guide  the  interests  and  doctrines  of  a  few 
tyrants.  On  the  contrary,  this  was  a  great  step  gained  in  the  path  of  civiliza- 
tion ;  men  thus  showed  that  they  felt  and  understood  their  own  dignity  better, 
that  they  took  a  more  extended  view,  and  had  a  better  understanding  of  their 
own  situation  and  interests.  This  progress  was  the  natural  result  of  the  higher 
flight  which  was  every  day  taken  by  the  faculties  of  the  mind.  The  Crusades 
had  greatly  contributed  to  this  new  movement ;  from  that  great  epoch  the  dif- 
ferent nations  of  Europe  were  accustomed  no  longer  to  fight  for  the  possession 
of  a  small  territory,  or  to  gratify  private  ambition  or  revenge.  The  nations 
fought  in  support  of  a  principle  by  laboring  to  avenge  the  outrage  offered  to 
the  true  religion ;  in  a  word,  they  became  accustomed  to  be  moved,  to  contend, 
to  die,  for  an  idea  which,  far  from  being  limited  to  a  small  territory,  embraced 
heaven  and  earth.  Thus,  we  will  observe  in  passing,  that  the  popular  move- 
ment, the  movement  in  ideas,  began  in  Spain  much  sooner  than  in  the  rest  of 
Europe,  because  the  war  against  the  Moors  had  advanced  the  period  of  the 
Crusades  for  that  country.  The  evil,  I  repeat  it,  was  not  in  the  interest  which 
the  people  took  in  ideas,  but  in  the  imminent  danger  of  seeing  those  nations,  on 
account  of  their  rudeness  and  ignorance,  allow  themselves  to  be  abused  and 
deceived  by  the  first  fanatic  who  came.  At  a  moment  when  the  movement 
was  so  vast,  the  fate  of  Europe  depended  on  the  direction  which  was  about  to 
be  given  to  the  universal  activity :  unless  I  am  deceived,  the  twelfth  and  thir- 
teenth centuries  were  the  critical  epochs,  when,  in  the  face  of  great  probabilities 
on  both  sides,  there  was  decided  the  great  question  of  knowing  whether  Europe, 
in  its  twofold  social  and  political  relations,  was  to  take  advantage  of  the  benefits 
of  Christianity,  or  permit  all  the  promise  of  a  better  future  to  be  lost  and 
annihilated. 

When  we  fix  our  eyes  on  this  period,  we  find,  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  a 
certain  germ  and  index  of  the  greatest  disasters ;  the  most  horrible  doctrines 
arise  among  the  masses  who  begin  to  be  agitated;  the  most  fearful  disorders 
signalize  the  first  step  of  these  nations  in  the  career  of  life.  Before  this,  we 
have  discovered  only  kings  and  lords,  but  now  the  people  appear  on  the  scene. 
Thus  we  see  that  some  rays  of  light  and  heat  have  penetrated  this  shapeless 
mass.  At  this  sight  the  heart  is  dilated  and  encouraged,  presaging  the  new 
future  which  is  reserved  for  humanity.  But,  at  the  same  time,  the  observer  is 
alarmed,  for  he  is  aware  that  this  heat  may  produce  excessive  fermentation, 
engender  corruption,  and  multiply  impure  insects^  in  the  field  which  promises 
soon  to  become  an  enchanting  garden. 

The  extravagances  of  the  human  mind  at  this  time  appear  under  so  alarming 
an  aspect,  and  with  a  turbulence  of  character  so  fearful,  that  apprehensions 
apparently  the  most  exaggerated  are  supported  by  facts,  and  become  terrible 
probabilities.  Let  me  recall  some  of  those  facts  which  so  vividly  paint  the 
condition  of  minds  at  that  time ;  facts  which  besides  are  connected  with  the 
principal  point  which  we  are  examining.  At  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, we  find  the  famous  Tancheme,  or  Tanquelin,  teaching  the  maddest  theories 
and  committing  the  greatest  crimes;  yet  at  Antwerp,  in  Zealand,  in  the  coun- 
try of  Utrecht,  and  in  many  other  towns  in  the  same  countries,  he  draws  after 
him  a  numerous  crowd.  This  wretched  man  advanced  that  he  was  more  worthy 
of  supreme  worship  than  Jesus  Christ  himself,  "for,"  said  he,  " if  Jesus  Christ 
had  received  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  (Tancheme)  had  received  the  plenitude  of  that 
Holy  Spirit."  He  added  that  the  whole  Church  was  comprised  in  his  own  person 
and  in  his  disciples.  The  pontificate,  episcopate,  and  priesthood  were,  accord- 
ing to  him,  mere  chimeras.  His  instructions  and  discourses  were  particularly 
addressed  to  women ;  the  result  of  his  doctrines  and  proceedings  was  the  most 
revolting  corruption.  Yet  the  fanaticism  which  was  excited  by  this  abominable 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  251 

man  went  so  far  that  the  sick  eagerly  drank  the  water  in  which  he  had  bathed, 
believing  it  to  be  the  most  salutary  remedy  for  body  and  soul.  Women  thought 
themselves  happy  to  have  obtained  the  favors  of  the  monster ;  mothers  consi- 
dered it  an  honor  for  their  daughters  to  be  selected  as  the  victims  of  his  profli- 
gacy, and  husbands  were  oifended  when  their  wives  were  not  stained  with  this 
disgrace.  Tancheme,  knowing  all  the  ascendency  which  he  was  able  to  exert 
over  minds,  was  not  backward  in  making  use  of  the  fanaticism  of  his  followers; 
one  of  the  principal  virtues  with  which  he  labored  to  inspire  them  was  liberality 
in  favor  of  his  own  interest. 

One  day  when  he  was  surrounded  with  a  large  concourse  of  people,  he  had  a 
picture  of  the  Virgin  brought  to  him ;  touching  it  with  his  sacrilegious  hand, 
he  said  that  he  took  the  Virgin  as  his  wife.  Then,  turning  toward  the  specta- 
tors, he  added,  that  as  he  had  contracted  marriage  with  the  Queen  of  Heaven, 
as  they  had  just  seen,  it  was  their  duty  to  make  the  wedding  presents.  He 
immediately  placed  two  boxes,  one  on  the  right  and  the  other  on  the  left  of  the 
picture,  to  receive  on  one  side  the  offerings  of  the  men,  and  on  the  other  those 
of  the  women ;  for  the  purpose  of  learning,  as  he  said,  which  of  the  two  sexes 
had  the  greater  affection  for  him.  This  artifice,  as  low  and  gross  as  it  was  sacri- 
legious, seemed  only  calculated  to  excite  the  indignation  of  those  who  were 
present ;  yet  the  results  corresponded  with  the  expectations  of  the  artful  im- 
postor. The  women,  always  jealous  of  the  affection  of  Tancheme,  surpassed  in 
liberality;  in  a  perfect  frenzy,  they  stripped  themselves  of  their  necklaces, 
golden  rings,  and  most  precious  jewels. 

When  he  felt  himself  strong  enough,  Tancheme  did  not  content  himself  with 
preaching;  he  was  desirous  of  surrounding  himself  with  an  armed  troop,  in 
order  to  give  him  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  a  far  different  appearance  from  that 
of  an  apostle.  Three  thousand  men  accompanied  him  everywhere.  Surrounded 
by  this  respectable  escort,  clothed  in  magnificent  apparel,  and  preceded  by  his 
standard,  he  moved  with  all  the  pomp  of  a  king.  When  he  stopped  to  preach, 
the  three  thousand  satellites  stood  armed  around  him  with  drawn  swords.  It  is 
evident,  the  aggressive  character  of  the  heretical  sects  of  succeeding  ages  was 
already  traced  out. 

Every  one  knows  how  numerous  were  the  partisans  of  Eon.  This  unhappy 
man  was  excited  by  hearing  the  frequent  repetition  of  the  words  :  "  Per  eum 
qui  judicaturus  est  vivos  et  mortuos :"  and  he  became  persuaded  and  he  as- 
serted, that  he  himself  was  the  judge  who  was  to  judge  the  living  and  the  dead. 
We  are  also  aware  of  the  troubles  excited  by  the  seditious  speeches  of  Arnauld 
of  Brescia,  the  iconoclastic  fanaticism  of  Pierre  de  Bruis  and  Henri.  If  I  did 
not  fear  to  fatigue  the  attention  of  my  readers,  it  would  be  easy  for  me  to  re- 
late here  the  most  revolting  scenes  which  represent  to  the  life  the  spirit  of  the 
sects  of  those  times,  and  the  unfortunate  predisposition  which  led  men's  minds 
to  novelty,  to  extravagant  spectacles,  and  I  know  not  what  fatal  giddiness, 
whereby  they  were  precipitated  into  the  most  strange  errors  and  the  most  de- 
plorable excesses.  At  all  events,  I  must  say  a  few  words  of  the  Cathari,  Vau- 
dois,  Paterins  of  Arras,  Albigenses,  and  poor  men  of  Lyons.  These  sects, 
besides  the  influence  which  they  had  on  the  times  of  which  we  speak  and  on  the 
later  events  of  European  history,  will  be  of  great  use  in  making  us  fathom 
more  deeply  the  question  now  before  us.  From  the  first  ages  of  the  Church, 
the  sect  of  the  Manichees  was  remarkable  for  errors  and  extravagances.  Under 
different  names,  with  more  or  less  of  followers,  and  with  doctrines  more  or  less 
various,  it  continued  from  age  to  age  until  the  eleventh  century,  when  it  excited 
disturbances  in  France.  From  that  time,  Heribert  and  Lisoy  acquired  an  un- 
happy celebrity  by  their  obstinacy  and  fanaticism.  In  the  time  of  St.  Bernard, 
the  sects  called  apostolical  were  distinguished  by  their  dislike  to  marriage ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  they  gave  themselves  up  to  the  basest  and  most  un- 


252  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

bridled  licentiousness.  Nevertheless,  all  these  irregularities  were  favorably 
received  by  the  ignorance  or  the  corruption  of  the  people.  This  is  proved  by 
the  rapidity  with  which  they  gained  the  masses  and  spread  like  a  pestilence 
wherever  they  appeared.  Besides  the  hypocrisy,  which  is  common  to  all  the 
sects,  that  of  the  Manichees  imagined  an  artifice  the  most  apt  to  seduce  rude 
and  ignorant  people  :  they  appeared  with  the  most  rigid  austerity  and  the  most 
miserable  clothes.  Before  the  year  1181,  we  see  the  Manichees  bold  enough 
to  venture  out  of  their  conventicles  and  openly  teach  their  doctrines  in  the  light 
of  day.  They  associated  with  the  celebrated  bandits  called  Cottereaux,  and 
feared  not  to  commit  all  sorts  of  excesses,  as  they  had  seduced  some  knights  and 
had  secured  the  protection  of  some  seigneurs  of  the  country  of  Toulouse;  they 
succeeded  in  exciting  a  formidable  insurrection,  which  could  be  repressed  only 
by  force  of  arms.  An  eye-witness,  Stephen,  Abbot  of  St.  Genevieve,  at  that 
time  sent  to  Toulouse  by  the  king,  describes  to  us  in  a  few  words  the  acts  of 
violence  committed  by  these  sectaries :  "  I  have  seen  on  all  sides/'  he  says, 
"  churches  burnt  and  ruined  to  their  foundations :  I  have  seen  the  dwellings  of 
men  changed  into  the  dens  of  beasts." 

About  the  same  time,  the  Vaudois,  or  poor  men  of  Lyons,  became  famous. 
This  last  name  was  given  to  them  on  account  of  their  extreme  poverty,  their 
contempt  for  all  riches,  and  the  rags  with  which  they  were  covered.  Their 
shoes  also  gave  them  the  name  of  Sabatathes.  They  were  perverse  imitators  of 
another  kind  of  poor,  celebrated  at  that  time,  and  who  were  distinguished  by 
their  virtues,  and  particularly  by  their  spirit  of  humility  and  disinterestedness. 
These  latter,  who  formed  a  kind  of  association,  comprising  priests  and  laymen', 
attracted  the  respect  and  esteem  of  real  Christians,  and  obtained  the  Pope's 
permission  to  teach  publicly.  The  disciples  showed  a  profound  contempt  for 
Church  authority;  they  afterwards  entertained  monstrous  errors,  and  in  the  end 
became  a  sect  in  opposition  to  religion,  injurious  to  good  morals,  and  incompati- 
ble with  public  tranquillity. 

These  errors,  which  were  the  germs  of  so  many  calamities  and  troubles,  could 
not  be  extirpated ;  with  time  they  became  more  and  more  rooted  in  various 
countries,  and  the  progress  of  things  was  so  fatal,  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  the  period  of  short-lived  seditions  and  isolated  troubles  was  already 
long  gone  by,  the  errors  had  already  spread  on  a  large  scale,  and  appeared  with 
formidable  resources  for  the  contest.  Already  the  south  of  France,  agitated  by 
civil  discord,  and  precipitated  into  a  fearful  war,  was  in  a  state  of  terrible  conflict. 
In  the  political  organization  of  that  time,  the  throne  had  not  strength  enough 
to  exercise  a  controlling  power,  the  lords  had  still  the  means  of  resisting  kings 
and  doing  violence  to  the  people.  When  a  spirit  of  disobedience,  agitation, 
and  movement  is  spread  throughout  the  masses,  there  is  only  one  means  of 
restraining  them,  that  of  religion ;  and  this  very  ascendency  of  religious  ideas 
was  taken  advantage  of  by  the  wicked  and  the  fanatical ;  and  to  mislead  the 
multitude  they  availed  themselves  of  violent  declamation,  where  religion  and 
politics  formed  a  confused  mixture,  and  where  the  spirit  of  austerity  and  disin- 
terestedness was  the  subject  of  hypocritical  affectation.  The  new  errors  were 
no  longer  confined  to  subtile  attacks  on  particular  dogmas,  they*  assailed  the 
fundamental  ideas  of  religion,  penetrated  to  the  sanctuary  of  the  family,  on  the 
one  side  condemning  marriage,  and  on  the  other  promoting  infamous  abomina- 
tions :  in  fine,  the  evil  was  not  limited  to  countries  which  by  a  tardy  and  in- 
complete initiation  into  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  or  for  any  other  reason, 
had  not  fully  participated  in  the  European  movement.  The  arena  principally 
chosen  was  the  south ;  that  is,  the  country  where  the  human  mind  was  deve- 
loped in  the  most  prompt  and  lively  manner. 

In  the  midst  of  such  a  concourse  of  unfortunate  circumstances,  all  attested 
and  placed  beyond  a  doubt  by  history,  was  not  the  future  of  Europe  very  dark 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  253 

and  tempestuous  ?  Ideas  and  manners  were  in  imminent  danger  of  taking  a 
wrong  direction ;  the  bands  of  authority,  the  ties  of  family,  seemed  ready  to 
break  asunder ;  the  nations  might  be  led  away  by  fanaticism  or  superstition ; 
Europe  was  in  danger  of  being  replunged  into  the  chaos  whence  it  had  emerged 
with  so  much  difficulty.  At  that  time  the  Crescent  shone  in  Spain,  it  reigned 
in  Africa,  it  triumphed  in  Asia.  Was  Europe  at  such  a  moment  to  lose  her 
religious  unity,  and  see  new  errors  penetrate  everywhere,  sowing  schism  in  all 
countries,  and  with  it  discord  and  war  ?  Were  all  the  elements  of  civilization 
and  refinement  created  by  Christianity  to  be  dispersed  and  stricken  with  sterility 
for  ever  ?  Were  the  great  nations  formed  under  the  influence  of  Catholicity, 
the  laws  and  institutions  impregnated  with  that  divine  religion,  to  be  corrupted, 
falsified,  and  destroyed  by  changes  in  the  ancient  faith  ?  In  fine,  was  the  course 
of  European  civilization  to  be  violently  diverted,  and  were  the  nations  who  were 
already  advancing  towards  a  peaceful,  prosperous,  and  glorious  future,  to  be 
condemned  to  see  their  most  flattering  hopes  dissipated  in  a  moment,  and  mise- 
rably to  retrograde  towards  barbarism  ?  Such  was  then  the  vast  problem  placed 
before  society;  and  I  fear  not  to  assert  that  the  religious  movement  which  at 
that  time  displayed  itself  in  so  extraordinary  a  manner,  and  the  new  religious 
institutions,  so  inconsiderately  accused  of  folly  and  extravagance,  were  a  power- 
ful means  employed  by  Providence  to  save  religion  and  society.  If  the  illus- 
trious Spaniard,  St.  Dominic  de  Gruzman,  and  the  wonderful  man  of  Assisi,  did 
not  occupy  a  place  on  our  altars,  there  to  receive  the  veneration  of  the  faithful 
for  their  eminent  sanctity,  they  would  deserve  to  have  statues  raised  to  them  by 
the  gratitude  of  society  and  humanity.  But  what !  are  our  words  an  object  of 
scandal  to  you,  who  have  only  read  and  considered  history  through  the  deceit- 
ful medium  of  Protestant  and  philosophical  prejudices  ?  Tell  us,  then,  what 
you  find  reprehensible  in  these  men,  whose  establishments  have  been  the  sub- 
ject of  your  endless  diatribes,  as  if  they  had  been  the  greatest  calamities  of  the 
human  race  ?  Their  doctrines  are  those  of  the  Gospel ;  they  are  the  same  doc- 
trines, to  the  loftiness  and  sanctity  whereof  you  have  been  compelled  to  render 
solemn  homage,  and  their  lives  are  pure,  holy,  heroic,  and  conformable  in  every 
thing  to  their  teachings.  Ask  them  what  is  the  object  they  have  in  view ;  that 
of  preaching  the  Catholic  truth  to  all  men,  they  will  tell  you  ;  of  making  every 
effort,  of  exerting  every  energy  to  destroy  error  and  reform  morals ;  of  in- 
spiring nations  with  the  respect  which  is  due  to  all  legitimate  authorities,  civil 
and  ecclesiastical.  That  is  to  say,  you  will  find  among  them  a  firm  resolution 
to  devote  their  lives  to  remedy  the  evils  of  Church  and  State. 

They  do  not  content  themselves  with  barren  wishes ;  they  are  not  satisfied 
with  a  few  discourses  and  transitory  efforts ;  they  do  not  confine  their  plans  to 
their  mere  personal  sphere,  but,  extending  their  views  to  all  countries  and 
future  times,  they  found  institutions  whereof  the  members  may  spread  them- 
selves over  the  whole  surface  of  the  world,  and  transmit  to  future  generations 
the  apostolical  spirit  which  has  inspired  them  with  their  grand  ideas.  The 
poverty  to  which  they  condemn  themselves  is  extreme ;  the  dress  they  wear  is 
rude  and  miserable ;  but  do  you  not  see  the  profound  reasons  for  this  conduct  ? 
Remember  that  they  propose  to  renew  the  gospel  spirit,  so  much  forgotten  in 
their  time ;  that  they  frequently  happen  to  meet  face  to  face  the  emissaries  of 
the  corrupt  sects,  who,  endeavoring  to  imitate  Christian  humility,  and  affecting 
an  absolute  disinterestedness,  make  a  parade  of  presenting  themselves  in  public 
in  the  garb  of  beggars ;  remember,  in  fine,  that  they  go  to  preach  to  semi-bar- 
barous nations,  and  that  to  preserve  them  from  the  giddiness  of  error  which  has 
begun  to  take  possession  of  their  heads,  words  are  not  enough,  even  accompa- 
panied  by  a  regular  and  uniform  conduct ;  extraordinary  examples,  a  mode  of 
life  which  bears  with  it  the  most  powerful  edification,  and  sanctity  clothed 

W 


254  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

with  an  exterior  adapted  to  make  a  lively  impression  on  the  imagination,  are 
required. 

The  number  of  the  new  religious  is  very  considerable ;  they  increase  without 
measure  in  all  the  countries  where  they  are  established ;  they  are  found,  not 
only  in  the  country  and  in  the  hamlets,  but  they  penetrate  into  the  midst  of  the 
most  populous  cities.  Observe,  that  Europe  is  no  longer  composed  of  a  collec- 
tion of  small  towns  and  wretched  cottages  erected  round  feudal  castles,  and 
humbly  obedient  to  the  authority  or  the  influence  of  a  proud  baron ;  Europe 
no  longer  consists  of  villages  grouped  round  rich  abbeys,  listening  with  docility 
to  the  instructions  of  the  monks,  and  receiving  with  gratitude  the  benefits  con- 
ferred on  them.  A  great  number  of  vassals  have  already  thrown  off  the  yoke 
of  their  lords ;  powerful  municipalities  arise  on  all  sides,  and  in  their  presence 
the  feudal  system  is  frequently  compelled  to  humble  itself  in  alarm.  Towns 
become  every  day  more  populous — every  day,  from  the  effects  of  the  emancipa- 
tion which  takes  place  in  the  country,  they  receive  new  families.  Reviving 
industry  and  commerce  display  new  means  of  subsistence,  and  excite  an  increase 
of  population.  It  results  from  all  this  that  religion  and  morality  must  act  upon 
the  nations  of  Europe  on  a  larger  scale ;  more  general  means,  issuing  from  a 
common  centre,  and  freed  from  ordinary  fetters,  are  necessary  to  satisfy  the  new 
necessities  of  the  time.  Such  are  the  religious  institutions  of  the  time  of  which 
we  speak ;  this  is  the  explanation  of  their  astonishing  number,  of  their  nume- 
rous privileges,  and  of  that  remarkable  regulation  which  places  them  under  the 
immediate  control  of  the  Pope. 

Even  the  character  which  marked  these  institutions — a  character  in  some  de- 
gree democratic,  not  only  because  men  of  all  classes  are  there  united,  but  also 
because  of  the  special  organization  of  their  government — was  eminently  calcu- 
lated to  give  efficacy  to  their  influence  over  a  democracy,  fierce,  turbulent,  and 
proud  of  its  recent  liberty,  and  consequently  little  disposed  to  sympathize  with 
any  thing  which  might  have  been  presented  to  it  under  aristocratic  or  exclusive 
forms.  This  democracy  found  in  these  new  religious  institutions  a  certain  ana- 
logy with  its  own  existence  and  origin.  These  men  come  from  the  people,  they 
live  in  constant  communication  with  them,  and,  like  them,  they  are  poor  and 
meanly  clad ;  and  as  the  people  have  their  assemblies  where  they  choose  their 
municipal  officers  and  bailiffs,  so  do  the  religious  hold  their  chapters,  where 
they  name  their  priors  and  provincials.  They  are  not  anchorites  living  in  remote 
deserts,  nor  monks  sheltered  in  rich  abbeys,  nor  clergy  whose  functions  and 
duties  are  confined  to  any  particular  country.  They  are  men  without  fixed 
abodes,  and  who  are  found  sometimes  in  populous  cities  and  sometimes  in  mise- 
rable hamlets — to-day  in  the  midst  of  the  old  continent,  to-morrow  on  a  vessel 
which  bears  them  to  perilous  missions  in  the  remotest  countries  of  the  globe ; 
sometimes  they  are  seen  in  the  palaces  of  kings,  enlightening  their  councils,  and 
taking  part  in  the  highest  affairs  of  state ;  sometimes  in  the  dwellings  of  obscure 
families,  consoling  them  in  misfortune,  making  up  their  quarrels,  and  giving 
them  advice  on  their  domestic  affairs.  These  same  men,  who  are  covered  with 
glory  in  the  chairs  of  the  universities,  teach  catechism  to  children  in  the  hum- 
blest boroughs  \  illustrious  orators  who  have  preached  in  courts,  before  kings 
and  great  men,  go  to  explain  the  Gospel  in  obscure  villages.  The  people  find 
them  everywhere,  meet  them  at  every  step,  in  joy  and  in  sorrow ;  these  men 
are  constantly  ready  to  take  part  in  the  happy  festivities  of  a  baptism  which 
fills  the  house  with  joy,  or  to  lament  a  misfortune  which  has  just  covered  it  with 
mourning. 

We  can  imagine  without  difficulty  the  force  and  ascendency  of  such  institu- 
tions. This  influence  on  the  minds  of  nations  must  have  been  incalculable  j 
the  new  sects  which  tended  to  mislead  the  multitude  by  their  pestilential  doc- 
trines, found  themselves  face  to  face  with  an  adversary  who  completely  con- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  255 

quered  them.  They  wished  to  seduce  the  simple  by  the  ostentation  of  great 
austerity  and  wonderful  disinterestedness ;  they  desired  to  deceive  the  imagina- 
tion, by  striking  it  with  the  sight  of  exterior  mortification,  of  poor  and  mean 
clothing.  The  new  institutions  united  these  qualities  in  an  extraordinary  man- 
ner. Thus  the  true  doctrine  had  the  same  attributes  which  error  had  assumed. 
From  among  the  classes  of  the  people  there  come  forth  violent  declaimers,  who 
captivate  the  attention  and  take  possession  of  the  minds  of  the  multitude  by 
fiery  eloquence.  In  all  parts  of  Europe  we  meet  with  burning  orators,  pleading 
the  cause  of  truth,  who,  well  versed  in  the  passions,  ideas,  and  tastes  of  the 
multitude,  know  how  to  interest,  move,  and  direct  them,  making  use,  in  de- 
fence of  religion,  of  what  others  attempt  to  avail  themselves  of  in  attacking 
her.  They  are  found  wheresoever  they  are  wanted  to  combat  the  efforts  of 
sects.  Free  from  all  worldly  ties,  and  belonging  to  no  particular  church,  pro- 
vince, or  kingdom,  they  have  all  the  means  of  passing  rapidly  from  one  place  to 
another,  and  are  found  at  the  proper  time  wherever  their  presence  is  urgently 
required. 

The  strength  of  association,  known  to  the  sectaries,  and  used  by  them  with 
so  much  success,  is  found  in  a  remarkable  degree  in  these  new  religious  institu- 
tions. The  individual  has  no  will  of  his  own :  a  vow  of  perpetual  obedience 
has  placed  him  at  the  disposal  of  another's  will ;  and  this  latter  is  in  his  turn 
subject  to  a  third;  thus  there  is  formed  a  chain,  whereof  the  first  link  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  Pope  ;  the  strength  of  association,  and  that  of  unity,  are  thus 
united  in  authority.  There  is  all  the  motion,  all  the  warmth  of  a  democracy ; 
all  the  vigor,  all  the  promptitude  of  monarchy. 

It  has  been  said  that  these  institutions  were  a  powerful  support  to  the  authority 
of  the  Popes ;  this  is  certain  :  we  may  even  add,  that  if  these  institutions  had 
not  existed,  the  fatal  schism  of  Luther  would  perhaps  have  taken  place  centu- 
ries earlier.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  must  allow  that  the  establishment  of 
them  was  not  due  to  projects  of  the  papacy ;  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs  did  not  con- 
ceive the  idea  of  them;  isolated  individuals,  guided  by  superior  inspiration, 
formed  the  design,  traced  out  the  plan,  and  submitting  that  plan  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Holy  See,  asked  for  authority  to  realize  their  enterprise.  Civil 
institutions,  intended  to  consolidate  and  aggrandize  the  power  of  kings,  emanate 
sometimes  from  monarchs  themselves,  sometimes  from  some  of  their  ministers, 
who,  identifying  themselves  with  their  views  and  interests,  have  formed  and 
executed  the  idea  of  the  throne.  It  is  not  thus  with  the  power  of  the  Popes ; 
the  support  of  new  institutions*  contributes  to  sustain  that  power  against^  the 
attacks  of  dissenting  sects ;  but  the  idea  of  founding  the  institutions  themselves 
comes  neither  from  the  Popes  nor  their  ministers.  Unknown  men  suddenly 
arise  among  the  people ;  nothing  which  has  taken  place  affords  reason  to  suspect 
them  of  having  any  previous  understanding  with  Rome ;  their  entire  lives  attest 
that  they  have  acted  by  virtue  of  inspiration,  communicated  to  themselves,  an 
inspiration  which  does  not  allow  them  any  repose,  until  they  have  executed 
what  was  prescribed  to  them.  There  are  not,  there  cannot  be,  any  private  de- 
signs of  Rome ;  ambition  has  no  share.  From  this,  all  sensible  men  should 
draw  one  of  these  two  consequences :  either  the  appearance  of  these  new  insti- 
tutions was  the  work  of  God,  who  was  desirous  of  saving  His  Church  by  sus- 
taining her  against  new  attacks,  and  protecting  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Pon- 
tiff; or,  Catholicity  herself  contained  within  her  breast  a  saving  instinct  which 
led  her  to  create  these  institutions,  which  were  required  to  enable  her  to  come 
triumphant  out  of  the  fearful  crisis  in  which  she  was  engaged.  To  Catholics, 
these  two  propositions  are  identical :  in  both  we  see  only  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promise,  "On  this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  never 
prevail  against  her.''  Philosophers  who  do  not  regard  things  by  the  light  of 
faith,  in  order  to  explain  this  phenomenon,  may  make  use  of  what  terms  they 


256  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

please ;  but  they  will  be  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  wonderful  wisdom  and 
the  highest  degree  of  foresight  appear  at  the  bottom  of  these  facts.  If  they 
persist  in  not  acknowledging  the  finger  of  God,  and  in  seeing  in  the  course  of 
events  only  the  fruit  of  well-concerted  plans,  or  the  result  of  organization  com- 
bined with  art,  at  least  they  cannot  refuse  a  sort  of  homage  to  these  plans  and 
that  organization.  Indeed,  as  they  confess  that  the  power  of  the  Roman  Pontiff, 
considered  in  relations  merely  philosophical,  is  the  most  wonderful  of  all  the 
.powers  which  have  appeared  on  earth,  is  it  not  evident  that  the  society  called 
the  Catholic  Church  shows  in  her  conduct,  in  the  spirit  of  life  which  animates 
her,  and  in  the  instinct  which  makes  her  resist  her  greatest  enemies,  the  most 
incomprehensible  combination  of  phenomena  which  have  ever  been  witnessed  in 
society  ?  It  is  of  little  importance  to  the  truth,  whether  you  call  this  instinct, 
mystery,  spirit,  or  whatever  name  you  please.  Catholicity  defies  all  societies, 
all  sects,  and  all  schools,  to  realize  what  she  has  realized,  to  triumph  over  what 
she  has  triumphed  over,  and  to  pass  through,  without  perishing,  the  crises 
through  which  she  has  passed.  A  few  examples,  where  the  work  of  God  was 
more  or  less  imitated,  may  be  alleged  against  us ;  but  the  magicians  of  Egypt, 
placed  in  the  presence  of  Moses,  came  to  an  end  of  their  artifices ;  the  envoy  of 
God  performed  wonders  which  they  could  not ;  and  they  were  compelled  to  ex- 
claim, "The  finger  of  God  is  here — the  finger  of  God  is  here!" 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

THE  RELIGIOUS   ORDERS   FOR   THE  REDEMPTION   OF   CAPTIVES. 

WHEN  viewing  the  religious  institutions  produced  by  the  Church  during  the 
thirteenth  century,  we  did  not  pause  to  consider  one  among  them,  which,  to  the 
merit  of  participating  in  the  glory  of  the  others,  adds  a  peculiar  character  of 
beauty  and  sublimity,  and  which  is  inexpressibly  worthy  of  our  attention :  I 
speak  of  that  institution,  the  object  of  which  was  to  redeem  captives  from  the 
hands  of  the  Infidels.  If  I  make  use  of  this  general  designation,  it  is  because 
I  do  not  intend  to  enter  into  a  particular  examination  of  the  various  branches 
which  compose  it.  I  consider  the  unity  of  the  object,  and,  on  account  of  that 
unity,  I  attribute  unity  to  the  institution  itself.  Thanks  to  the  happy  change 
which  has  taken  place  in  the  circumstances  which  occasioned  its  foundation,  we 
can  now  scarcely  estimate  the  institution  at  its  just  value,  and  appreciate  in  a 
proper  manner  the  beneficent  influence  and  the  holy  enthusiasm  which  it  must 
have  produced  in  all  Christian  countries. 

In  consequence  of  the  long  wars  with  the  Infidels,  a  very  great  number  of 
the  faithful  groaned  in  fetters,  deprived  of  their  liberty  and  country,  and  often 
in  danger  of  apostatizing  from  the  faith  of  their  fathers.  The  Moors  still  occu- 
pied a  considerable  part  of  Spain ;  they  reigned  exclusively  on  the  coasts  of 
Africa,  and  proudly  triumphed  in  the  East,  where  the  Crusaders  had  been  yan- 
quished.  The  Infidels  thus  held  the  south  of  Europe  closely  confined,  and  were 
constantly  able  to  seize  favorable  moments,  and  procure  multitudes  of  Christian 
slaves.  The  revolutions  and  disorders  of  those  times  continually  offered  favora- 
ble opportunities }  both  hatred  and  cupidity  urged  them  to  gratify  their  revenge 
on  the  Christians  taken  unawares.  We  may  be  sure  that  this  was  one  of  the 
severest  scourges  which  the  human  race  had  to  endure  at  that  time  in  Europe. 
If  the  word  charity  was  to  be  any  thing  more  than  a  mere  name,  if  the  nations 
of  Europe  were  not  to  allow  their  bonds  of  fraternity  and  the  ties  which  connected 
their  common  interests  to  be  destroyed,  there  was  an  urgent  necessity  for  them 
to  come  to  an  understanding,  in  order  to  remedy  this  evil.  The  veteran  who, 
instead  of  a  reward  for  his  long  services  to  religion  and  his  country,  had  found 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  257 

slavery  in  the  depths  of  a  dungeon  ;  the  merchant  who,  ploughing  the  seas  to 
carry  provisions  to  the  Christian  armies,  had  fallen  into  the  power  of  an  impla- 
cable enemy,  and  paid  by  heavy  chains  for  the  boldness  of  his  enterprise ;  the 
timid  virgin  who,  playing  upon  the  sea-shore,  had  been  perfidiously  carried 
away  by  the  merciless  pirates,  like  a  dove  borne  away  by  a  hawk  : — all  these 
unfortunate  beings  had  undoubtedly  some  right  to  be  looked  at  with  compassion 
by  their  brethren  in  Europe,  and  to  have  an  effort  made  to  restore  them  to 
liberty.  ^ 

How  shall  this  charitable  end  be  attained  ?  Can  means  be  employed  to 
accomplish  an  enterprise  which  cannot  be  confided  either  to  force  or  stratagem  ? 
Nothing  is  more  fertile  in  resources  than  Catholicity.  Whatever  may  be  the 
necessity  which  presents  itself,  she  immediately  finds  proper  means  of  succor 
and  remedy,  if  allowed  to  act  with  freedom.  The  remonstrances  and  negotia- 
tions of  Christian  princes  could  obtain  nothing  in  favor  of  the  captives ;  new 
wars  undertaken  for  this  purpose  only  served  to  increase  the  public  calamities — 
they  deteriorated  the  lot  of  those  who  groaned  in  slavery,  and  perhaps  increased 
their  number,  by  sending  them  fresh  companions  in  misfortune;  pecuniary 
means,  without  a  central  point  of  action  and  direction,  produced  but  little  fruit, 
and  were  lost  in  the  hands  of  agents.  What  resource,  then,  does  there  remain  ? 
The  powerful  resource  which  is  always  found  in  the  hands  of  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion— the  secret  whereby  she  accomplishes  her  greatest  enterprises,  viz.  charity. 

But  how  ought  this  charity  to  act  ?  In  the  same  way  as  all  the  virtues  of 
Catholicity.  This  divine  religion,  which  has  come  down  from  the  loftiest  regions, 
and  constantly  raises  the  human  mind  to  sublime  meditations,  presents  at  the 
same  time  a  singular  characteristic,  whereby  she  is  distinguished  from  all  the 
schools  and  sects  who  have  attempted  to  imitate  her.  In  spite  of  the  spirit  of 
abstraction,  if  I  may  so  speak,  which  holds  her  continually  detached  from  earthly 
things,  she  has  nothing  vague,  unsubstantial,  or  merely  theoretical.  With  her, 
all  is  speculative  and  practical,  sublime  and  simple;  she  adapts  and  accom- 
modates herself  to  all  that  is  compatible  with  the  truth  of  her  dogmas  and  the 
severity  of  her  maxims.  While  her  eyes  are  fixed  on  heaven,  she  forgets  not 
that  she  is  on  earth,  and  that  she  has  to  deal  with  mortal  men,  subject  to  miseries 
and  calamities.  With  one  hand  she  shows  them  eternity,  with  the  other  she 
succors  their  misfortunes,  solaces  their  pains,  and  dries  up  their  tears.  She 
does  not  content  herself  with  barren  words ;  the  love  of  our  neighbor  is  to  her 
nothing,  if  that  love  does  not  manifest  itself  in  giving  bread  to  him  who  is 
hungry,  drink  to  him  who  4s  thirsty ;  in  clothing  the  naked,  consoling  the 
afflicted,  visiting  the  sick,  solacing  the  prisoner,  and  redeeming  the  captive.  To 
make  use  of  an  expression  of  this  age,  I  will  say  that  religion  is  eminently 
positive.  Wherefore  she  labors  to  realize  her  ideas  by  means  of  beneficent  and 
fruitful  institutions,  thereby  distinguishing  herself  from  human  philosophy,  the 
pompous  language  and  gigantic  projects  of  which  form  so  miserable  a  contrast 
with  the  littleness  and  nothingness  of  its  works.  Religion  speaks  little,  but  she 
meditates  and  executes  as  the  worthy  daughter  of  that  infinite  Being  who, 
although  absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of  an  ocean  of  light,  His  own  essence 
and  His  impenetrable  nature,  has  not  the  less  created  the  universe  the  object  of 
our  admiration,  and  ceases  not  to  preserve  it  with  ineffable  goodness,  while 
governing  it  with  incomprehensible  wisdom. 

It  was  necessary  to  go  to  the  succor  of  the  unhappy  captives;  assuredly, 
therefore,  we  should  applaud  the  idea  of  a  vast  association,  which,  extending 
over  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  and  placing  itself  in  connection  with  all  the 
Christians  who  would  give  alms  in  favor  of  so  holy  a  work,  would  have  in  its 
service  a  certain  number  of  individuals  always  ready  to  traverse  the  seas,  and 
resolved  to  brave  slavery  and  death  for  the  redemption  of  their  brethren.  Nume- 
rous means  would  be  thus  combined,  and  the  good  employment  of  the  funds 
33  w2 


258  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

would  be  secured.  There  was  a  certainty  that  the  negotiations  for  the  redemption 
of  captives  would  be  conducted  by  men  of  zeal  and  experience ;  in  a  word,  such 
an  association  would  completely  fulfil  its  object;  and  when  it  was  established, 
the  Christians  might  hope  for  the  most  prompt  and  efficacious  succor.  Now, 
this  was  precisely  the  idea  realized  in  the  foundation  of  the  religious  orders  for 
the  redemption  of  captives. 

The  religious  who  embraced  these  orders  bound  themselves  by  vow  to  the 
Accomplishment  of  this  work  of  charity.  Free  from  the  embarrassments  of 
family  relations  and  worldly  interests,  they  could  devote  themselves  to  their 
task  with  all  the  ardor  of  their  zeal.  Long  voyages,  the  perils  of  the  sea,  the 
danger  of  unhealthy  climates,  or  the  ferocity  of  the  Infidels — nothing  stopped 
them.  In  their  dress,  in  the  prayers  of  their  institution,  they  found  a  constant 
remembrance  of  the  vow  which  they  had  taken  in  the  Divine  presence.  Neither 
repose,  comfort,  nor  even  their  very  lives,  any  longer  belong  to  them ;  all  are 
become  the  property  of  the  unhappy  captives,  who  groan  in  the  dungeons  or 
wear  heavy  chains  in  presence  of  their  masters,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Medi- 
terranean. The  families  of  the  unhappy  victims,  fixing  their  eyes  on  the  reli- 
gious, required  of  him  the  accomplishment  of  his  promise ;  their  groans  and 
lamentations  continually  urge  him  to  find  means,  and  to  expose  his  life,  if 
necessary,  to  restore  the  father  to  the  son,  the  son  to  the  father,  the  husband  to 
the  wife,  the  innocent  young  girl  to  her  desolate  mother. 

From  the  earliest  ages  of  Christianity  we  see  great  zeal  displayed  for  the 
redemption  of  captives,  which  has  always  been  preserved,  and  the  inspiration 
of  which  from  that  time  has  called  forth  the  greatest  sacrifices.  The  seventeenth 
chapter  of  this  work,  and  the  notes  attached  to  it,  have  incontestably  proved 
this  truth ;  and  it  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  stay  to  confirm  it  here.  Yet 
I  will  not  lose  the  opportunity  of  observing  that  the  Church,  in  the  present 
case,  as  in  all  circumstances,  has  adopted  her  constant  rule,  viz.  to  realize  her 
ideas  by  means  of  institutions.  If  you  observe  her  conduct  attentively,  you 
will  find  that  she  begins  by  teaching  and  highly  extolling  a  virtue ;  then  she 
mildly  persuades  men  to  put  it  in  practice;  the  practice  extends  and  gains 
strength,  and  what  was  merely  a  good  work  becomes  for  some  a  work  of  obliga- 
tion ;  what  was  a  simple  wise  act  is  converted  into  a  strict  duty  for  some  select 
men.  At  all  times  has  the  Church  been  engaged  in  the  redemption  of  captives; 
at  all  times  some  Christians  of  heroic  charity  have  stripped  themselves  of  their 
property,  of  their  liberty,  to  accomplish  this  work  of  mercy;  but  this  care  was 
still  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  faithful,  and  no  bodies  of  men  existed  to 
represent  this  charitable  idea.  New  necessities  arise ;  the  ordinary  means  do 
not  suffice ;  it  is  necessary  that  aid  should  be  collected  with  promptitude,  and 
employed  with  discernment ;  charity,  as  it  were,  requires  an  arm  always  ready 
to  execute  her  orders ;  a  permanent  institution  becomes  necessary;  the  institu- 
tion appears,  and  the  want  is  satisfied. 

We  are  so  accustomed  to  see  the  beautiful  and  the  sublime  in  the  work  of 
religion,  that  we  scarcely  observe  the  greatest  prodigies  there,  in  the  same  way 
as,  while  profiting  by  the  benefits  of  nature,  we  look  upon  her  most  wonderful 
works  and  productions  with  an  eye  of  indifference.  The  different  religious 
institutions  which,  under  various  forms,  have  appeared  since  the  beginning  of 
Christianity,  are  worthy  of  exciting  in  the  highest  degree  the  astonishment  of 
the  philosopher  and  the  Christian ;  but  I  doubt  whether  it  be  possible  to  find  in 
the  whole  history  of  these  institutions  any  thing  more  beautiful,  interesting,  and 
touching,  than  the  picture  of  the  orders  for  the  redemption  of  captives.  Does 
there  exist  a  more  admirable  symbol  of  religion  protecting  the  unfortunate  ? 
Which  is  the  most  sublime  emblem  of  the  redemption  consummated  on  Calvary 
and  extending  itself  to  earthly  captivity  ?  Is  it  not  the  celebrated  vision  which 
preceded  the  establishment  of  the  holy  institutes  of  Mercy  and  the  Trinity  ? 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  259 

Some  will  say  that  these  apparitions  were  only  chimeras  and  mere  illusions ! 
Happy  are  those  illusions,  we  will  reply,  which  produce  the  consolation  of  the 
human  race !  However  this  may  be,  we  will  here  recall  these  visions,  braving, 
if  necessary,  the  smiles  of  the  incredulous.  If  they  have  preserved  in  their 
hearts  any  generous  feelings,  they  will  be  compelled  to  allow  that  if  these 
visions  appear  to  them  devoid  of  all  historical  truth,  there  is  at  least  in  the 
sublime  sacrifice  which  is  made  by  the  man  who  devotes  himself  to  slavery  for 
the  ransom  of  his  brethren,  a  lofty  poetry,  a  sincere  love  of  the  human  race, 
an  ardent  desire  to  succor  them,  and  an  heroic  disinterestedness. 

A  doctor  of  the  University  of  Paris,  known  by  his  virtues  and  his  wisdom, 
had  just  been  raised  to  the  priesthood,  and  celebrated  for  the  first  time  the 
holy  sacrifice  of  the  altar.  In  consideration  of  these  exalted  favors  of  the  Most 
High,  he  redoubles  his  ardor,  he  excites  his  faith,  and  endeavors  to  offer  to  the 
Lamb  without  spot,  with  all  the  recollection,  purity,  and  fervor  of  which  he  is 
capable,  his  heart  inundated  with  favors  and  inflamed  by  charity.  He  knows 
not  how  to  manifest  to  God  his  profound  gratitude  for  so  great  a  benefit;  his 
lively  desire  is  to  be  able  to  prove  to  Him  in  some  way  his  gratitude  and  his 
love.  He  who  had  said,  "  What  you  have  done  to  one  of  my  little  children 
you  have  done  to  myself,"  immediately  showed  him  a  way  to  exhibit  the  fire 
of  his  charity.  The  vision  begins :  the  priest  sees  an  angel  whose  dress  is 
white  as  snow  and  as  brilliant  as  light;  the  angel  wears  on  his  breast  a  red  and 
blue  cross;  at  his  sides  are  two  captives,  the  one  a  Christian,  the  other  a  Moor; 
he  places  his  hands  over  the  heads  of  each.  At  this  sight,  the  priest,  ravished 
into  ecstasy,  understands  that  God  calls  him  to  the  holy  work  of  the  redemp- 
tion of  captives;  but  before  going  any  further,  he  retires  into  solitude,  and 
devotes  himself  for  three  years  to  prayer  and  penance,  humbly  begging  of  the 
Lord  that  He  would  make  known  to  him  His  sovereign  will.  In  the  desert  he 
met  with  a  pious  hermit ;  the  two  solitaries  aid  each  other  by  their  prayers  and 
examples.  One  day,  when  they  were  absorbed  in  pious  communication  by  the 
side  of  a  fountain,  a  stag  suddenly  appears  to  them  bearing  on  his  horns  the 
mysterious  cross  of  two  colors.  The  priest  relates  to  his  astonished  companion 
the  first  vision  which  he  has  had ;  both  redouble  their  prayers  and  penances ; 
both  receive  the  celestial  admonition  for  the  third  time.  Then,  unwilling  any 
longer  to  defer  the  accomplishment  of  the  Divine  pleasure,  they  hasten  to 
Rome,  and  ask  of  the  Sovereign  •  Pontiff  his  counsels  and  permission.  The 
Pope,  who  at  the  same  time  had  had  a  similar  vision,  joyfully  accedes  to  the 
request  of  the  two  pious  solitaries ;  the  order  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity  for  the 
Redemption  of  Captives  is  thus  established.  The  priest  was  called  John  of 
Matha ;  the  hermit,  Felix  of  Valois.  They  apply  with  ardent  zeal  to  their  work 
of  charity ;  after  having  dried  up  the  tears  of  numbers  of  unhappy  beings,  they 
now  receive  in  heaven  the  reward  of  their  labors.  The  Church,  wishing  to  cele- 
brate their  memories,  has  placed  them  on  her  altars. 

The  foundation  of  the  order  of  Mercy  had  a  similar  origin.  St.  Peter 
Nolasco,  having  spent  all  he  possessed  in  the  redemption  of  captives,  had  sought 
in  vain  for  new  resources  to  continue  his  pious  undertaking.  He  had  set  him- 
self to  pray,  in  order  to  strengthen  himself  in  his  holy  resolution  of  selling  his 
own  liberty,  or  remaining  himself  a  captive  in  the  place  of  some  of  his 
brethren.  During  his  prayer  the  Blessed  Virgin  appeared  to  him ;  she  gave 
him  to  understand  how  pleasing  the  foundation  of  an  order  for  the  redemption 
of  captives  would  be  to  herself  and  her  Divine  Son.  The  saint,  after  consulting 
the  King  of  Aragon  and  St.  Raymond  of  Penafort,  proceeded  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  order.  He  converted  into  a  vow,  not  only  for  himself  but  for  all 
those  who  embraced  the  institute,  the  holy  desire  which  he  had  previously  had 
to  devote  himself  to  slavery  for  the  ransom  of  his  brethren. 

I  repeat  what  I  have  already  said :  in  whatever  manner  you  judge  of  these 


260  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

apparitions,  and  if  even  you  attempt  to  lay  them  aside  altogether  as  mere  illu- 
sions, it  is  not  the  less  proved  that  the  Catholic  religion  has  labored  with 
immense  power  to  relieve  a  great  misfortune,  and  that  no  one  can  call  in  question 
the  utility  of  the  holy  institution  in  which  the  heroism  of  charity  is  so  wonder- 
fully personified.  Indeed,  supposing  that  the  founder,  the  dupe  of  illusions, 
took  for  a  revelation  from  heaven  what  was  only  the  inspiration  of  ardent  zeal, 
do  not  the  benefits  lavished  on  the  unhappy  captives  remain  the  same  ?  W< 
hear  much  of  illusions;  but  certain  it  is  that  these  illusions  produced  a  reality 
When  St.  Peter  Armengol,  wanting  all  resources  to  deliver  some  unfortunates, 
remained  as  a  hostage  in  their  place,  and  when  the  day  of  ransom  had  expired, 
resigned  himself  to  be  hung  because  the  money  had  not  arrived  from  Europe, 
the  illusions  certainly  did  not  remain  sterile.  What  reality  could  produce 
greater  prodigies  of  zeal  and  heroism  ?  Long  ago  have  the  things  of  religion 
been  condemned  as  illusions  and  madness;  from  the  earliest  times  of  Chris- 
tianity the  mystery  of  the  cross  was  treated  as  folly;  but  we  do  not  see  that 
this  prevented  the  pretended  folly  from  changing  the  face  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

THE   UNIVERSAL   PROGRESS    OF   CIVILIZATION    IMPEDED    BY   PROTESTANTISM. 

IN  the  rapid  sketch  which  I  have  just  given,  my  intention  has  not  been  to 
write  the  history  of  the  religious  orders;  this  did  not  form  part  of  my  design. 
I  am  satisfied  with  having  offered  a  series  of  remarks  which,  by  showing  the 
importance  of  these  institutions,  were  calculated  to  vindicate  Catholicity  from 
the  accusations  made  against  her  on  account  of  the  protection  which  she  has  at 
all  times  afforded  them.  How  could  a  comparison  be  made  between  Catholi- 
city and  Protestantism  in  their  relations  with  the  civilization  of  Europe,  with- 
out devoting  a  few  pages  to  the  examination  of  the  influence  which  these  insti- 
tutions have  exercised  on  civilization  ?  Now,  if  it  is  once  shown  that  this  influ- 
ence was  salutary,  Protestantism,  which  has  persecuted  and  calumniated  these 
religious  institutions  with  so  much  hatred  and  rancor,  remains  convicted  of 
having  done  violence  to  the  history  of  our  civilization,  of  having  mistaken  its 
spirit,  and  still  more  of  having  aimed  a  blow  at  the  legitimate  development  of 
that  civilization  itself. 

These  reflections  naturally  lead  me  to  point  out  another  fault  which  Protest- 
antism has  committed.  When  breaking  the  unity  of  European  civilization,  it 
introduced  discord  into  the  bosom  of  that  civilization,  and  weakened  the  physi- 
cal and  moral  action  which  it  exercised  on  the  rest  of  the  world.  Europe  was 
apparently  destined  to  civilize  the  whole  world.  The  superiority  of  her  intelli- 
gence, the  preponderance  of  her  strength,  the  superabundance  of  her  population, 
her  enterprising  and  valiant  character,  her  transports  of  generosity  and  hero- 
ism, her  communicating  and  propagating  spirit,  seemed  to  call  her  to  diffuse 
her  ideas,  feelings,  laws,  manners,  and  institutions  to  the  four  quarters  of  the 
universe.  How  does  it  happen  that  she  has  not  realized  this  destiny  ?  How 
does  it  happen  that  barbarism  is  still  found  at  her  gates,  and  that  Islamism  still 
maintains  itself  in  one  of  the  finest  climates  and  countries  of  Europe  ?  Asia, 
with  her  want  of  moving  power,  weakness,  despotism,  and  degradation  of  wo- 
men; Asia,  with  all  the  disgraces  of  humanity,  lies  under  our  eyes;  and 
scarcely  have  we  done  any  thing  which  gives  reason  to  hope  that  she  will 
emerge  from  her  degraded  state.  Asia  Minor,  the  coasts  of  Palestine,  Egypt, 
and  the  whole  of  Africa,  are  before  us  in  a  deplorable  condition — a  degradation 
which  excites  pity,  and  forms  a  melancholy  contrast  with  the  great  recollections 
of  history.  America,  after  four  centuries  of  incessant  communication  with  us, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  261 

is  still  so  much  behindhand  that  a  great  part  of  her  intellectual  powers  and  the 
resources  with  which  nature  has  furnished  her,  remain  until  this  day  to  be  im- 
proved. How  does  it  happen  that  Europe,  full  of  life,  rich  in  means  of  all 
kinds,  overflowing  with  vigor  and  energy,  has  remained  within  the  narrow 
limits  in  which  she  still  is  ?  If  we  pay  deep  attention  to  this  melancholy  phe- 
nomenon, a  phenomenon  with  which  it  is  very  strange  that  the  philosophy  of 
history  has  not  occupied  itself,  we  shall  find  the  cause.  The  entire  cause  thereof 
is  the  want  of  unity ;  her  external  action  has  been  without  concert,  and  conse- 
quently without  efficacy.  Men  constantly  vaunt  the  utility  of  association  j  they 
point  out  how  necessary  it  is  to  obtain  grand  results,  and  they  do  not  dream 
that  because  this  principle  applies  to  nations  as  well  as  to  individuals,  nations, 
like  individuals,  cannot  accomplish  great  works,  without  conforming  to  this 
general  law.  When  an  assemblage  of  nations  of  the  same  origin,  and  subject 
for  many  ages  to  the  same  influence,  have  reached  the  development  of  their 
civilization  under  the  guidance  and  control  of  a  common  idea,  among  them  asso- 
ciation becomes  a  real  necessity  ]  they  form  a  family  of  brothers }  now,  among 
brothers,  division  and  discord  have  worse  results  than  among  strangers. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  the  nations  of  Europe  could  have  attained  to  so 
perfect  a  concord,  that  perpetual  peace  would  have  been  established  among 
them,  and  that  perfect  harmony  would  have  eventually  presided  over  all  their 
undertakings  with  respect  to  the  other  countries  of  the  globe  \  but  without 
giving  way  to  beautiful  illusions,  the  reality  whereof  is  beyond  the  bounds  of 
possibility,  we  may  nevertheless,  and  without  hazard  of  contradiction,  say,  that, 
in  spite  of  particular  differences  between  nation  and  nation,  in  spite  of  the 
greater  or  less  degree  of  opposition  between  external  and  internal  interests, 
Europe  could  have  kept  and  perpetuated  in  her  own  breast  a  civilizing  idea 
which,  raising  itself  above  all  the  misery  and  littleness  of  human  passions, 
would  have  placed  her  in  a  condition  to  acquire  a  greater  ascendency  and  a 
stronger  and  more  useful  influence  over  the  other  nations  of  the  world.  Amid 
the  interminable  series  of  wars  and  calamities  which  afflicted  Europe  during  the 
fluctuations  of  the  barbarous  nations,  this  unity  of  thought  existed  \  and  it  was 
owing  to  it  that  order  in  the  end  came  out  of  confusion,  and  that  light  con- 
quered darkness.  In  the  long  struggle  of  Christianity  against  Islamisrn,  whe- 
ther in  Europe,  Asia,  or  Africa,  this  same  unity  of  thought  enabled  Christian 
civilization  to  triumph,  in  spite  of  the  rivalries  of  kings  and  the  excesses  of 
the  people.  While  this  unity  existed,  Europe  preserved  a  transforming  power 
which  made  all  that  it  touched  become  European  sooner  or  later. 

The  heart  is  grieved  at  the  sight  of  the  disastrous  event  which  broke  this 
precious  unity,  by  diverting  the  course  of  our  civilization  and  destroying  its 
fertilizing  power.  One  can  hardly  observe  without  pain,  not  to  say  without 
anger,  that  the  appearance  of  Protestantism  was  exactly  coincident  with  the 
critical  moment  when  the  nations  of  Europe,  about  at  length  to  reap  the  fruits 
of  long  ages  of  continued  labor  and  unheard-of  efforts,  appeared  to  the  world 
full  of  vigor,  energy,  and  splendor.  Putting  forth  gigantic  strength,  they  dis- 
covered new  worlds,  and  placed  one  hand  on  the  East  and  the  other  on  the 
West.  Vasco  de  Gama  had  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  he  had  showed 
the  way  to  the  East  Indies,  and  opened  communication  with  unknown  nations. 
Christopher  Columbus,  with  the  fleet  of  Isabella,  ploughed  the  Western  seas, 
discovered  a  new  world,  and  planted  the  standard  of  Castile  in  unheard-of  lands. 
Ferdinand  Cortez,  at  the  head  of  a  handful  of  brave  men,  penetrated  to  the  heart 
of  the  new  continent,  and  took  possession  of  its  capital ;  his  arms,  which  the 
natives  had  not  yet  seen,  made  him  appear  like  a  God  launching  his  lightnings. 
Europe  everywhere  displayed  extreme  activity;  a  spirit  of  enterprise  was 
developed  in  all  hearts ;  the  hour  had  come  when  the  nations  of  Europe  were 
about  to  see  open  before  them  a  new  horizon  of  power  and  grandeur,  the  limits 


262  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

whereof  were  invisible  to  the  eye.  Magellan  discovered  the  strait  which  united 
the  east  and  west;  and  Sebastian  d'Elcano,  returning  to  the  Spanish  coasts, 
after  having  made  the  tour  of  the  world,  seemed  to  be  the  sublime  personification 
of  European  civilization  taking  possession  of  the  universe.  At  one  extremity 
of  Europe,  the  crescent  still  shows  itself  powerful  and  threatening,  like  a  dark 
figure  appearing  in  the  corner  of  a  splendid  picture :  but  fear  nothing ;  its 
armies  have  been  driven  from  Granada,  the  Christian  host  is  encamped  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  the  standard  of  Castile  floats  on  the  walls  of  Oran,  and  in  the 
heart  of  Spain  grows  up  in  silence  the  wonderful  child,  who,  when  he  has  but 
just  laid  aside  the  playthings  of  his  age,  will  frustrate  the  last  efforts  of  the 
Moors  of  that  country  by  the  triumphs  of  Alpujarres,  and  shortly  after  will 
break  the  Mussulman  power  for  ever  on  the  waves  of  Lepanto. 

The  development  of  mind  kept  pace  with  the  increase  of  power.  Erasmus 
examined  all  the  sources  of  knowledge,  astonished  the  world  by  his  talents  and 
his  learning,  and  spread  his  fame  in  triumph  from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other. 
The  distinguished  Spaniard,  Louis  Vives,  rivalled  the  savant  of  Rotterdam,  and 
undertook  nothing  less  than  to  regenerate  the  sciences,  and  give  a  new  direction 
to  the  human  mind.  In  Italy,  the  schools  of  philosophy  were  in  a  state  of  fer- 
mentation, and  they  seized  with  avidity  the  new  lights  brought  from  Constan- 
tinople. In  the  same  country,  the  genius  of  Dante  and  Petrarch  was  continued 
in  their  illustrious  successors;  the  land  of  Tasso  resounded  with  his  accents 
like  the  nightingale  announcing  the  coming  of  the  dawn ;  while  Spain,  intoxi- 
cated with  her  triumphs,  and  transported  with  pride  at  the  sight  of  her  conquests, 
sang  like  a  soldier  who,  after  victory,  reposes  on  a  heap  of  trophies.  What 
could  resist  such  superiority,  such  brilliant  display,  such  great  power  ?  Europe, 
already  secure  against  all  her  enemies,  enjoying  a  prosperity  which  must  every 
day  increase,  put  in  possession  of  laws  and  institutions  better  than  any  which 
had  before  been  seen,  and  whereof  the  completion  and  perfection  could  not  fail 
to  come  with  the  slow  progress  of  time  :  Europe,  we  say,  in  a  condition  so 
prosperous,  replete  with  noble  hopes,  was  about  to  commence  the  work  of  civi- 
lizing the  world.  Even  the  discoveries  which  were  every  day  made,  indicated 
that  the  happy  moment  had  arrived.  Fleets  transported,  together  with  war- 
riors, apostolic  missionaries,  whose  hands  were  about  to  scatter  in  the  new 
countries  the  precious  seed,  whence,  in  the  progress  of  time,  was  to  grow  up 
the  tree  uncler  whose  shadow  new  nations  were  to  find  shelter.  Thus  was  the 
noble  work  begun,  which,  favored  by  Providence,  was  about  to  civilize  America, 
Africa,  and  Asia. 

But  the  voice  of  the  apostate  who  was  about  to  cast  discord  into  the  bosoms 
of  fraternal  nations  already  resounded  in  the  heart  of  Germany.  The  dispute 
begins,  minds  are  excited,  the  irritation  reaches  its  height,  an  appeal  is  made  to 
arms,  blood  flows  in  torrents,  and  the  man  who  had  been  commisioned  by  hell 
to  scatter  this  cloud  of  calamities  over  the  earth,  contemplating  before  his  death 
the  dreadful  fruit  of  his  labors,  can  insult  the  sorrows  of  the  human  race  with  a 
cruel  and  impudent  smile.  Such  do  we  figure  to  ourselves  the  genius  of  evil 
leaving  his  dark  abode  and  his  throne  in  the  midst  of  horrors.  He  suddenly 
appears  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  his  hand  sheds  desolation  and  tears  on  all  sides; 
he  casts  a  look  over  the  devastation  which  he  has  made,  and  then  buries  himself 
in  eternal  darkness. 

By  extending  itself  over  Europe,  the  schism  of  Luther  weakened  in  a  deplo- 
rable manner  the  action  of  Europeans  on  the  other  nations  of  the  world ;  the 
flattering  hopes  which  had  been  conceived  were  dissipated  in  a  moment,  and 
became  no  more  than  a  golden  dream.  Henceforth,  the  largest  part  of  our 
intellectual,  moral,  and  physical  powers  was  condemned  to  be  employed  and 
sadly  wasted  in  a  struggle  which  armed  brethren  against  brethren.  The  nations 
which  had  preserved  Catholicity  were  compelled  to  concentrate  all  their  resources, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  263 

power,  and  energy,  in  order  to  make  head  against  the  impious  attacks  which  the 
new  sectaries  made  upon  them  by  the  press  or  by  force  of  arms.  The  nations 
among  whom  the  contagion  of  the  new  errors  had  been  propagated  were  thrown 
into  a  sort  of  giddiness ;  they  had  no  other  enemies  but  the  Catholics,  and  they 
considered  only  one  enterprise  worthy  of  their  efforts — the  degradation  and 
destruction  of  the  Roman  See.  Their  thoughts  no  longer  tended  towards  the 
invention  of  means  for  improving  the  lot  of  the  human  race ;  the  immense  field 
which  had  been  thrown  open  to  noble  ambition  by  the  recent  discoveries,  no 
longer  merited  attention;  for  them  there  was  only  one  holy  work — that  of 
destroying  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Pontiff. 

This  condition  of  men's  minds  struck  with  sterility  the  ascendency  over 
nations  recently  discovered  or  conquered,  which  naturally  belonged  to  Euro- 
peans. When  the  nations  of  Europe  simultaneously  approached  new  regions, 
they  no  longer  met  as  brothers  or  generous  rivals,  stimulated  by  noble  ambi- 
tion ;  they  were  exasperated  and  implacable  enemies,  men  who  differed  in  reli- 
gion, and  who  fought  battles  against  each  other  as  bloody  as  those  which  had 
formerly  been  witnessed  between  the  Christians  and  the  Moors.  The  name  of 
the  Christian  religion,  which  had  been  the  symbol  of  peace  for  so  many  ages — 
a  name  which  on  the  eve  of  battle  was  able  to  compel  adversaries  to  lay  aside 
their  hatred,  and  embrace  like  brothers,  instead  of  tearing  each  other  in  pieces 
like  lions ;  a  name  which  had  served  as  an  ensign  to  secure  their  triumph  over 
Mohammedan  legions :  this  name,  now  disfigured  by  sacrilegious  hands,  became 
a  type  of  discord;  and  after  Europe  had  been  covered  with  blood  and  mourning, 
the  scandal  was  transported  to  the  nations  of  the  New  World.  These  simple 
and  confiding  nations  were  stricken  with  stupefaction  on  seeing  the  miseries, 
the  spirit  of  division,  hatred,  and  revenge  which  reigned  among  the  same  men 
upon  whom  they  had  just  looked  as  demigods. 

From  that  time  forward,  the  forces  of  Europe  were  not  united  in  any  of  those 
great  enterprises  which  had  shed  so  much  glory  on  previous  ages.  The  Catho- 
lic missionary,  watering  the  Indian  or  American  forests  with  his  sweat  and  blood, 
could  reckon  on  the  assistance  of  the  nation  to  which  he  belonged,  if  that  nation 
remained  Catholic ;  but  he  could  not  hope  that  all  Europe,  uniting  in  the  work 
of  Grod,  would  come  to  sustain  the  distant  missions  with  her  resources ;  he  knew, 
on  the  contrary,  that  a  great  many  Europeans  would  calumniate  and  insult  him, 
and  use  all  imaginable  means  to  prevent  the  seed  of  the  gospel  from  taking  root 
on  the  new  soil,  and  increasing  the  power  of  the  Popes,  by  adding  to  the  renown 
of  the  Catholic  Church. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  profanations  of  the  Mussulmen  in  Jerusalem,  and 
the  injuries  inflicted  on  the  pilgrims  who  visited  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  were  suf- 
ficient to  arouse  the  indignation  of  all  Christian  nations.  They  all  uttered  the 
cry,  To  arms!  and  in  crowds  they  followed  the  monk  who  led  them  to  avenge 
the  outrages  against  religion  and  the  pious  pilgrims.  After  the  heresy  of 
Luther,  all  was  changed  :  the  death  of  a  missionary  sacrificed  in  a  foreign  land, 
his  torments  and  martyrdom,  sublime  scenes  in  which  the  zeal  and  charity  of 
the  first  ages  of  the  Church  reappeared  with  all  their  energy :  all  this  was 
devoted  to  contempt  and  ridicule  by  men  who  called  themselves  Christians — 
the  unworthy  posterity  of  the  heroes  whose  blood  had  flowed  under  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem. 

In  order  to  conceive  in  its  full  extent  the  evil  caused  by  Protestantism  in 
this  respect,  let  us  imagine  for  a  moment  that  Protestantism  had  not  appeared; 
and  in  this  hypothesis,  let  us  make  a  few  reflections  on  the  probable  course  of 
events.  In  the  first  place,  all  the  strength,  genius,  and  resources  which  Spain 
employed  to  make  head  in  the  religious  wars  excited  on  the  continent,  would 
have  been  able  to  exert  themselves  in  the  New  World.  The  same  would  have 
been  the  case  with  France,  the  Low  Countries,  and  England.  These  nations, 


264  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

although  divided,  have  been  able  to  furnish  brilliant  and  glorious  pages  in  his- 
tory ;  if  their  action  on  the  new  countries  had  been  united  and  concentrated, 
would  they  not  have  exerted  a  vigor  and  energy  which  would  have  been  irre- 
sistible ?  Imagine  all  the  ports  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Adriatic  sending  their 
missionaries  to  the  East  and  to  the  West,  as  did  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  and 
Italy ;  imagine  all  the  great  cities  of  Europe  as  so  many  centres  where  means 
for  this  great  object  are  collected ;  imagine  all  the  missionaries  guided  by  the 
same  views,  under  the  influence  of  the  same  thought,  and  burning  with  the  same 
zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  same  faith ;  wherever  they  meet,  they  meet  as 
brothers,  and  co-operate  in  the  common  cause ;  all  are  under  the  same  autho- 
rity :  do  you  not  imagine  that  you  see  the  Christian  religion  exerting  herself 
on  an  immense  scale,  and  everywhere  gaining  the  most  signal  triumphs  ?  The 
vessel  which  bears  the  apostolic  men  to  distant  regions  may  fearlessly  unfurl 
her  sails ;  when  she  discovers  the  flag  of  another  country  on  the  horizon,  she 
is  under  no  apprehension  of  meeting  with  enemies ;  she  is  sure  of  finding  friends 
and  brothers  wherever  there  are  Europeans. 

The  Catholic  missions,  in  spite  of  the  obstacles  which  have  been  opposed  to 
them  by  the  turbulent  spirit  of  Protestantism,  have  accomplished  the  most 
difficult  enterprises,  and  realized  prodigies  which  form  a  brilliant  page  in 
modern  history  ;  but  how  much  nobler  would  have  been  their  results,  if  Italy, 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  France  had  been  supported  by  the  whole  of  G-ermany,  the 
United  Provinces,  England,  and  other  northern  nations  ?  This  association  was 
natural,  and  must  have  been  realized,  had  not  the  schism  of  Luther  destroyed 
it.  It  may  be  observed,  moreover,  that  this  fatal  event  not  only  placed  an 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  universal  association,  but  hindered  the  Catholic  nations 
themselves  from  devoting  the  greatest  part  of  their  resources  to  the  great  work 
of  converting  and  regenerating  the  world :  they  were  compelled  to  remain  con- 
tinually under  arms,  on  account  of  religious  wars  and  civil  discords.  At  this 
epoch  the  religious  orders  were  apparently  called  to  be  the  arm  of  religion  ;  by 
their  means  religion,  consolidated  in  Europe  and  satisfied  with  the  social  rege- 
neration which  she  had  just  worked,  would  have  extended  her  action  to  the  infi- 
del nations. 

When  we  glance  over  the  course  of  events  during  the  earliest  ages  of  the 
Church,  and  compare  them  with  those  of  modern  times,  we  clearly  see  that 
some  powerful  cause  must  have  interfered  in  modern  times  to  oppose  the  pro- 
pagation of  the  faith.  Christianity  appears,  and  she  extends  herself  imme- 
diately with  rapidity,  without  any  aid  on  the  part  of  men,  and  in  spite  of  all 
the  efforts  of  princes,  sages,  priests,  the  passions,  and  of  all  the  stratagems  of 
hell.  She  is  but  of  yesterday,  and  already  she  is  powerful,  and  prevails  in  all 
parts  of  the  empire ;  nations  differing  in  language  and  manners,  nations  of 
various  degrees  of  civilization,  abandon  the  worship  of  their  false  gods,  and 
embrace  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  barbarians  themselves,  as  intract- 
able and  indomitable  as  wild  horses,  listen  to  the  missionaries  who  are  sent  to 
them,  and  bow  their  heads ;  in  the  midst  of  conquest  and  victory,  they  are  seen 
to  embrace  the  religion  of  those  whom  they  have  just  conquered.  Christianity 
in  modern  times  has  been  in  possession  of  the  exclusive  empire  of  Europe ;  and 
yet  she  has  not  been  able  to  succeed  in  introducing  herself  again  on  the  coasts 
of  Africa  and  Asia,  which  lie  under  her  eye.  It  is  true,  that  the  greatest  part 
of  America  is  become  Christian ;  but  observe,  that  the  nations  of  those  countries 
have  been  conquered;  there  the  conquering  nations  have  established  those 
governments  which  have  lasted  for  ages ;  the  European  nations  have  inundated 
the  New  World  with  their  soldiers  and  colonies,  so  that  a  considerable  portion 
of  America  is  a  kind  of  importation  from  Europe;  consequently,  the  religious 
transformation  of  that  country  does  not  resemble  that  which  took  place  in  the 
early  ages  of  the  Church.  Turn  towards  the  West,  where  European  arms  have 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  265 

not  obtained  a  decided  preponderance ;  see  what  takes  place  there :  the  nations 
are  still  under  the  yoke  of  false  religions.  Christianity  has  not  been  able  to 
enlighten  them ;  although  the  Catholic  missions  have  obtained  the  means  of 
founding  a  few  establishments  more  or  less  considerable,  the  precious  seed  has 
not  been  able  to  take  sufficient  root  in  the  soil,  in  order  to  bear  the  fruits  which 
ardent  charity  hoped  for,  and  heroic  zeal  labored  to  produce.  From  time  to 
time,  the  rays  of  divine  light  have  penetrated  to  the  heart  of  the  great  empires 
of  Japan  and  China ;  at  certain  moments  flattering  hopes  might  be  conceived ; 
but  these  hopes  have  been  dissipated,  these  rays  of  light  have  disappeared  like 
a  brilliant  meteor  amidst  the  darkness  of  midnight. 

What  is  the  cause  of  this  impotence  ?  whence  comes  it  that  the  fertilizing 
power,  after  having  been  so  great  in  the  first  ages,  had  proved  so  vain  in  the 
last  ?  Let  us  not  examine  the  profound  secrets  of  Providence,  or  seek  to  inquire 
into  the  incomprehensible  mysteries  of  the  Divine  ways ;  but  as  far  as  it  is  given 
to  a  feeble  spirit  to  learn  the  truth  by  the  evidences  contained  in  the  history  of 
the  Church,  as  far  as  it  is  allowed  us  to  carry  our  conjectures  on  the  designs  of  the 
Most  High,  according  to  the  indications  which  the  Lord  himself  has  been  pleased 
to  communicate  to  us,  let  us  hazard  an  opinion  on  the  facts  :  although  dependent 
on  a  superior  order,  they  yet  have  an  ordinary  course,  which  is  regulated  by 
God  himself.  The  apostle  St.  Paul  says  that  faith  comes  from  hearing.  He 
asks,  how  it  is  possible  to  hear,  if  there  is  no  one  who  preaches,  and  how  can 
there  be  preaching,  if  there  is  no  one  who  sends  ?  Hence,  we  must  conclude 
that  missions  are  necessary  for  the  conversion  of  nations,  since  God  has  not 
thought  fit  by  constant  miracles  to  send  legions  of  angels  from  heaven  to  teach 
the  nations  who  are  deprived  of  the  light  of  the  earth. 

Having  laid  down  this  principle,  I  will  say  that  what  was  required  for  the 
conversion  of  infidel  nations  was  the  organization  of  missions  on  a  large  scale. 
There  were  required  missions  which,  by  the  abundance  of  their  resources  and 
the  number  of  their  laborers,  might  be  in  proportion  to  the  greatness  of  the 
object.  Observe  that  the  distances  are  immense,  that  the  nations  to  whom  the 
divine  word  is  to  be  announced  are  dispersed  in  many  countries,  and  live  under 
the  influence  of  laws,  prejudices,  and  climates  the  most  opposite  to  the  spirit  of 
the  Gospel.  To  make  head  against  such  vast  wants,  and  surmount  such  great 
difficulties,  there  was  required  a  perfect  inundation  of  missionaries;  without 
whom  the  result  would  remain  doubtful,  the  existence  of  religious  establishments 
very  precarious,  and  the  conversion  of  great  nations  little  probable,  unless  Pro- 
vidence interfered  by  one  of  >those  prodigies  which  change  the  face  of  the  world 
in  an  instant.  Now  Providence  does  not  renew  these  prodigies  every  moment; 
sometimes  he  does  not  even  accord  them  to  the  most  ardent  supplications  of  the 
Saints. 

In  order  to  form  a  complete  idea  of  what  took  place  in  the  latter  ages,  let  us 
pay  attention  to  what  exists.  What  is  wanting  to  infidel  nations  ?  What  is 
the  incessant  cry  of  the  zealous  men  who  devote  themselves  to  the  propagation 
of  the  Gospel  ?  Do  we  not  constantly  hear  lamentations  on  the  small  number 
of  laborers,  and  on  the  scanty  resources  which  are  devoted  to  the  subsistence  of 
the  missionaries  ?  Is  not  this  penury  of  resources  the  cause  of  the  associations 
now  formed  among  the  Catholics  of  Europe  ? 

The  organization  of  missions  on  a  large  scale  would  have  been  realized  if 
Protestantism  had  not  come  to  prevent  it.  The  nations  of  Europe,  the  privi- 
leged children  of  Providence,  had  the  obligation  and  showed  a  decided  will  to 
procure  for  the  other  nations  of  the  world,  by  all  the  means  in  their  power,  a 
participation  in  the  benefits  of  the  faith.  Unhappily  this  faith  was  weakened 
in  Europe,  it  was  given  up  to  the  caprices  of  human  reason,  and  henceforth  what 
had  before  been  of  easy  execution  became  impossible.  Providence,  which  bad 
permitted  the  deplorable  disaster  of  the  schism,  permits  also  to  be  deferred  to  a 
34  X 


266  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

more  remote  period  the  happy  day  when  the  benighted  nations  shall  enter  in 
great  numbers  into  the  fold  of  the  Church. 

But  perhaps  I  shall  be  told  that  the  zeal  of  modern  Catholicity  is  not  that  of 
the  early  ages  of  Christianity,  and  this  is  one  of  the  reasons  which  have  pre- 
vented the  conversion  of  infidel  nations.  I  will  not  make  a  long  comparison  on 
this  point ;  I  will  not  say  all  that  might  be  said ;  I  will  content  myself  with 
making  an  observation  which  will  remove  the  difficulty  at  once.  Our  Divine 
Saviour,  in  order  to  send  His  disciples  to  preach  the  Gospel,  wished  that  they 
should  abandon  all  they  had  and  follow  Him.  The  same  Saviour,  revealing  to 
us  the  infallible  sign  of  true  charity,  tells  us  that  there  is  nothing  greater  than 
to  give  one's  life  for  one's  brethren.  The  Catholic  missionaries  of  the  three 
last  centuries  have  renounced  all,  have  abandoned  their  country,  their  families, 
all  the  comforts  of  life,  all  that  can  engage  the  heart  of  man  on  earth ;  they 
have  gone  to  seek  the  infidels  amid  the  most  imminent  dangers,  and  they  have 
sealed  with  their  blood,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  their  ardor  for  the  conversion 
of  their  brethren,  and  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  I  believe  that  such  missionaries 
are  worthy  of  succeeding  to  those  of  the  first  ages  of  the  Church ;  all  declama- 
tions and  calumnies  are  impotent  before  the  triumphant  evidence  of  facts.  The 
Church  of  the  early  ages  would  be  honored,  like  that  of  our  times,  by  a  St. 
Francis  Xavier  and  the  martyrs  of  Japan. 

We  have  spoken,  also,  of  the  abundance  of  the  missionaries.  The  Church 
had  a  wonderful  fecundity  for  the  conversion  of  the  ancient  and  barbarian 
world.  At  her  first  appearance,  the  fiery  tongues  of  the  Cenacle  and  the  multi- 
tude of  prodigies  made  up  for  numbers,  and  multiplied  the  servants  of  God. 
Nations  of  different  languages,  listening  to  the  same  discourse,  heard  it  at  the 
same  time  each  one  in  his  own  tongue ;  but  after  this  first  impulse,  by  which 
the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  confound  the  powers  of  hell,  things  followed  the 
ordinary  course,  and  a  greater  number  of  missionaries  was  required  for  a  greater 
number  of  conversions.  The  great  centres  of  faith  and  charity,  the  numerous 
churches  of  the  East  and  West,  furnished  in  abundance  the  apostolic  men  neces- 
sary for  the  propagation  of  the  faith;  and  this  sacred  army  had  a  powerful 
reserve  at  hand  ready  to  make  up  its  deficiencies  when  sickness,  fatigues,  and 
martyrdom  had  thinned  its  ranks.  Rome  was  the  centre  of  this  great  move- 
ment }  but  Rome,  in  order  to  give  the  impulse,  had  no  need  either  of  fleets 
ready  to  transport  the  holy  colonies  to  many  thousand  places,  or  of  great 
treasures  to  support  missionaries  in  desert  regions  and  countries  altogether 
unknown.  WThen  the  missionary,  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff, 
asked  his  apostolical  benediction,  the  holy  father  could  send  him  in  peace  with 
his  pastoral  staff  alone ;  he  knew  that  the  Gospel  envoy  was  about  to  traverse 
Christian  countries,  and  that  even  in  idolatrous  lands  he  would  not  be  far  from 
princes  already  converted,  from  bishops,  priests,  and  faithful  nations ;  none  of 
whom  would  refuse  succor  to  him  who  went  to  sow  the  divine  word  in  the 
neighboring  countries. 

I  leave  the  reflections  which  I  have  just  made,  on  the  injury  done  to  the  influ- 
ence of  Europe  by  the  schism  of  Protestantism,  with  confidence  to  the  judgment 
of  thinking  men.  I  am  deeply  convinced  that  this  influence  thereby  received  a 
terrible  blow.  Without  the  fatal  event  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  condition 
of  the  world  would  now  be  very  different  from  what  it  is.  I  may,  no  doubt, 
delude  myself  in  some  degree  on  this  point ;  but  I  will  appeal  to  simple  good 
sense  whether  it  is  not  true,  that  unity  of  action,  of  principles,  and  of  views,  the 
combination  of  resources,  and  the  association  of  agents,  are  not  in  all  things  the 
secret  of  success,  and  the  surest  guarantee  for  a  happy  result.  I  will  then  ask 
whether  Protestantism  did  not  break  this  unity,  render  this  combination  impos- 
sible, and  this  association  impracticable  ?  Are  not  these  facts  indisputable,  as 
clear  as  the  light  of  day  ?  These  fasts  are  recent — they  are  of  yesterday ;  what 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  267 

is  their  consequence  ?  what  deduction  should  be  drawn  from  them  ?  Let  impar- 
tiality, good  sense,  and  mere  common  sense,  answer  me,  if  they  be  only  accom- 
panied by  good  faith. 

To  every  thinking  man,  it  is  evident  that  Europe  is  not  what  she  would  have 
been  without  the  appearance  of  Protestantism ;  and  certainly  it  is  not  less  evi- 
dent, that  the  results  of  its  civilizing  influence  on  the  world  have  not  answered 
the  promises  of  the  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Let  Protestants  boast 
of  having  given  a  new  direction  to  European  civilization ;  let  them  vaunt  of 
having  enfeebled  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Popes,  by  removing  millions  of  souls 
from  the  sacred  fold ;  let  them  glory  in  having  destroyed  the  religious  orders  in 
countries  subject  to  their  dominion — of  having  broken  in  pieces  the  ecclesiastical 
hierarchy,  and  thrown  the  Bible  in  the  midst  of  ignorant  crowds,  with  the 
assurance  that,  to  understand  the  sacred  volume,  private  inspiration  or  the  judg- 
ment of  natural  reason  was  enough ;  yet  it  is  not  the  less  certain  that  the  unity 
of  the  Christian  religion  has  disappeared  among  them,  that  they  want  a  centre 
whence  great  efforts  may  proceed,  that  they  are  without  a  guide,  wandering  like 
a  flock  without  a  shepherd,  blown  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,  and  unable 
to  bring  forth  the  least  of  those  great  works  which  Catholicity  has  produced, 
and  still  produces,  in  such  abundance ;  it  is  not  the  less  certain  that,  by  their 
eternal  disputes,  their  calumnies,  their  attacks  upon  the  dogmas  and  the  disci- 
pline of  the  Church,  they  have  compelled  the  latter  to  hold  herself  in  an  atti- 
tude of  defence — to  contend  for  three  centuries,  depriving  her  of  the  precious 
time  and  means  which  she  would  have  used  to  complete  the  great  projects  in- 
tended by  her,  and  already  so  happily  begun.  Is  it  a  merit  to  divide  men,  to 
provoke  discord,  to  excite  wars,  to  change  brother  nations  into  enemies,  to  con- 
vert the  great  family-party  of  nations  into  an  arena  for  rancorous  strife  ?  Is  it 
a  merit  to  throw  discredit  on  the  missionaries  who  go  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
infidel  nations — to  place  all  imaginable  obstacles  in  their  way — to  employ  every 
means  to  render  their  zeal  useless,  and  their  charity  without  result  ?  If,  indeed, 
all  this  be  a  merit,  then  I  acknowledge  that  this  merit  belongs  to  Protestantism ; 
but  if  all  this  be  disastrous,  and  injurious  to  humanity,  it  is  Protestantism  which 
must  be  responsible  for  it. 

When  Luther  said  that  he  was  charged  with  a  high  mission,  he  spoke  the 
truth,  but  a  fearful  and  alarming  truth,  and  one  which  he  did  not  understand. 
The  sins  of  nations  sometimes  fill  up  the  measure  of  the  patience  of  the  Most 
High.  The  sound  of  human  offences  mounts  to  heaven,  and  calls  for  vengeance; 
the  Eternal,  in  His  fearful  anger,  sends  down  a  look  of  fire  upon  the  earth ; 
then  strikes  the  fatal  hour  in  His  secret  and  infinite  resolves,  and  the  son  of 
perdition,  who  is  to  cover  the  world  with  mourning  and  desolation,  appears.  As 
the  cataracts  of  heaven  were  formerly  opened  to  sweep  the  human  race  from  the 
face  of  the  earth,  so  are  the  calamities  which  the  God  of  vengeance  holds  in 
reserve  for  the  day  of  His  anger,  poured  forth  from  their  urn  and  scattered  over 
the  world.  The  son  of  perdition  raises  his  voice ;  that  moment  is  marked  by 
the  beginning  of  the  catastrophe.  The  spirit  of  evil  moves  over  the  whole 
face  of  the  globe,  bearing  on  his  sable  pinions  the  echo  of  that  ominous  voice. 
An  incomprehensible  giddiness  takes  possession  of  men's  heads;  the  nations 
have  eyes,  and  see  not;  they  have  ears,  and  hear  not;  in  their  delirium,  the 
most  frightful  precipices  appear  to  them  smooth,  peaceful,  and  flowery  paths ; 
they  call  good  evil,  and  evil  good ;  they  drink  with  feverish  eagerness  of  the 
poisoned  cup ;  forgetfulness  of  all  the  past,  ingratitude  for  all  benefits,  seize  all 
minds;  the  work  of  the  genius  of  evil  is  consummated;  the  prince  of  the  rebel- 
lious spirits  may  again  bury  himself  in  his  empire  of  darkness ;  and  the  human 
race  has  learned,  by  a  terrible  lesson,  that  the  indignation  of  the  Most  High  is 
not  to  be  provoked  with  impunity. 


268 
CHAPTER  XLVI. 

THE   JESUITS. 

As  I  am  treating  of  religious  institutions,  I  must  not  pass  over  in  silence 
that  celebrated  order,  which,  from  the  first  years  of  its  existence,  assumed  the 
stature  of  a  colossus,  and  employed  all  a  giant's  strength;  that  order  which 
perished  without  having  felt  decay ;  which  did  not  follow  the  common  course 
of  others,  either  in  its  foundation,  in  its  development,  or  even  in  its  fall ;  that 
order  of  which  it  is  truly  and  correctly  said,  that  it  had  neither  infancy  nor  old 
age.  It  is  clear  that  I  speak  of  the  society  of  Jesus,  the  Jesuits.  The  name 
alone  will  be  enough  to  alarm  a  certain  class  of  readers;  and,  therefore,  in 
order  to  tranquillize  them,  I  will  say  that  I  do  not  here  undertake  to  write  an 
apology  for  the  Jesuits;  this  task  does  not  belong  to  the  character  of  my  work) 
moreover,  others  have  undertaken  it,  and  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  repeat 
what  is  well  known.  But  it  is  impossible  to  call  to  mind  the  religious  institu- 
tions, the  religious,  political,  and  literary  history  of  Europe,  during  the  last 
three  centuries,  without  meeting  the  Jesuits  at  every  step  :  we  cannot  travel  in 
the  most  distant  countries,  traverse  unknown  seas,  visit  the  most  remote  lands, 
or  penetrate  the  most  frightful  deserts,  without  finding  everywhere  under  our 
feet  some  memorials  of  the  Jesuits.  On  the  other  hand,  we  cannot  look  at  our 
libraries  without  immediately  remarking  the  writings  of  some  Jesuits.  Since 
this  is  the  case,  even  those  among  our  readers  who  have  the  greatest  horror  of 
them,  ought  to  pardon  us  for  fixing  our  attention  for  a  moment  on  this  institute 
which  has  filled  the  world  with  its  name.  Even  if  we  were  to  attach  no  im- 
portance to  their  modern  revival,  and  to  regard  their  present  existence  and  their 
probable  future  as  unworthy  of  examination,  it  would  still  be  altogether  inex- 
cusable not  to  speak  of  them,  at  least  as  a  historical  fact.  To  pass  them  over 
in  silence,  would  be  to  imitate  those  ignorant  and  heartless  travellers,  who,  with 
stupid  indifference,  tread  under  foot  the  most  interesting  ruins  and  the  most 
valuable  remains. 

When  we  study  the  history  of  the  Jesuits,  this  very  extraordinary  circum- 
stance is  apparent :  they  have  existed  only  for  a  few  years,  if  compared  with  the 
duration  of  other  religious  bodies,  and  yet  there  is  no  religious  order  which  has 
been  the  object  of  such  keen  animosity.  From  their  origin,  they  have  had 
numerous  enemies ;  never  have  they  been  free  from  them,  either  in  their  pros- 
perity and  greatness,  or  in  their  fall,  or  even  after  it ;  never  has  their  persecu- 
tion ceased ;  we  should  rather  say,  never  has  the  animosity  with  which  they 
have  been  pursued  ceased.  Since  their  reappearance,  men  have  constantly 
fixed  their  eyes  upon  them ;  they  tremble  lest  they  should  resume  their  ancient 
power ;  the  splendor  which  is  reflected  on  them  by  the  recollections  of  their 
brilliant  history  renders  them  visible  everywhere,  and  augments  the  fears  of 
their  enemies.  How  many  men  among  us  are  more  alarmed  at  the  foundation 
of  a  Jesuits'  college  than  at  an  irruption  of  Cossacks !  There  is,  therefore, 
something  very  singular  and  extraordinary  in  this  institute,  since  it  excites  the 
public  attention  in  so  high  a  degree,  and  its  mere  name  disconcerts  its  enemies. 
Men  do  not  despise  the  Jesuits,  but  they  fear  them ;  sometimes  they  attempt 
to  throw  ridicule  on  them ;  but  when  that  weapon  is  employed  against  them, 
it  is  felt  that  he  who  wields  it  is  not  sufficiently  calm  to  use  it  with  success.  In 
vain  does  he  attempt  to  affect  contempt ;  through  the  affectation  every  one  can 
perceive  disquietude  and  anxiety.  It  is  immediately  seen  that  he  who  attacks 
does  not  believe  himself  opposed  to  insignificant  adversaries.  His  bile  is  ex- 
cited, his  sallies  become  checked,  his  words,  steeped  in  a  fearful  bitterness,  fall 
from  his  mouth  like  drops  from  a  poisoned  cup ;  it  is  clear  that  he  takes  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  269 

affair  to  heart,  and  does  not  look  upon  it  as  a  mere  joke.  We  fancy  we  hear 
him  say  to  himself,  "Every  thing  affecting  the  Jesuits  is  extremely  grave; 
there  is  no  playing  with  these  men — no  regard,  no  indulgence,  no  moderation 
of  any  kind ;  it  is  necessary  always  to  treat  them  with  rigor,  harshness,  and 
detestation ;  with  them,  the  least  negligence  may  become  fatal." 

Unless  I  am  much  deceived,  this  is  the  best  demonstration  that  can  be  given 
of  the  eminent  merit  of  the  Jesuits.  It  must  be  the  same  with  classes  and  cor- 
porations as  with  individuals — very  extraordinary  merit  necessarily  excites  nu- 
merous enemies,  for  the  simple  reason  that  such  merit  is  always  envied,  and 
very  often  dreaded.  In  order  to  know  the  real  cause  of  this  implacable  hatred 
against  them,  it  is  enough  to  consider  who  are  their  principal  enemies.  We 
know  that  Protestants  and  infidels  figure  there  in  the  first  rank ;  in  the  second, 
we  remark  the  men  who,  with  more  or  less  clearness  and  resolution,  show  them- 
selves but  little  attached  to  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Church.  Both,  in  their 
hatred  against  the  Jesuits,  are  guided  by  a  very  rare  instinct,  for  truly  they 
have  never  met  with  a  more  redoubtable  adversary.  This  reflection  is  worthy 
of  the  attention  of  sincere  Catholics,  who,  for  one  cause  or  another,  entertain 
unjust  prejudices.  When  we  have  to  form  a  judgment  on  the  merit  and  con- 
duct of  a  man,  it  is  very  often  a  sure  means  of  deciding  between  contrary 
opinions  to  inquire  who  are  his  enemies. 

When  we  fix  our  attention  on  the  institute  of  the  Jesuits,  on  the  time  of  its 
foundation,  on  the  rapidity  and  greatness  of  its  progress,  we  find  the  important 
truth  which  I  have  before  pointed  out  more  and  more  confirmed,  viz.,  that  the 
Catholic  Church,  with  wonderful  fruitfulness,  always  furnishes  an  idea  worthy 
of  her  to  meet  all  the  necessities  which  arise.  Protestantism  opposed  the  Ca- 
tholic doctrines  with  the  pomp  and  parade  of  knowledge  and  learning;  the  eclat 
of  human  literature,  the  knowledge  of  languages,  the  taste  for  the  models  of 
antiquity,  were  all  employed  against  religion  with  a  constancy  and  ardour  worthy 
of  a  better  cause.  Incredible  efforts  were  made  to  destroy  the  pontifical  authority ; 
when  they  could  not  destroy  it,  they  attempted  at  least  to  weaken  and  discredit 
it.  The  evil  spread  with  fearful  rapidity ;  the  mortal  poison  already  circulated 
in  the  veins  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  European  nations :  the  contagion 
began  to  be  propagated  even  in  countries  which  had  remained  faithful  to  the  truth. 
To  complete  the  misfortune,  schism  and  heresy,  traversing  the  seas,  corrupted 
the  faith  of  the  simple  neophytes  of  the  New  World.  What  was  to  be  done  in 
such  a  crisis  ?  Could  such  great  evils  be  remedied  by  ordinary  means  ?  Was 
it  possible  to  make  head  against  such  great  and  imminent  perils  by  employing 
common  arms  ?  Was  it  not  proper  to  make  some  on  purpose  for  such  a  struggle, 
to  temper  the  cuirass  and  shield,  to  fit  them  for  this  new  kind  of  warfare,  in 
order  that  the  cause  of  truth  might  not  appear  in  the  new  arena  under  fatal 
disadvantages?  Who  can  doubt  that  the  appearance  of  the  Jesuits  was  the 
answer  to  these  questions,  that  their  institute  was  the  solution  of  the  problem  ? 

The  spirit  of  the  coming  ages  was  essentially  one  of  scientific  and  literary 
progress.  The  Jesuits  were  aware  of  this  truth ;  they  perfectly  understood  it. 

It  was  necessary  to  advance  with  rapidity  and  never  to  remain  behind :  this 
the  new  institute  does ;  it  takes  the  lead  in  all  sciences ;  it  allows  none  to  anti- 
cipate it.  Men  study  the  oriental  languages;  they  produce  great  works  on  the 
Bible ;  they  search  the  books  of  the  ancient  Fathers,  the  monuments  of  tradi- 
tion and  of  ecclesiastical  decisions :  in  the  midst  of  this  great  activity,  the  Jesuits 
are  at  their  posts ;  many  supereminent  works  issue  from  their  colleges.  The 
taste  for  dogmatical  controversy  is  spread  over  all  Europe :  many  schools  preserve 
and  love  the  scholastic  discussions :  immortal  works  of  controversy  come  from 
the  hands  of  the  Jesuits,  at  the  same  time  that  they  yield  to  none  in  skill  and 
penetration  in  the  schools.  The  mathematics,  astronomy,  all  the  natural 
sciences,  make  great  progress ;  learned  societies  are  formed  in  the  capitals  of 


270  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

Europe  to  cultivate  and  encourage  them :  in  these  societies  the  Jesuits  figure  in 
the  first  rank.  The  spirit  of  time  is  naturally  dissolvent :  the  institute  of  the 
Jesuits  is  interiorly  armed  against  dissolution ;  in  spite  of  the  rapidity  of  its 
course,  it  advances  in  a  compact  order,  like  the  mass  of  a  powerful  army.  The 
errors,  the  eternal  disputes,  the  multitude  of  the  new  opinions,  even  the  progress 
of  the  sciences,  by  exciting  men's  minds,  give  a  fatal  inconstancy  to  the  human 
intellect — an  impetuous  whirlwind,  agitating  and  stirring  up  all  things,  carries 
them  away.  The  order  of  the  Jesuits  appears  in  the  midst  of  this  whirlwind, 
but  it  partakes  neither  of  its  inconstancy  nor  of  its  variability ;  it  pursues  its 
career  without  losing  itself;  and  while  only  irregularity  and  vacillation  are  seen 
among  its  adversaries,  it  advances  with  a  sure  step,  tending  towards  its  object, 
like  a  planet  which  performs  its  orbit  according  to  fixed  laws.  The  authority 
of  the  Pope,  assailed  with  animosity  by  Protestants,  was  indirectly  attacked  by 
others  with  stratagem  and  dissimulation ;  the  Jesuits  showed  themselves  faith- 
fully attached  to  that  authority;  they  defend  it  wherever  it  is  threatened;  like 
vigilant  sentinels,  they  constantly  watch  over  the  preservation  of  Catholic  unity. 
Their  knowledge,  influence,  and  riches  never  aifect  their  profound  submission  to 
the  authority  of  the  Popes — a  submission  which  was  ever  their  distinctive  cha- 
racteristic. In  consequence  of  the  discovery  of  the  new  countries  in  the  east 
and  west,  a  taste  for  travelling,  for  observing  distant  countries,  for  the  know- 
ledge of  the  language,  manners,  and  customs  of  the  recently  discovered  nations, 
was  developed  in  Europe.  The  Jesuits,  spread  over  the  face  of  the  globe,  while 
preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  nations,  do  not  forget  the  study  of  the  thousand 
things  which  may  interest  cultivated  Europe;  and  at  their  return  from  their 
gigantic  expeditions,  they  are  seen  adding  their  valuable  treasures  to  the  common 
fund  of  modern  science. 

How,  then,  can  we  be  surprised  that  Protestants  have  been  so  violent  against 
an  institute  in  which  they  found  so  terrible  an  enemy ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  there  any  thing  more  natural  than  to  see  all  the  other  enemies  of  religion, 
enemies  some  of  whom  were  wholly  unmasked  and  some  partially  disguised, 
make  common  cause  with  Protestants  on  this  point  ?  The  Jesuits  were  a  wall 
of  brass  against  the  assaults  upon  the  Catholic  faith ;  it  was  resolved  to  under- 
mine and  overturn  this  rampart;  which  in  the  end  was  accomplished.  Very 
few  years  had  elapsed  since  the  suppression  of  the  Jesuits,  and  already  the 
memory  of  the  great  crimes  which  were  imputed  to  them  was  effaced  by  the 
ravages  of  an  unexampled  revolution.  Men  of  good  faith,  whose  excessive  con- 
fidence had  believed  perfidious  calumnies,  could  convince  themselves  that  the 
riches,  knowledge,  influence,  and  the  pretended  ambition  of  the  Jesuits,  would 
never  have  been  as  fatal  as  the  triumph  of  their  enemies ;  these  religious  men 
would  never  have  upset  a  throne  or  cut  off  the  head  of  a  king  on  the  scaffold. 

M.  Guizot,  in  glancing  at  European  civilization,  necessarily  encountered  the 
Jesuits;  and  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  he  has  not  done  them  the  justice  to 
which  they  are  entitled.  After  having  lamented  the  inconsistency  of  the  Pro- 
testant Reformation,  and  the  narrow  spirit  which  guided  it,  after  having  confessed 
that  Catholics  knew  very  well  what  they  did  and  what  they  wished,  and  that  they 
acted  up  to  the  principles  of  their  conduct  and  avowed  all  their  consequences, 
M.  Guizot  declares  that  there  never  was  a  more  consistent  government  than  that 
of  Rome,  and  that  the  court  of  Rome,  always  having  a  fixed  idea,  has  known 
how  to  pursue  a  consistent  and  regular  line  of  conduct;  he  extols  the  strength 
which  results  from  a  full  knowledge  of  what  one  does  and  what  one  wishes; 
he  shows  the  advantage  of  a  settled  design,  and  of  the  complete  and  absolute 
adoption  of  a  principle  and  system ;  that  is  to  say,  he  makes  a  brilliant  pane- 
gyric on,  and  a  powerful  apology  for,  the  Catholic  Church.  Nevertheless,  M. 
Guizot  finds  the  Jesuits  in  his  way,  and  unworthy  as  it  is  of  such  a  mind  as  his, 
which,  in  order  to  require  just  renown,  has  no  need  of  burning  incense  before 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  271 

vulgar  prejudices  or  mean  passions,  he  attempts,  in  passing,  to  throw  a  reproach 
upon  them.  "Every  one  knows/'  says  M.  Guizot,  "that  the  principal  power 
instituted  to  contend  against  the  religious  revolution,  was  the  order  of  the  Jesuits. 
Throw  a  glance  over  their  history ;  they  have  failed  everywhere ;  wherever  they 
have  interfered  to  any  extent,  they  have  brought  misfortune  to  the  cause  in  which 
they  have  engaged.  In  England  they  have  destroyed  kings,  in  Spain  nations." 
M.  Guizot  had  just  told  us  of  the  superiority  which  is  obtained  over  an  adver- 
sary by  regular  and  consistent  conduct,  by  the  complete  and  absolute  adoption 
of  a  system,  and  by  a  fixed  idea;  as  a  proof  of  all  this  he  showed  us  the  Jesuits, 
he  exhibited  to  us  in  them  the  expression  of  the  system  of  the  Church;  and 
behold,  without  any  explanation,  if  not  without  a  motive,  the  writer  suddenly 
changes  his  course ;  the  advantages  of  the  system  which  he  has  just  praised 
disappear  from  his  eyes ;  for  those  who  follow  this  system,  that  is  the  Jesuits 
themselves,  fail  everywhere,  and  everywhere  bring  misfortunes  on  the  cause 
which  they  embrace.  How  can  such  assertions  be  reconciled  ?  The  credit, 
influence,  and  sagacity  of  the  Jesuits  have  passed  into  a  proverb.  The  reproach 
against  them  was,  of  having  extended  their  views  too  far,  of  having  conceived 
ambitious  plans,  and  obtained  by  their  skill  a  decided  ascendency  in  all  the 
places  where  they  succeeded  in  gaining  entrance ;  Protestants  themselves  have 
openly  confessed  that  the  Jesuits  were  their  most  redoubtable  adversaries ;  it  was 
always  thought  that  the  foundation  of  the  order  had  an  immense  result,  and  now 
we  learn  from  M.  Guizot,  that  the  Jesuits  have  everywhere  failed ;  that  their 
support,  far  from  being  a  great  succour,  always  brought  fatality  and  misfortune 
to  the  cause  of  which  they  declared  themselves  the  advocates.  If  they  were 
such  fatal  servants,  why  were  their  services  sought  with  so  much  eagerness  ? 
If  they  always  conducted  affairs  so  ill,  why  have  the  most  important  ones  in  the 
end  fallen  into  their  hands  ?  Adversaries  so  foolish  or  so  unfortunate  certainly 
ought  not  to  have  excited  in  the  enemies'  camp  so  much  clamor  as  was  raised  at 
their  approach. 

"  In  England  the  Jesuits  have  destroyed  kings,  in  Spain  nations."  Nothing 
is  easier  than  these  bold  strokes  of  the  pen ;  the  whole  of  a  great  history  is 
traced  in  a  single  line,  and  an  infinity  of  facts,  grouped  and  confounded,  are 
made  to  pass  under  the  eye  of  the  reader  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning ;  the 
eye  has  not  even  time  to  look  at  them,  still  less  to  analyze  them  as  would  be 
necessary.  M.  Guizot  should  have  devoted  some  sentences  to  prove  his  assertion; 
he  should  have  stated  the  facts  and  pointed  out  the  reasons  on  which  he  builds, 
when  he  affirms  that  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits  has  had  so  fatal  an  effect. 
With  respect  to  the  kings  of  England  here  so  boldly  sacrificed,  I  cannot  enter 
into  an  examination  of  the  religious  and  political  revolutions  which  agitated  and 
desolated  the  three  kingdoms  for  two  centuries  after  the  schism  of  Henry  VIII. 
These  revolutions,  in  their  immense  circle,  have  presented  very  different  phases; 
disfigured  and  perverted  by  the  Protestants,  who  have  success  in  their  favor, 
that  decisive,  if  not  convincing  argument,  they  have  made  some  men  of  little 
reflection  believe  that  the  disasters  of  England  were  in  great  part  due  to  the 
imprudence  of  the  Catholics,  and,  as  an  indispensable  corollary,  to  the  pretended 
intrigues  of  the  Jesuits.  In  spite  of  this,  the  Catholic  movement  which  Eng- 
land has  witnessed  for  half  a  century,  and  the  great  works  which  every  day 
carry  on  the  restoration  of  Catholicity,  will  at  last  disperse  the  calumnies  by 
which  our  faith  has  been  stigmatized.  Before  long,  the  history  of  the  last  three 
centuries  will  be  restored  as  it  ought,  and  the  truth  will  appear  in  its  proper 
light.  This  observation  relieves  me  from  the  necessity  of  entering  into  details 
on  the  subject  of  the  first  assertion  of  M.  Guizot;  but  I  must  not  leave  without 
reply  what  he  so  gratuitously  affirms  on  the  subject  of  Spain. 

"  The  Jesuits  have  destroyed  nations  in  Spain,"  says  M.  Guizot;  I  wish  that 
the  publicist  had  explained  to  us  to  what  great  disaster  he  alluded.     To  what 


272  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

period  does  he  refer  ?  I  have  examined  our  history,  and  T  do  not  find  this  de- 
struction which  was  caused  by  the  Jesuits ;  I  cannot  imagine  whereon  the  his- 
torian fixed  his  eyes  when  he  pronounced  these  words.  Nevertheless,  the 
antithesis  between  Spain  and  England,  between  nations  and  kings,  leads  us  to 
suspect  that  M.  Guizot  alluded  to  the  shipwreck  of  political  liberty ;  we  are  not 
aware  that  there  is  any  other  better-founded  or  more  legitimate  interpretation. 
But  then  a  new  difficulty  presents  itself :  how  can  we  believe  that  a  man  so 
versed  in  the  knowledge  of  history,  composing  a  course  of  lectures  which  is  par- 
ticularly devoted  to  the  general  history  of  European  civilization,  should  fall  into 
a  palpable  error, — should  commit  an  unpardonable  anachronism  ?  Indeed,  what- 
ever may  be  the  judgments  of  publicists  on  the  causes  which  have  produced  the 
loss  of  liberty  in  Spain,  and  on  the  important  events  of  the  days  of  the  Catholic 
sovereigns,  of  Philippe  le  Beau,  of  Jeanne-la-Folle,  and  the  regency  of  Cisneros, 
all  are  unanimous  in  saying  that  the  war  of  the  Commons  was  the  critical  mo- 
ment, decisive  of  the  liberty  of  Spain ;  all  are  agreed  that  the  two  parties  played 
their  last  stake  at  that  time,  and  that  the  battle  of  Villalar  and  the  punishment 
of  Padilla,  by  confirming  and  increasing  the  royal  power,  destroyed  the  last 
hopes  of  the  partisans  of  the  ancient  liberties.  Well,  the  battle  of  Villalar  was 
fought  in  1521 ;  at  that  time  the  Jesuits  did  not  exist,  and  St.  Ignatius,  their 
founder,  was  still  a  brilliant  knight,  battling  like  a  hero  under  the  walls  of 
Pampeluna.  To  this  there  is  no  reply;  all  philosophy  and  eloquence  are  unable 
to  efface  these  dates. 

During  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Cortes  met  more  or  less  often,  and  with 
more  or  less  influence,  above  all  in  the  kingdom  of  Aragon ;  but  it  is  as  clear 
as  daylight  that  the  royal  power  had  every  thing  under  its  domination,  that 
nothing  could  resist  it,  and  the  unfortunate  attempt  of  the  Aragonese,  at  the 
time  of  the  affair  of  Don  Antonio  Perez,  sufficiently  shows  that  there  existed 
then  no  remains  of  ancient  liberty  which  could  oppose  the  will  of  kings.  Some 
years  after  the  war  of  the  Commons,  Charles  V.  gave  the  coup  de  grace  to  the 
Cortes  of  Castile,  by  excluding  from  it  the  clergy  and  the  nobles,  to  leave  only 
the  Estamento  de  Procuradores,  a  feeble  rampart  against  the  exigencies,  against 
the  all-powerful  attempts  of  a  monarch  on  whose  dominions  the  sun  never  set. 
This  exclusion  took  place  in  1538,  at  the  time  when  St.  Ignatius  was  still  occu- 
pied with  the  foundation  of  his  order ;  the  Jesuits,  therefore,  could  have  had  no 
influence  therein. 

Still  more,  the  Jesuits,  after  their  establishment  in  Spain,  never  employed 
their  influence  against  the  liberty  of  the  people.  From  their  pulpits  they  did 
not  teach  doctrines  favorable  to  despotism ;  if  they  reminded  the  people  of  their 
duties,  they  also  reminded  kings  of  theirs;  if  they  wished  the  rights  of  monarchs 
to  be  respected,  they  would  not  allow  those  of  the  people  to  be  trodden  under 
foot.  To  prove  the  truth  of  this,  I  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  those  who  have 
read  the  writings  of  the  Jesuits  of  that  time  on  questions  of  public  law.  "  The 
Jesuits/'  says  M.  Guizot,  "were  called  to  contend  against  the  general  course 
of  events,  against  the  development  of  modern  civilization,  against  the  liberty  of 
the  human  mind/'  If  the  general  course  of  events  is  nothing  but  the  course 
of  Protestantism,  if  the  development  of  Protestantism  is  the  development  of 
modern  civilization,  if  the  liberty  of  the  human  mind  consists  only  in  the  fatal 
pride,  in  the  mad  independence  which  the  pretended  reformers  communicated 
to  it,  then  nothing  is  more  true  than  the  assertion  of  the  publicist ;  but  if  the 
preservation  of  Catholicity  is  a  fact  of  any  weight  in  the  history  of  Europe,  if 
her  influence  during  the  last  three  centuries  has  amounted  to  any  thing,  if  the 
reigns  of  Charles  V.,  Philip  II.,  Louis  XIV.,  do  not  deserve  to  be  effaced  from 
modern  history,  and  if  regard  ought  to  be  had  to  that  immense,  counterpoise  to 
which  was  owing  the  equilibrium  of  the  two  religions ;  in  fine,  if  the  faith  of 
Descartes,  Malebranche,  Bossuet,  and  Fenelon,  can  make  a  dignified  appearance 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  273 

in  the  picture  of  modern  civilization,  it  is  impossible  to  understand  how  the 
Jesuits,  when  intrepidly  defending  Catholicity,  could  be  struggling  against  the 
general  course  of  events,  against  the  development  of  modern  civilization,  and 
against  the  freedom  of  human  thought. 

After  having  made  this  first  false  step,  M.  Guizot  continues  to  slip  in  a  de- 
plorable manner.  I  particularly  call  the  attention  of  my  readers  to  the  follow- 
ing evident  contradictions  :  "  With  the  Jesuits,  there  is  no  falat,  no  grandeur. 
They  have  performed  no  brilliant  exploits."  The  publicist  entirely  forgets  what 
he  has  just  advanced,  or  rather  he  directly  retracts  it,  when  he  adds,  a  few  lines 
further,  "and  yet,  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  they  have  had  grandeur; 
a  grand  idea  belongs  to  their  names,  to  their  influence,  and  to  their  history.  It 
is  because  they  knew  what  they  did,  and  what  they  wished ;  it  is  because  they 
had  a  clear  and  full  knowledge  of  the  principles  on  which  they  acted,  and  of  the 
end  towards  which  they  tended ;  that  is  to  say,  because  they  have  had  grandeur 
of  thought  and  of  will."*  Is  genius  in  its  vastest  enterprises,  in  the  realization 
of  its  most  gigantic  projects,  any  thing  more  than  a  grand  idea  and  a  grand 
intention?  The  mind  conceives,  the  will  executes;  this  fashions  the  model, 
that  makes  the  application  •  if  there  be  grandeur  in  the  model  and  in  the  appli- 
cation, how  can  the  whole  work  fail  to  be  grand  ? 

Pursuing  the  task  of  lowering  the  Jesuits,  M.  Guizot  makes  a  parallel  be- 
tween them  and  the  Protestants ;  he  confounds  ideas  in  such  a  way,  and  so  far 
forgets  the  nature  of  things,  that  one  would  hardly  believe  it,  if  the  words  them- 
selves did  not  prove  it  beyond  a  doubt.  Forgetting  that  it  is  necessary  for  the 
terms  of  a  comparison  not  to  be  of  a  totally  different  kind,  which  renders  all 
comparison  impossible,  M.  Guizot  compares  a  religious  institute  with  whole 
nations ;  he  goes  so  far  as  to  reproach  the  Jesuits  with  not  having  raised  the 
people  en  masse,  and  with  not  having  changed  the  form  and  condition  of  states. 
Here  is  the  passage :  "  They  have  acted  in  subterraneous,  dark,  and  inferior 
ways ;  in  ways  which  were  not  at  all  apt  to  strike  the  imagination,  or  to  con- 
ciliate for  them  that  public  interest  which  attaches  itself  to  great  things,  what- 
ever may  be  their  principle  and  end.  The  party  against  which  they  contended, 
on  the  contrary,  not  only  conquered,  but  conquered  with  eclat;  it  has  done 
great  things  and  by  great  means ;  it  has  aroused  nations ;  it  has  filled  Europe 
with  great  men ;  it  has  changed  the  form  and  the  lot  of  nations  in  the  face  of 
day.  In  a  word,  all  has  been  against  the  Jesuits,  both  fortune  and  appear- 
ances." Without  intending  to  offend  M.  Guizot,  let  us  avow,  that  for  the  honor 
of  his  logic,  one  would  desire  t&  efface  from  his  writings  such  phrases  as  we  have 
just  read.  What !  ought  the  Jesuits  to  have  put  the  nations  in  motion,  made 
them  arise  en  masse,  and  changed  the  form  and  condition  of  states  ?  Would 
they  not  have  been  extraordinary  religious  men,  if  they  had  been  allowed  to  do 
such  things  ?  It  was  said  of  the  Jesuits  that  they  had  unbounded  ambition, 
and  that  they  attempted  to  rule  the  world ;  and  now  they  are  compared  with 
their  adversaries  in  order  to  throw  it  in  their  faces  that  the  latter  have  over- 
turned the  world ;  a  distinguished  merit,  which  must  have  been  a  disgrace  to 
the  Jesuits  themselves.  Indeed,  the  Jesuits  have  never  attempted  to  imitate 
their  adversaries  on  this  point ;  with  respect  to  the  spirit  of  confusion  and  per- 
turbation, they  joyfully  yield  the  palm  to  those  to  whom  it  rightly  belongs. 

As  far  as  great  men  are  concerned,  if  the  question  be  with  respect  to  the 
greatness  of  the  enterprises  which  are  becoming  in  a  minister  of  the  God  of 
peace,  then  have  the  Jesuits  had  this  kind  of  grandeur  in  an  eminent  degree. 
Whether  it  be  in  the  most  arduous  affairs,  or  in  the  vastest  projects  in  science 
and  literature,  whether  it  be  in  the  most  distant  missions,  or  in  the  most 
redoubtable  perils,  the  Jesuits  have  never  remained  behind ;  on  the  contrary, 
they  have  been  seen  to  display  a  spirit  so  bold  and  enterprising,  that  they  have 
thereby  obtained  the  most  distinguished  renown.  If  the  great  men  of  whom 
35 


274  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

M.  Guizot  speaks  are  restless  tribunes,  who,  putting  themselves  at  the  haad  of 
an  ungovernable  people,  violated  the  public  peace,  if  they  are  the  Protestant 
warriors  whose  names  have  shone  in  the  wars  of  Germany,  France,  and  Eng- 
land, the  comparison  is  foolish,  and  has  no  meaning ;  for  priests  and  warriors, 
religious  and  tribunes,  are  so  distinct,  so  different  in  actions  and  character,  that 
to  compare  them  is  impossible. 

Justice  required  that  in  such  a  parallel,  where  the  Jesuits  are  taken  as  one 
of  the  terms  of  the  comparison,  Protestants  should  not  be  placed  on  the  other, 
unless  by  them  the  reformed  ministers  are  meant.  Even  in  this  later  case  the 
comparison  would  not  have  been  absolutely  exact,  since,  in  the  midst  of  the 
great  differences  between  the  two  religions,  the  Jesuits  are  not  found  alone  in 
defending  Catholicity.  The  Church,  during  the  last  three  centuries,  has  had 
great  prelates,  holy  priests,  eminent  savants,  and  writers  of  the  first  order,  who 
did  not  belong  to  the  company  of  Jesus;  the  Jesuits  were  reckoned  among  the 
principal  champions,  but  they  were  not  the  only  ones.  Had  it  been  wished 
fairly  to  compare  Protestantism  with  Catholicity,  it  would  have  been  requisite 
to  oppose  Protestant  to  Catholic  nations,  to  compare  priests  with  priests,  savants 
with  savants,  politicians  with  politicians,  warriors  with  warriors ;  to  do  other- 
wise is  monstrously  to  confound  names  and  things,  and  to  reckon  too  much  on 
the  limited  understandings  and  excessive  simplicity  of  hearers  and  readers. 
It  is  certain  that  if  the  method  we  have  pointed  out  were  adopted,  Protestant- 
ism would  not  appear  so  brilliant  and  superior  as  the  publicist  has  exhibited  it 
to  us.  Catholics,  as  M.  Guizot  well  knows,  do  not  yield  to  Protestants  in 
letters,  in  war,  or  in  political  ability.  History  is  there ;  let  it  be  consulted. 


CHAPTER  XLYII. 

THE   FUTURE   OF   RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS. — THEIR   PRESENT   NECESSITY. 

WHEN,  after  having  fixed  our  eyes  on  the  vast  and  interesting  picture  which 
religious  communities  present  to  us,  after  having  called  to  mind  their  origin, 
their  varied  forms,  their  vicissitudes  of  poverty  and  riches,  of  depression  and 
prosperity,  of  coldness  and  of  fervor,  of  relaxation  and  strict  reform,  we  see 
them  still  subsist  and  arise  anew  on  all  sides,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  their 
enemies,  we  naturally  ask  what  will  be  their  future  ?  their  past  is  full  of  glory ; 
what  influence  have  they  not  exerted  in  society,  under  a  thousand  different 
aspects,  and  in  the  thousand  phases  of  society  itself?  Yet  what  spectacle  do 
they  show  us  in  modern  times?  On  one  hand  they  have  been  weakened,  like 
an  old  wall  which  we  see  ruined  by  the  effect  of  time ;  on  the  other  we  have 
seen  them  suddenly  disappear,  like  weak  trees  overthrown  by  the  whirlwind. 
Moreover,  they  seemed  to  be  condemned  by  the  spirit  of  the  age  without  appeal. 
Matter  having  become  supreme,  extended  its  empire  on  all  sides,  scarcely 
allowing  the  mind  a  moment  for  reflection  and  meditation  ',  industry  and  com- 
merce, carrying  their  turmoil  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  earth,  confirmed  the 
judgment  of  an  irreligious  philosophy  against  a  class  of  men  devoted  to  prayer, 
silence,  and  solitude.  Nevertheless,  facts  everyday  belie  their  conjectures;  the 
hearts  of  Christiaus  still  preserve  the  most  flattering  hopes,  and  these  hopes  are 
strengthened  and  animated  more  and  more.  The  hand  of  God,  who  carries  out 
His  high  designs  and  laughs  at  the  vain  thoughts  of  man,  shows  it  more  and 
more  wonderful.  Philosophy  sees  a  wide  field  for  meditation  open  before  it;  it 
anticipates  the  probable  future  of  religious  communities;  it  may  make  conjec- 
tures on  the  influence  which  is  reserved  for  them  in  society  for  the  future. 

We  have  already  seen  what  is  the  real  origin  of  religious  institutions ;  we 
have  found  that  origin  in  the  spirit  of  the  Catholic  religion,  and  history  has  told 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY.  275 

us  that  they  have  arisen  wherever  she  is  established.  They  have  varied  in  form, 
in  rule,  in  object,  but  the  fact  has  been  always  the  same.  Thence  we  have 
inferred  that  wherever  the  Catholic  faith  shall  be  maintained,  religious  institu- 
tions will  appear  anew  under  some  form  or  other.  This  prognostic  may  be 
made  with  complete  certainty ;  we  do  not  fear  that  time  will  belie  it.  We  live 
in  an  age  steeped  in  voluptuous  materialism ;  interests  which  are  called  positive, 
or,  in  plainer  terms,  gold  and  pleasure,  have  acquired  such  an  ascendency  that 
we  might  apparently  fear  to  see  some  societies  lamentably  retrograde  towards 
the  manners  of  paganism,  towards  that  period  of  disgrace  when  religion  might 
be  summed  up  in  the  deification  of  matter.  But  in  the  midst  of  this  afflicting 
picture,  when  the  mind,  full  of  anguish,  feels  itself  on  the  point  of  swooning 
away,  the  observer  sees  that  the  soul  of  man  is  not  yet  dead,  and  that  lofty 
ideas,  noble  and  dignified  feelings,  are  not  entirely  banished  from  the  earth. 
The  human  mind  feels  itself  too  great  to  be  limited  to  wretched  objects;  it 
comprehends  that  it  is  given  it  to  rise  higher  than  an  air-balloon. 

Observe  what  happens  with  respect  to  industrial  progress.  Those  steam- 
vessels  which  leave  our  ports  with  the  rapidity  of  an  arrow  to  traverse  the 
immensity  of  ocean,  those  burning  vehicles  which  skim  along  our  plains,  and 
penetrate  into  the  heart  of  mountains,  realizing  under  our  eyes  what  would 
have  seemed  a  dream  to  our  fathers ;  those  other  machines  which  give  move- 
ment to  gigantic  workshops,  and  as  if  by  magic  set  in  motion  innumerable 
instruments,  and  elaborate  with  the  most  wonderful  precision  the  most  delicate 
productions :  all  this  is  great  and  wonderful.  But  however  great,  however 
wonderful  it  may  be,  it  no  longer  astonishes ;  these  wonders  no  longer  capti- 
vate our  attention  in  a  more  lively  manner  than  the  generality  of  the  objects 
which  surround  us.  Man  feels  that  he  is  still  greater  than  these  machines  and 
masterpieces  of  art ;  his  heart  is  an  abyss  which  nothing  can  fill ;  give  him  the 
whole  world,  and  the  void  will  be  the  same.  The  depth  is  immeasurable ;  the 
soul,  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  Grod,  cannot  be  satisfied  without  the 
possession  of  Him. 

The  Catholic  religion  constantly  revives  these  lofty  thoughts,  and  points  out 
this  immense  void.  In  barbarous  times  she  placed  herself  among  rude  and 
ignorant  nations  to  lead  them  to  civilization ;  she  now  remains  among  civilized 
nations  to  provide  against  the  dissolution  which  threatens  them.  She  disregards 
the  coldness  and  neglect  with  which  indifference  and  ingratitude  reply  to  her ; 
she  cries  out  without  ceasing,  addresses  her  warnings  to  the  faithful  with  inde- 
fatigable constancy,  makes  her^  voice  resound  in  the  ears  of  the  incredulous,  and 
remains  intact  and  immovable  in  the  midst  of  the  agitation  and  instability  of 
human  things.  Thus  do  those  wonderful  temples  which  have  been  left  to  us 
by  the  remotest  antiquity,  remain  entire  amid  the  action  of  time,  of  revolu- 
tions, and  of  convulsions ;  around  them  arise  and  disappear  the  habitations  of 
men,  the  palaces  of  the  great  and  the  cottages  of  the  poor,  but  the  time-stained 
edifice  stands  like  a  solemn  and  mysterious  object  in  the  midst  of  the  smiling 
fields  and  showy  structures  which  surround  it;  its  vast  cupola  annihilates  all 
that  is  near ;  its  summit  boldly  rises  towards  the  heavens. 

The  labors  of  religion  do  not  remain  without  fruit;  penetrating  minds 
acknowledge  her  truths ;  even  those  who  refuse  their  submission  to  the  faith 
confess  the  beauty,  utility,  and  necessity  of  this  divine  religion ;  they  regard  it 
as  an  historical  fact  of  the  highest  importance,  and  agree  that  the  good  order 
and  prosperity  of  families  and  states  depend  upon  it.  But  God,  who  watches 
over  the  safety  of  the  church,  is  not  content  with  these  avowals  of  philosophy; 
torrents  of  all-powerful  grace  descend  from  on  high,  and  the  Divine  Spirit  is 
diffused  and  renewed  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Even  from  the  whirlwind  of  the 
world,  corrupt  and  indifferent  as  it  is,  privileged  men  frequently  come  forth, 
whose  foreheads  have  been  touched  with  the  flame  of  inspiration,  and  whose 


276  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

hearts  are  on  fire  with  heavenly  love.  In  retreat,  in  solitude,  in  meditation  on 
the  eternal  truths,  they  have  acquired  that  disposition  of  mind  which  is  neces- 
sary to  perform  arduous  tasks;  in  spite  of  raillery  and  ingratitude,  they  devote 
themselves  to  console  the  unfortunate,  to  educate  the  young,  and  to  convert 
idolatrous  nations.  The  Catholic  religion  will  last  till  the  end  of  time,  and  so 
long  will  there  be  these  privileged  men  separated  by  G-od  from  the  rest,  to  be 
called  to  extraordinary  sanctity,  or  to  console  their  brethren  in  their  misfor- 
tunes. Now  these  men  will  seek  each  other,  will  unite  to  pray,  will  associate 
to  aid  each  other  in  their  enterprise,  will  ask  for  the  apostolical  benediction  of 
the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  will  found  religious  institutions.  Whether  they 
be  old  orders  only  modified,  or  entirely  new  ones ;  whatever  be  their  forms, 
rules  of  life  or  dress,  all  this  is  of  little  importance ;  the  origin,  the  nature, 
and  the  object  will  be  the  same.  It  is  vain  for  men  to  oppose  the  miracles  of 
grace. 

Even  the  present  condition  of  society  will  require  the  existence  of  religious 
institutions.  When  the  organization  of  modern  nations  shall  have  been  more 
profoundly  examined,  when  time  by  its  bitter  lessons  and  terrible  experience 
shall  have  thrown  more  light  on  the  real  state  of  things,  it  will  be  evident  that 
errors  greater  than  men  have  imagined,  have  been  committed  in  the  social  as 
well  as  in  the  political  order.  Sad  experience  has  corrected  ideas  to  a  great 
extent,  but  this  does  not  suffice. 

It  is  evident  that  present  societies  want  the  necessary  means  to  supply  the 
necessities  which  press  upon  them.  Property  is  divided  and  subdivided  more 
and  more ;  every  day  it  becomes  more  feeble  and  inconstant,  industry  multiplies 
productions  in  an  alarming  manner,  commerce  extends  itself  indefinitely;  that 
is  to  say,  society,  approaching  the  term  of  pretended  social  perfection,  is  on  the 
point  of  attaining  the  wishes  of  that  materialistic  school,  in  whose  eyes  men  are 
only  machines,  and  which  has  not  imagined  that  society  can  undertake  any 
grander  or  more  useful  object  than  the  immense  development  of  material 
interests.  Misery  has  increased  in  proportion  to  the  augmentation  of  produc- 
tion ;  to  the  eyes  of  all  provident  men  it  is  as  clear  as  the  light  of  day  that 
things  are  pursuing  a  wrong  course,  and  that  if  a  remedy  cannot  be  applied  in 
time,  the  denouement  will  be  fatal;  the  vessel  which  we  see  advancing  so 
rapidly,  with  all  her  sails  set  and  a  favorable  wind,  is  about  to  strike  upon  a 
rock.  The  accumulation  of  riches,  brought  about  by  the  rapidity  of  the  indus- 
trial and  commercial  movement,  tends  towards  the  establishment  of  a  system 
which  would  devote  the  sweat  and  the  lives  of  all  to  the  profit  of  the  few ;  but 
this  tendency  finds  its  counterpoise  in  levelling  ideas  which  agitate  very  many 
heads,  and  which,  moulded  into  different  theories,  more  or  less  openly  attack 
property,  the  present  organization  of  labor,  and  the  distribution  of  productions. 
Immense  multitudes,  overwhelmed  with  misery  and  in  want  of  moral  instruc- 
tion and  education,  are  disposed  to  promote  the  realization  of  projects  not  less 
criminal  than  foolish,  whenever  an  unhappy  concurrence  of  circumstances  shall 
render  the  attempt  possible.  It  is  superfluous  to  support  the  melancholy  asser- 
tions which  we  have  just  made  with  facts ;  the  experience  of  every  day  confirms 
them  but  too  much. 

Such  being  the  case,  may  we  be  allowed  to  inquire  of  society,  what  means 
there  are,  either  of  improving  the  state  of  the  masses,  or  of  guiding  and  restrain- 
ing them  ?  It  is  clear  that,  for  the  first  of  these,  neither  the  inspirations  of 
private  interests,  nor  the  instinct  of  preservation  which  animates  the  favored 
classes,  are  sufficient.  These  classes,  properly  speaking,  as  they  exist,  have  not 
the  character  which  constitutes  a  class :  they  are  only  a  collection  of  families 
just  emerged  from  poverty  and  obscurity,  and  who  rapidly  advance  towards 
the  abyss  whence  they  came,  leaving  their  place  to  other  families  who  will  run 
the  same  course.  We  find  nothing  fixed  or  stable  about  them.  They  live 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  277 

from  day  to  day,  without  thinking  of  the  morrow :  far  different  from  the  old 
nobility,  whose  origin  was  lost  in  the  obscurity  of  the  remotest  antiquity,  and 
whose  strength  and  organization  promised  long  centuries  of  existence.-  These 
men  could  and  did  follow  a  system ;  for  what  existed  to-day  was  sure  of  existence 
to-morrow ;  now  all  is  changeable  and  inconstant.  Individuals,  like  families, 
labor  to  accumulate,  to  lay  by  riches,  not  in  order  to  sustain  for  ages  the  power 
and  splendor  of  an  illustrious  house,  but  to  enjoy  to-day  what  has  been  but  just 
acquired.  The  presentiment  of  the  short  duration  which  things  must  have, 
augments  still  more  the  giddiness  and  frenzy  of  dissipation.  The  times  are 
past  when  opulent  families  were  desirous  of  founding  some  enduring  establish- 
ment to  evince  their  generosity  and  perpetuate  the  splendor  of  their  names : 
hospitals,  and  other  houses  of  beneficence,  do  not  come  from  the  coffers  of  the 
bankers,  as  they  did  from  those  of  the  old  castles.  We  must  acknowledge, 
however  painful  may  be  the  avowal,  that  the  opulent  classes  of  society  do  not 
fulfil  the  duty  which  belongs  to  them :  the  poor  should  respect  the  property  of 
the  rich;  but  the  rich  should,  in  their  turn,  respect  the  condition  of  the  poor: 
such  is  the  will  of  Grod. 

It  follows  from  what  I  have  stated,  that  the  resource  of  beneficence  is  want- 
ing in  the  social  organization ;  and  observe  well,  that  administration  does  not 
constitute  society.  Administration  supposes  society  to  be  already  existing  and 
entirely  formed ;  when  we  expect  the  salvation  of  society  from  means  purely 
administrative,  we  attempt  a  thing  which  is  out  of  the  laws  of  nature.  In  vain 
shall  we  imagine  new  expedients  ;  in  vain  shall  we  form  ingenious  plans,  and 
make  new  experiments;  society  has  need  of  a  more  powerful  agent.  It  is 
essential  that  the  world  should  submit  to  the  law  of  love  or  that  of  force,  to 
charity  or  servitude.  All  the  nations  who  have  not  had  charity,  have  found  no 
other  means  of  solving  the  social  problem,  than  that  of  subjecting  the  greatest 
number  to  slavery.  Reason  teaches,  and  history  proves,  that  neither  public 
order,  property,  nor  even  society  itself,  can  exist,  unless  one  of  these  is  chosen ; 
modern  society  will  not  be  exempted  from  the  general  law;  the  symptoms  which 
now  present  themselves  to  our  eyes  clearly  indicate  the  events  whereof  the 
generations  which  are  to  succeed  us  will  be  the  witnesses. 

Happily,  the  fire  of  charity  still  burns  on  the  earth ;  but  the  indifference  and 
prejudices  of  the  wicked  compel  it  to  remain  under  the  embers.  They  are 
alarmed  at  the  least  spark  of  it  which  escapes,  as  if  it  would  enkindle  a  fatal 
conflagration.  If  the  development  of  institutions  which  are  exclusively  based 
upon  the  principle  of  charity  xwas  favored,  their  salutary  results  and  the  supe- 
riority which  they  possess  over  all  that  are  founded  on  other  principles  would 
soon  be  evident.  It  is  impossible  to  supply  the  wants  which  I  have  just  pointed 
out,  without  organizing,  on  a  vast  scale,  systems  of  beneficence  directed  by 
charity :  now  this  organization  cannot  be  made  without  religious  institutions. 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  Christians  who  live  in  the  world  may  form  associations 
by  which  this  object  will  be  accomplished  more  or  less  completely;  but  there 
are  always  a  multitude  of  cases  which  absolutely  require  the  co-operation  of  men 
exclusively  devoted  to  them.  It  is  necessary,  moreover,  to  have  a  nucleus  to 
serve  as  the  centre  of  all  efforts,  which  presents,  by  its  own  nature,  a  guarantee 
for  preservation,  and  which  provides  against  the  interruptions  and  oscillations 
which  are  inevitable  in  a  large  concourse  of  agents,  who  are  not  bound  together 
by  any  tie  strong  enough  to  preserve  them  from  differences,  from  separation, 
and  even  from  intestine  contests. 

This  vast  system  which  we  speak  of  ought  to  extend  not  only  to  beneficence, 
but  also  to  the  education  and  instruction  of  the  many.  The  establishment  of 
schools  will  remain  sterile,  if  not  mischievous,  as  long  as  they  are  not  founded 
upon  religion ;  and  they  will  be  thus  founded  only  in  appearance  and  name, 
while  the  direction  of  these  schools  does  not  belong  to  the  ministers  of  religion. 

y 


278  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

The  secular  clergy  may  fulfil  a  portion  of  this  charge,  but  they  are  not  enough 
for  the  task ;  on  the  one  hand,  their  limited  number,  and  on  the  other,  their 
other  duties,  prevent  their  acting  on  a  scale  sufficiently  large  to  supply  all  the 
necessities  of  the  times :  hence  it  follows,  that  the  propagation  of  religious  insti- 
tutions in  our  days  has  a  social  importance,  which  cannot  be  mistaken  without 
shutting  one's  eyes  to  the  evidence  of  facts. 

If  you  reflect  on  the  organization  of  European  nations,  you  will  understand 
that  their  real  advance  has  been  prevented  by  some  fatal  cause.  Indeed,  their 
situation  is  so  singular,  that  it  cannot  be  the  result  of  the  principles  whence  these 
nations  have  drawn  their  origin,  and  which  have  given  them  their  increase.  It 
is  evident  that  the  countless  multitude  which  one  sees  in  society,  making  use  of 
all  its  faculties  with  complete  liberty,  could  not,  in  the  state  in  which  it  now  is, 
have  been  comprised  in  the  primitive  design — in  the  plan  of  true  civilization. 
When  we  create  forces,  we  should  know  what  we  shall  do  with  them,  by  what 
means  we  shall  move  and  direct  them ;  without  this  we  only  prepare  violent 
shocks,  endless  agitation,  disorder,  and  destruction.  The  mechanician  who  can- 
not introduce  a  force  into  his  machine  without  breaking  the  harmony  of  the  other 
movers,  takes  care  not  to  introduce  it;  and  he  sacrifices  acceleration  of  move- 
ment and  the  greatest  strength  of  impulse  to  the  fundamental  necessity  of  the 
preservation  of  the  machine  and  the  order  and  utility  of  its  functions.  In  the 
present  state  of  society,  we  observe  that  power  which  is  not  in  harmony  with 
the  others;  and  the  men  who  are  charged  with  directing  the  machine  pay  but 
little  attention  to  gaining  the  required  harmony.  Nothing  acts  upon  the  mass 
of  the  people  but  the  ardent  desire  of  ameliorating  their  condition,  of  placing 
themselves  in  comfort,  and  of  obtaining  the  enjoyments  of  which  the  rich  are 
in  possession ;  nothing  to  induce  them  to  be  resigned  to  the  rigors  of  their  lot ; 
nothing  to  console  them  in  their  misfortunes ;  nothing  to  render  the  present  evils 
more  supportable  by  the  hopes  of  a  better  future ;  nothing  to  inspire  them  with 
respect  for  property,  obedience  to  the  laws,  submission  to  government ;  nothing 
to  produce  in  their  minds  gratitude  towards  the  powerful  classes ;  nothing  to 
temper  their  hatreds,  diminish  their  envy,  and  mollify  their  anger;  nothing  to 
raise  their  ideas  above  earthly  things,  their  desires  from  sensual  pleasures; 
nothing  to  form  in  their  hearts  a  solid  morality  capable  of  restraining  them  from 
vice  and  crime. 

If  we  pay  attention,  we  shall  see  that  the  men  of  this  age  have  only  three 
means  of  restraining  the  masses,  and  they  regard  these  as  enough;  but  reason 
and  experience  show  that  these  expedients  are  not  only  not  efficacious,  but  even 
dangerous;  they  are  these, — private  interests  well  understood,  public  force  well 
employed,  and  enervation  of  body,  followed  by  feebleness  of  mind,  which  restrains 
the  populace  from  violent  means. 

"Let  us  make  the  poor  man  understand/'  says  the  philosopher,  "that  he  has 
an  interest  in  respecting  the  property  of  the  rich ;  that  his  powers  and  his  labor 
are  also  real  property,  which  require  to  be  respected  in  their  turn ;  let  us  main- 
tain an  imposing  public  force,  always  ready  to  act  on  the  menaced  point,  in  order 
to  stifle  any  attempts  at  disorder  at  their  birth ;  let  us  organize  a  police,  extend- 
ing over  society  like  an  immense  net,  and  allowing  nothing  to  escape  its  sight ; 
let  us  satisfy  the  people  with  cheap  enjoyments  of  all  kinds;  let  us  furnish  them 
with  the  means  of  imitating,  in  their  grosser  orgies,  the  refined  pleasures  of  our 
saloons  and  theatres,  thereby  their  manners  will  be  softened — that  is  to  say,  they 
will  be  enervated ;  the  people  will  become  impotent  to  make  great  revolutions, 
their  arms  being  weak,  and  their  hearts  cowardly."  This  is  the  sytem  of  those 
who  attempt  to  govern  society  and  control  disturbing  passions  without  the  aid 
of  religion. 

Let  us  pause  for  a  moment  to  examine  these  means.  It  is,  no  doubt,  easy  to 
say.  in  fine  language,  that  the  poor  man  is  interested  in  respecting  the  property 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY.  279 

of  the  rich ;  and  that  from  this  consideration  alone  he  ought  to  submit  to  the 
established  order  of  things ;  and  this  without  even  saying  a  word  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  morality,  and  leaving  out  all  that  is  removed  from  mere  material  inte- 
rests. It  is  easy  to  write  books  to  explain  such  doctrines;  but  the  difficulty 
consists  in  making  them  understood  in  the  same  way  by  the  wretched  father  of 
a  family,  who,  confined  all  the  day  to  hard  labor,  plunged  into  an  unwholesome 
atmosphere,  or  buried  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  to  work  in  a  coal-mine,  can 
scarcely  earn  the  subsistence  of  himself  and  his  family ;  and  who,  returning  in 
the  evening  to  his  squalid  abode,  instead  of  repose  and  consolation,  finds  only 
the  complaints  of  his  wife  and  the  tears  of  his  children,  asking  him  for  a  mouth- 
ful of  bread.  In  truth,  is  it  strange  that  such  a  doctrine  should  not  be  graciously 
received  by  those  wretched  beings,  whose  minds  cannot  perfectly  understand 
the  parity  between  the  poor  and  the  rich  with  respect  to  the  interests  of  all, 
arid  the  respect  due  to  property  ?  We  will  say  plainly,  that  if  you  banish  from 
the  world  the  moral  principles,  and  desire  to  found  the  respect  due  to  property 
exclusively  on  private  interest,  the  words  here  addressed  to  the  poor  man  are 
only  a  solemn  imposture :  it  is  false  that  his  private  interest  is  in  accordance 
with  the  interests  of  the  rich. 

Let  us  suppose  the  most  fearful  revolution,  let  us  imagine  that  the  established 
order  is  radically  upset,  that  authority  gives  way,  that  all  institutions  are  swal- 
lowed up,  that  laws  disappear,  that  properties  are  divided,  or  remain  abandoned 
to  the  first  who  shall  seize  them,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  rich  man  loses;  let 
us  see  what  can  happen  to  the  poor.  Will  he  be  robbed  of  his  wretched  pos- 
sessions ?  no  one  will  dream  of  doing  so ;  misery  tempts  not  cupidity.  You  will 
tell  me  that  he  will  find  no  work,  and  that  hunger  will  therefore  be  his  lot.  That 
is  true ;  but  do  you  not  see  that  in  this  case  the  poor  man  is  a  gambler  at  a  high 
stake,  for  whom  the  chance  of  loss,  arising  from  the  want  of  work,  is  compen- 
sated by  the  probabilities  of  obtaining  a  share  of  the  rich  booty  ?  You  add  that 
he  will  not  be  allowed  to  keep  that  part;  but  observe  that,  if  his  poverty  becomes 
changed  into  riches,  he  will  soon  imagine  a  new  order  of  things,  a  new  arrange- 
ment, a  government  which  will  guarantee  acquired  rights,  and  prevent  the 
destruction  of  established  things.  Will  he  be  without  an  example  to  follow  in 
such  circumstances  ?  Have  recent  examples  been  so  easily  forgotten  ?  The  poor 
man  sees  clearly  that  a  great  number  of  his  fellows  will  suffer  evils  without  end 
or  compensation;  he  is  not  ignorant  that  he  himself  may,  perhaps,  be  of  the 
number  of  the  unfortunate;  but,  supposing  that  he  has  no  other  guide  than 
interest,  supposing  that  new  misfortunes,  in  the  last  excess,  can  bring  him  only 
hunger  and  nakedness — things  ^o  which  he  is  so  well  accustomed,  whether  owing 
to  the  small  return  for  his  labor,  or  to  the  frequent  interruptions  of  work  and 
the  vicissitudes  of  industry — you  cannot  charge  with  rashness  the  boldness  with 
which  he  comes  forward,  at  the  risk  of  increasing  his  privations  in  some  degree, 
and  with  the  hope  of  being  delivered  from  them,  perhaps  for  ever.  This  is  a 
matter  of  calculation ;  and  when  private  interest  is  in  question,  we  cannot  grant 
to  philosophy  the  right  of  regulating  the  calculations  of  the  poor. 

The  public  power,  and  the  vigilance  of  the  police,  are  the  two  resources  in 
which  the  best  hopes  are  founded ;  and  certainly  not  without  reason ;  for,  at  the 
present  time,  if  the  world  is  not  revolutionized,  it  is  owing  to  them.  We  no 
longer  see,  as  in  ancient  times,  troops  of  slaves  bound  together  with  chains,  but  we 
see  whole  armies,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  guarding  capitals.  If  you  observe 
closely,  after  so  many  discussions,  so  many  trials,  so  many  reforms,  so  many 
changes,  questions  of  government  and  public  order  have,  in  the  end,  resolved  them- 
selves into  questions  of  force.  The  rich  class  is  armed  against  the  poor;  and 
above  both,  there  are  armies  to  maintain  tranquillity  with  cannon,  if  necessary. 
Assuredly,  the  picture  which  is  exhibited  to  us  in  this  respect,  among  modern 
nations,  is  worthy  of  our  attention.  Since  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  the  great  powers 


280  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

have  enjoyed  an  Augustan  peace;  for  it  is  not  worth  while  to  speak  of  the  small 
events  which,  from  time  to  time,  have  disturbed  this  universal  peace;  neither 
the  occupation  of  Ancona,  nor  the  siege  of  Antwerp,  nor  the  war  in  Poland,  can 
be  considered  as  European  wars;  as  to  Spain,  limited,  as  she  is  by  nature,  to  a 
narrow  theatre,  she  can  neither  traverse  the  seas,  nor  pass  the  Pyrenean  moun- 
tains. Well,  in  spite  of  this,  the  statistics  of  Europe  show  us  enormous  armies ; 
the  budgets  which  are  necessary  to  support  them  exhaust  and  overwhelm  the 
nations.  What  is  the  use  of  this  military  preparation?  Do  you  believe  that 
such  gigantic  forces  are  kept  on  foot  only  that  governments  may  not  be  taken 
unawares  by  a  general  war;  that  war,  which  always  threatens  and  never  breaks 
out ;  that  war,  which  is  feared  neither  by  the  government  nor  by  the  people  ? 
No !  they  have  another  object :  these  armies  are  intended  to  compensate  for  the 
moral  means,  the  want  of  which  is  deplorably  felt  on  all  sides,  and  nowhere  more 
keenly  than  where  the  words  justice  and  liberty  have  been  proclaimed  with  the 
most  ostentation. 

The  enervation  of  the  numerous  classes,  by  means  of  monotonous,  effortless 
labor,  and  a  complete  abandonment  to  pleasure,  may  be  considered  by  some  as 
an  element  of  order ;  as  their  power  of  striking  is  thereby  taken  away,  or  at 
least  diminished.  We  allow  that  the  workmen  of  our  age  are  not  capable  of 
displaying  the  terrible  energy  of  ancient  champions  of  the  Commons ;  of  those 
men  who,  throwing  off  the  yoke  of  the  feudal  lords,  struggled  hand  to  hand 
with  formidable  warriors,  whose  names  were  immortalized  on  the  plains  of  Pales- 
tine. The  new  revolutionists  want,  also,  that  courage  and  that  enthusiasm  which 
are  communicated  to  the  soul  by  great  and  generous  ideas.  The  man  who 
fights  only  to  procure  enjoyments  will  never  be  capable  of  making  heroic  sacri- 
fices. Sacrifices  demand  self-denial ;  they  are  incompatible  with  egotism  :  now 
the  thirst  for  pleasure  is  egotism,  carried  to  the  last  degree  of  refinement. 
Nevertheless,  it  must  be  observed  that  a  mode  of  life  purely  material,  and 
deprived  of  the  stimulus  of  the  moral  principles,  ends  by  extinguishing  the 
feelings,  and  plunges  the  soul  into  a  sort  of  stupidity,  into  a  forge  tfulness  of 
self,  which  may,  in  certain  cases,  supply  the  place  of  valor.  The  soldier  who 
marches  with  tranquillity  to  death,  when  leaving  a  brutal  orgie,  and  the  man 
who  commits  suicide  with  imperturbable  calmness,  without  anxiety  for  the  future, 
are  precisely  in  the  same  position.  The  boldness  of  the  one,  and  the  firmness 
of  the  other,  show  contempt  of  life.  So,  if  we  suppose  their  passions  to  be 
excited  by  the  trouble  of  the  times,  the  numerous  class  may  display  an  energy 
of  which  they  are  supposed  to  be  incapable ;  the  sight  of  their  numbers  may 
raise  their  courage ;  bold  and  cunning  leaders,  putting  themselves  at  their  head, 
may  succeed  in  rendering  them  terrible. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  at  least  certain  that  society  cannot  continue  its 
career  without  the  aid  and  influence  of  moral  means ;  these  means  cannot  suffice, 
shut  up  within  the  narrow  circle  in  which  they  are  confined  ;  consequently,  it 
is  indispensable  to  encourage  the  development  of  institutions  adapted  to  exercise 
moral  influence  in  a  practical  and  efficacious  manner.  Books  are  not  enough ; 
the  extension  of  instruction  is  but  an  inefficient  means,  which  may  even  become 
fatal,  unless  based  upon  solid  religious  ideas.  The  propagation  of  a  vague  reli- 
gious feeling,  undefined,  without  rules,  without  dogmas  or  worship,  will  only 
serve  to  propagate  gross  superstitions  among  the  masses,  and  to  form  a  religion 
of  poetry  and  romance  among  the  cultivated  classes ;  they  are  vain  remedies, 
which  do  not  stop  the  progress  of  the  disease  ;  but,  by  augmenting  the  delirium 
of  the  patient,  precipitate  his  death. 

The  education,  the  instruction,  the  improvement  of  the  moral  condition  of  the 
people,  these  words,  which  are  in  the  mouth  of  everybody,  prove  how  keenly 
and  generally  the  wound  in  the  social  body  is  felt,  and  how  urgent  is  the  neces- 
sity of  the  timely  application  of  a  remedy,  in  order  to  prevent  incalculable  evils. 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY.  281 

This  is  the  reason  why  projects  of  beneficence  ferment  in  so  many  minds ;  why 
it  is  attempted,  under  so  many  different  forms,  to  establish  schools  for  children 
and  adults,  and  other  similar  institutions;  but  all  will  be  useless,  unless  the 
work  be  confided  to  Christian  charity.  Let  us  profit  by  the  knowledge  acquired 
by  experience  in  this  matter;  let  us  take  advantage  of  administrative  improve- 
ments, the  better  to  attain  our  end ;  let  the  establishments  be  accommodated  to 
present  wants  and  exigences ;  let  charity  never  embarrass  the  action  of  power, 
and  power,  on  its  side,  never  oppose  the  action  of  charity  :  all  this  will  be  well ; 
but  nothing  of  all  this  is  inconsistent  with  a  system,  in  which  the  Catholic 
religion  will  recover  the  influence  which  belongs  to  her;  of  her  it  may  be  said, 
with  perfect  truth,  that  she  makes  herself  all  to  all,  to  gain  the  whole  world. 

The  little  minds  which  do  not  carry  their  views  beyond  a  limited  horizon ; 
bad  hearts,  which  nourish  only  hatred,  and  delight  only  in  exciting  rancor  and 
in  calling  forth  the  evil  passions ;  the  fanatics  of  a  mechanical  civilization,  who 
see  no  other  agent  than  steam,  no  other  power  than  gold  and  silver,  no  other 
object  than  production,  no  other  end  than  pleasure;  all  these  men,  assuredly, 
will  attach  but  little  importance  to  the  observations  which  I  have  made ;  for 
them,  the  moral  development  of  individuals  and  society  is  of  little  importance ; 
they  do  not  even  perceive  what  passes  under  their  eyes ;  for  them,  history  is 
mute,  experience  barren,  and  the  future  a  mere  nothing.  Happily  there  is  a 
great  number  of  men  who  believe  that  their  minds  are  nobler  than  metal,  more 
powerful  than  steam,  and  too  grand  and  too  sublime  to  be-satisfied  with  momen- 
tary pleasure. 

Man,  in  their  eyes,  is  not  a  being  who  lives  by  chance,  given  up  to  the  cur- 
rent of  time  and  the  mercy  of  circumstances,  who  is  not  called  upon  to  think  of 
the  destinies  which  attend  him,  or  to  prepare  for  them,  by  making  a  worthy  use 
of  the  moral  and  intellectual  qualifications  wherewith  the  Author  of  nature  has 
favored  him.  If  the  physical  world  is  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  Creator,  the 
moral  world  is  not  less  so ;  if  matter  can  be  used  in  a  thousand  ways  for  the 
profit  of  man,  the  mind,  created  to  the  image  and  likeness  of  God,  is  also 
endowed  with  valuable  powers ;  a  vast  sphere  opens  before  him  ;  he  feels  him- 
self called  to  work  for  the  good  of  humanity,  without  confining  himself  to  combi- 
nations and  modifications  of  matter,  like  an  instrument  or  a  slave  of  the  material 
element,  whereof  the  empire  and  control  have  been  granted  to  him  by  God. 
Let  faith  in  another  life,  and  charity,  which  have  come  down  from  God,  fertilize 
these  noble  feelings,  and  enlighten  and  direct  these  sublime  thoughts ;  you  will 
then  clearly  see  that  matter  has  no  claim  to  be  the  ruler  of  the  world ;  and  that 
the  King  of  the  creation  has  not  yet  abdicated  his  rights.  But  if  you  attempt 
to  build  on  any  other  foundation  than  that  which  has  been  established  by  God, 
do  not  indulge  flattering  hopes,  your  edifice  will  be  like  the  house  built  upon 
sand ;  the  rain  caine,  the  wind  blew,  and  the  edifice  was  overturned  with 
violence.  (27) 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

RELIGION    AND    LIBERTY. 

IN  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  this  work  we  said,  "  The  heart  is  filled  with 
generous  indignation  when  we  hear  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  reproached  with 
a  tendency  towards  oppression.  It  is  true,  that  if  we  confound  the  spirit  of 
real  liberty  with  that  of  demagogues,  we  shall  not  find  it  in  Catholicity.  But  if 
we  abstain  from  a  monstrous  abuse  of  the  name,  if  we  give  to  the  word  liberty 
its  reasonable,  just,  useful,  and  pleasant  meaning,  then  the  Catholic  religion  may 
fearlessly  claim  the  gratitude  of  the  human  race,  for  she  has  civilized  the  nations 
36  Y2 


282  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

who  have  professed  her,  and  civilization  is  true  liberty."  From  what  we  have 
already  shown,  the  reader  may  judge  whether  Catholicity  has  been  favorable,  or 
otherwise,  to  European  civilization,  and,  consequently,  whether  she  has  done 
any  injury  to  real  liberty.  On  the  various  points  on  which  we  have  compared 
her  with  Protestantism,  we  have  seen  the  injurious  tendencies  of  the  one  and 
the  advantages  of  the  other;  the  judgment  of  clear  and  enlightened  reason 
cannot  be  doubtful. 

As  the  real  liberty  of  nations  does  not  consist  in  appearances,  but  resides  in 
their  intimate  organization,  in  the  same  way  as  the  life  does  in  the  heart,  I  might 
dispense  with  entering  into  a  comparison  of  the  two  religions  with  respect  to 
civil  liberty;  but  I  do  not  wish  to  be  accused  of  having  avoided  a  delicate 
question,  from  a  fear  that  Catholicity  would  not  come  out  of  it  with  honor,  or  to 
allow  it  to  be  suspected  that  my  faith  has  any  difficulty  in  sustaining  a  parallel 
as  advantageously  on  this  ground  as  on  others. 

In  order  to  clear  up  this  question  completely,  it  is  necessary  to  examine 
thoroughly  the  vague  accusations  which  have  been  made  on  this  matter  against 
Catholicity,  and  the  eulogiums  lavished  on  the  pretended  Reformation.  It  is 
necessary  to  show  that  only  gratuitous  calumny  has  been  able  to  reproach  the 
Catholic  religion  with  favoring  servitude  and  oppression  ;  it  is  necessary  to  dissi- 
pate, by  the  light  of  philosophy  and  history,  that  deceitful  prejudice,  by  the  aid 
of  which  free-thinkers  and  Protestants  have  labored  to  persuade  the  people  that 
Catholicity  is  favorable  to  servitude,  that  the  Church  is  the  bulwark  of  tyrants, 
that  the  name  of  Pope  is  synonymous  with  that  of  friend  and  natural  protector 
of  whoever  desires  to  debase  men  and  reduce  them  to  servitude. 

There  are  two  ways  in  which  this  question  may  be  decided ;  by  doctrines  and 
by  facts. 

Those  who  have  said  that  the  human  race  had  lost  its  rights,  and  that  they 
were  revived  by  Rousseau,  certainly  have  not  given  themselves  much  trouble 
in  examining  what  are  the  real  rights  of  the  human  race,  and  what  are  the 
apocryphal  rights  advanced  by  the  philosopher  of  Geneva  in  his  Central  Social. 
Indeed,  it  may  be  said  with  more  truth,  that  the  human  race  had  very  valuable 
rights,  acknowledged  as  such,  and  which  Rousseau  lost  sight  of.  He  under- 
took to  examine  thoroughly  the  origin  of  the  civil  power,  and  his  wild  notions, 
instead  of  explaining  the  matter,  have  only  served  to  confuse  it.  I  believe  that 
on  this  important  point  men  have  never  had  ideas  less  clear  and  distinct  than 
now.  Revolutions  have  upset  every  thing  in  theory  and  in  fact ;  governments 
have  been  sometimes  revolutionary,  sometimes  reactionary;  and  sometimes 
revolution,  and  sometimes  reaction,  has  been  predominant.  It  is  extremely 
difficult  to  obtain  from  modern  books  a  clear,  accurate,  and  exact  knowledge  of 
the  nature  of  the  civil  power,  of  its  origin,  and  of  its  relations  with  subjects ; 
in  some  of  these  you  will  find  the  doctrines  of  Rousseau,  in  others  those  of 
Bonald :  Rousseau  is  a  miner  who  saps  in  order  to  overturn ;  Bonald  is  the 
hero  who  saves  in  his  arms  the  tutelary  deities  of  the  city  delivered  to  the 
flames ;  but  in  his  fear  of  profanation,  he  carries  them  covered  with  a  veil. 
However,  it  would  not  be  just  to  attribute  to  Rousseau  the  melancholy  honor 
of  having  begun  the  confusion  of  ideas  on  this  point;  at  various  times  there 
have  been  found  misguided  men,  who  have  labored  to  disturb  society  by  anar- 
chical doctrines ;  but  the  embodiment  of  these  doctrines,  and  the  forming  of 
them  into  seductive  theories,  dates  chiefly  from  the  birth  of  Protestantism. 
Luther,  in  his  book  De  Libertate  Christiana,  sowed  the  seeds  of  endless  troubles 
by  the  extravagant  doctrine,  that  a  Christian  is  subject  to  no  one.  In  vain  did 
he  have  recourse  to  the  evasive  declaration,  that  he  did  not  speak  of  magistrates 
or  civil  laws ;  the  peasants  of  Germany  drew  their  own  consequences ;  they  rose 
up  against  their  lords,  and  enkindled  a  dreadful  war.  The  divine  right  held  by 
Catholics  has  been  accused  of  favoring  despotism ;  and  it  has  been  considered 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  283 

as  so  much  opposed  to  the  rights  of  the  people,  that  the  two  expressions  are 
often  antithetically  employed.  Divine  right,  well  understood,  is  not  opposed  to 
the  rights,  but  to  the  excesses  of  the  people ;  so  far  from  giving  unlimited 
extent  to  power,  it  confines  it  within  the  limits  of  reason,  justice,  and  public 
advantage.  In  his  lectures  on  the  general  history  of  civilization  in  Europe,  M. 
Gruizot,  speaking  of  this  right  as  proclaimed  by  the  Church,  says  :  "  The  rights 
of  liberty  and  political  guarantees  are  combined  with  difficulty  with  the  prin- 
ciple of  religious  royalty ;  but  that  principle  in  itself  is  elevated,  moral,  and 
salutary."  (Lecture  ix.)  When  men  like  M.  Guizot,  who  have  made  these 
questions  their  special  study,  are  so  lamentably  deceived  on  this  point,  who  can 
be  astonished  that  the  same  thing  occurs  to  the  generality  of  writers  ! 

Before  I  go  further,  I  will  make  one  observation,  which  we  ought  always  to 
have  present  to  our  minds.  On  these  questions  we  continually  hear  mention 
made  of  the  schools  of  Bossuet  and  of  Bonald ;  private  names  are  put  forward, 
sometimes  in  one  way  and  sometimes  in  another.  Much  as  I  respect  the  merits 
of  these  men,  and  of  others  not  less  illustrious  produced  by  the  Catholic  Church, 
yet  I  must  observe  that  she  is  not  responsible  for  any  doctrines  but  those  which 
she  herself  teaches ;  that  she  is  not  personified  in  any  doctor  in  particular ;  and 
that  being  herself  appointed  by  Glod  himself  to  be  the  oracle  of  infallible  truth 
in  faith  and  morality,  she  does  not  permit  the  faithful  to  defer  blindly  to  the 
mere  word  of  any  private  man,  however  great  may  be  his  merit  in  science  and 
in  sanctity.  If  you  wish  to  know  what  the  Catholic  Church  teaches,  consult 
the  decisions  of  her  Councils  and  her  Pontiffs ;  consult  also  her  doctors  of  dis- 
tinguished and  unsullied  reputation ;  but  beware  of  confounding  the  opinions  of 
an  author,  however  respectable  he  may  be,  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Church 
and  the  voice  of  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ.  By  this  warning  I  do  not  mean  to 
prematurely  condemn  the  opinions  of  any  one,  but  simply  to  put  those  on  their 
guard  who,  little  versed  in  ecclesiastical  studies,  might,  in  certain  cases,  confound 
revealed  dogmas  with  what  is  mere  human  thought.  Having  premised  this 
much,  let  us  enter  freely  into  the  question. 

Wherein  does  this  divine  right,  of  which  we  hear  so  much,  consist?  In  order 
to  explain  this  matter  completely,  we  must  state  the  objects  over  which  this  right 
extends ;  for  these  objects  being  widely  different,  there  will  also  be  a  great  differ- 
ence in  the  application  made  to  them  of  the  principle.  A  great  number  of  ques- 
tions present  themselves  in  this  very  important  matter;  but  it  appears  to  me  that 
they  may  all  be  reduced  to  these,  which  embrace  the  rest,  viz.  What  is  the  origin 
of  the  civil  power  ?  How  far  does  it  extend  ?  Is  it  lawful  to  resist  it  in  any  case  ? 

The  first  question  is,  What  is  the  origin  of  the  civil  power  ?  How  do  we  know 
that  this  power  is  from  God?  There  is  much  confusion  prevailing  on  these 
points ;  and  certainly  it  is  to  be  lamented,  that  at  a  time  so  disturbed  as  the 
present  they  should  be  misunderstood ;  for  whatever  may  be  said  to  the  con- 
trary, doctrines  are  never  wholly  laid  aside,  either  in  revolutions  or  in  restora- 
tions ;  men's  interests,  no  doubt,  have  great  weight  therein,  but  they  are  not 
left  alone  in  the  arena.  The  best  way  of  forming  clear  ideas  on  these  points  is 
to  have  recourse  to  ancient  authors,  especially  those  whose  doctrines  have  been 
respected  for  a  long  period  of  time,  who  continue  to  be  respected  down  to  this 
day,  and  who  are  looked  upon  as  safe  guides  in  the  right  interpretation  of  eccle- 
siastical doctrines.  This  way  of  studying  the  question  which  now  occupies  us 
ought  to  be  acceptable  to  those  even  who  entertain  contempt  for  the  writers  of 
whom  we  speak ;  for  we  are  now  engaged  more  in  seeking  in  what  the  doctrine 
consists,  than  in  examining  into  its  truth.  Now  for  this  purpose  we  cannot 
find  witnesses  better  informed,  or  interpreters  more  competent,  than  men  who 
have  devoted  their  whole  lives  to  the  study  of  the  doctrine. 

This  last  reflection  is  in  no  way  contradictory  to  what  we  have  said  above, 
on  the  care  which  we  ought  to  take  not  to  confound  the  mere  opinions  of  men 


fit 


284  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

with  the  doctrines  of  the  Church ;  it  only  tends  to  remind  us  of  the  necessity 
which  exists  of  perusing  a  certain  class  of  authors,  who  are  certainly  not  wor- 
thy of  the  ungrateful  neglect  with  which  they  are  treated ;  indeed,  it  is  impos- 
sible that  their  important  labors,  conscientiously  pursued  for  so  long  a  time, 
should  produce  no  fruit.  In  order  to  understand  the  better  the  opinion  of  these 
writers  on  the  matter  which  now  occupies  us,  we  ought  to  observe  the  difference 
which  they  make  in  the  application  of  the  general  principle  of  divine  right  to 
the  origin  of  the  civil  or  to  that  of  the  ecclesiastical  power.  From  this  compa- 
rison there  arises  a  bright  light,  which  resolves  and  clears  up  all  difficulties. 
Open  the  works  of  the  most  distinguished  theologians,  consult  their  treatises  on 
the  origin  of  the  power  of  the  Pope,  and  you  will  see  that  in  establishing  this 
power  on  divine  right,  they  mean  that  it  emanates  from  God,  not  only  in  a 
general  sense,  that  is,  inasmuch  as  all  being  comes  from  God ;  not  only  in  a 
social  sense,  that  is,  inasmuch  as  the  Church  being  a  society,  God  has  willed 
the  existence  of  a  power  to  govern  it  ;  but  in  a  most  special  manner  that  God 
has  Himself  instituted  this  power,  that  He  has  Himself  established  its  form, 
that  He  has  Himself  pointed  out  the  person,  and  that  consequently  the  successor 
to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  is  of  divine  right  the  supreme  pastor  of  the  universal 
Church,  having  over  the  whole  of  this  Church  supreme  honor  and  jurisdiction. 

With  respect  to  the  civil  power,  these  authors  speak  thus.  In  the  first  place, 
all  power  comes  from  God;  for  power  exists,  and  all  existence  comes  from  God; 
power  is  sovereignty,  and  God  is  the  lord,  the  supreme  master  of  all  things ; 
power  is  a  right,  and  in  God  is  found  the  source  of  all  right ;  power  is  a  moral 
movement,  and  God  is  the  universal  cause  of  all  sorts  of  movements ;  power 
tends  towards  an  exalted  end,  and  God  is  the  end  of  all  creatures ;  His  Provi- 
dence ordains  and  directs  all  things  with  mercy  and  efficacy.  Thus  we  see  that 
St.  Thomas,  in  his  work  De  Regimine  Principum,  affirms  that  all  power  comes 
from  God  as  supreme  master,  as  may  be  shown  in  three  ways :  as  it  is  a  being, 
as  it  is  a  mover,  and  as  it  is  an  end.  (Lib.  3,  cap.  1.) 

As  I  am  treating  of  this  method  of  explaining  the  origin  of  power,  I  must 
pause  for  a  moment  to  refute  Rousseau,  who,  in  the  allusion  which  he  made  to 
this  doctrine,  showed  that  he  did  not  understand  it.  He  says,  "  All  power  comes 
from  God,  I  allow;  but  all  diseases  also  come  from  Him.  Are  we,  therefore, 
to  say  that  it  is  forbidden  to  call  in  a  physician  T'  (Contrat  Social,  liv.  i.  c.  3.) 
It  is  true  that  one  of  the  senses  in  which  the  divine  origin  of  power  is  affirmed 
is,  that  all  finite  beings  emanate  from  an  infinite  being ;  but  this  sense  is  not 
the  only  one.  Indeed,  theologians  knew  very  well  that  this  idea,  by  itself,  did 
not  imply  its  legitimacy,  and  that  it  extended  as  well  to  physical  force ;  for  as 
the  author  of  the  Contrat  Social  adds :  "  the  pistol  held  by  a  robber  in  a  wood 
is  also  a  power."  Rousseau,  in  this  passage,  has  sacrificed  the  sense  to  show 
his  ingenuity ;  the  love  of  making  a  brilliant  sally  has  seduced  him  into  remov- 
ing the  question  from  its  proper  ground.  It  was  easy,  indeed,  to  see  that,  with 
respect  to  the  civil  power,  men  do  not  speak  of  a  physical,  but  of  a  moral,  a 
legitimate  power ;  in  any  other  way  it  would  be  in  vain  to  seek  for  its  origin  : 
as  well  might  they  seek  the  source  of  riches,  health,  strength,  courage,  subtil ty, 
or  the  other  qualities  which  contribute  to  form  the  material  force  of  all  power. 
The  question  is  with  regard  to  the  moral  being  which  is  called  power;  and 
in  the  moral  order,  illegitimate  power  is  not  power,  it  is  not  a  being,  it  is 
nothing.  Consequently,  there  is  no  need  of  seeking  its  origin  in  God,  or  in 
any  thing  else.  Therefore,  power  emanates  from  God  as  the  source  of  all  right, 
justice,  and  legitimacy;  and  in  considering  power,  not  as  a  mere  physical,  but 
as  a  moral  being,  it  is  affirmed  that  it  can  come  from  God  alone,  who  is  the 
plenitude  of  all  being.  Not  only  is  this  doctrine,  taken  generally,  above  all 
difficulty,  but  it  must  be  admitted  by  all  who  do  not  profess  themselves  atheists ; 
they  alone  can  call  it  in  question.  Let  us  now  descend  to  particulars,  and  see 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  285 

whether  Catholic  doctors  teach  any  thing  which  is  not  perfectly  reasonable  even 
in  the  eyes  of  philosophers. 

Man,  they  say,  was  not  created  to  live  alone;  his  existence  supposes  a  family; 
his  inclinations  urge  him  to  form  an  alliance,  without  which  the  human  race 
could  not  be  perpetuated.  Families  are  connected  with  each  other  by  intimate 
and  indestructible  ties ;  they  have  common  wants ;  none  can  insure  happiness, 
or  even  preservation,  without  the  aid  of  others.  Therefore  they  are  bound  to 
enter  into  society.  Society  cannot  exist  without  order,  or  order  without  justice ; 
and  both  require  a  guardian,  an  interpreter,  an  executor.  This  is  the  civil 
power.  God,  who  created  man,  and  willed  also  his  preservation,  consequently 
willed  the  existence  of  society,  and  the  power  which  it  requires.  Now  the 
existence  of  the  civil  power  is  as  conformable  to  the  will  of  God  as  the  existence 
of  the  paternal ;  if  families  have  need  of  the  paternal,  society  has  no  less  need 
of  the  civil  power.  Our  Lord  has  condescended  to  secure  us  from  mistakes  on 
this  important  point  by  telling  us  in  the  Scriptures,  that  all  power  emanates 
from  Him,  that  we  are  obliged  to  obey  it,  that  whoever  resists  it  resists  the 
Divine  command.  I  seek  in  vain  for  an  objection  to  this  way  of  explaining  the 
origin  of  society,  and  of  the  power  which  governs  it.  This  doctrine  preserves 
natural,  human,  and  divine  right ;  all  these  rights  are  connected,  and  support 
each  other.  The  sublimity  of  the  theory  rivals  its  simplicity ;  revelation  sanc- 
tions what  was  shown  by  the  light  of  reason,  and  grace  fortifies  nature.  Such, 
then,  is  the  famous  divine  right,  presented  as  a  bugbear  to  the  ignorant  and 
unsuspecting,  in  order  to  make  them  believe  that  the  Catholic  Church,  when 
she  teaches  the  obligation  of  obeying  the  legitimate  power,  and  founds  this  obli- 
gation on  the  law  of  God,  proposes  a  dogma  injurious  to  true  human  liberty. 

To  hear  some  men  ridicule  the  divine  right  of  kings,  one  would  say  that  we 
Catholics  believed  that  certain  individuals  and  families  have  received  bulls  of 
institution  from  Heaven,  and  that  we  are  grossly  ignorant  of  the  history  of  the 
changes  of  the  civil  power.  If  they  had  examined  the  matter  more  deeply,  they 
would  have  found  that,  far  from  being  liable  to  the  reproach  of  such  folly,  we 
have  only  established  a  principle  the  necessity  of  which  was  acknowledged  by 
all  the  legislators  of  antiquity,  and  that  our  belief  is  quite  reconcilable  with  true 
philosophical  doctrines  and  the  events  recorded  by  history.  In  support  of  what 
I  have  said,  see  with  what  admirable  clearness  St.  Chrysostom  explains  this 
point  in  his  23d  homily  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans :  "  There  is  no  power 
that  does  not  come  from  God."  What  do  you  say  ?  Is  every  prince,  then, 
appointed  by  God?  I  do  not^say  that;  for  I  do  not  speak  of  any  prince  in 
particular,  but  of  the  thing  itself,  that  is,  of  the  power  itself :  I  affirm  that  the 
existence  of 'principalities  is  the  work  of  the  divine  wisdom,  and  that  to  it  it  is 
owing  that  all  things  are  not  given  up  to  blind  chance.  Therefore  it  is  that  the 
Apostle  does  not  say,  "  That  there  is  no  prince  who  does  not  come  from  God ;" 
but  he  says,  speaking  of  the  thing  in  itself,  "  There  is  no  power  which  does  not 
come  from  God."  "  Non  est  potestas,  nisi  a  Deo.  Quid  dicis  ?  Ergo  omnis 
princeps  a  Deo  constitutus  ?  Istud  non  dico.  Non  enim  de  quovis  principe 
mihi  sermo  est,  sed  de  re  ipsa,  id  est  de  ipsa  potestate.  Quod  enim  principatus 
sint,  quodque  non  simpliciter  et  temere  cuncta  ferantur,  divinse  sapientise  opus 
esse  dico.  Propterea  non  dicit :  non  enim  princeps  est  nisi  a  Deo.  Sed  de  re 
ipsa  disserit  dicens  :  non  est  potestas  nisi  a  Deo."  (Horn.  23,  in  Epist.  ad  Rom.) 
It  appears,  from  the  words  of  St.  John  Chrysostom,  that  the  meaning  of  divine 
right,  according  to  Catholics,  is,  that  there  exists  a  power  for  the  government 
of  society,  and  that  it  is  not  abandoned  to  the  mercy  of  passion  and  imagination. 
This  doctrine,  which  insures  public  order,  by  establishing  the  obligation  of  obe- 
dience on  motives  of  conscience,  does  not  descend  to  the  inferior  questions, 
which  do  not  affect  the  fundamental  principle. 

It  may  perhaps  be  objected,  that  if  we  admit  the  interpretation  of  St.  John 


286  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

Chrysostom,  it  was  not  necessary  for  the  sacred  text  to  teach  that  which  reason 
so  clearly  dictated.  To  this  our  reply  is  two-fold  :  1st,  that  the  sacred  Scripture 
expressly  prescribes  to  us  several  obligations  which  nature  imposes  on  us  inde- 
pendently of  all  divine  right,  as  to  honor  parents,  not  to  kill,  not  to  rob,  and 
other  things  of  the  kind ;  2d,  that  in  the  present  case  the  Apostles  had  very 
good  reason  to  recommend  particularly  obedience  to  legitimate  power,  and  to 
sanction  in  a  clear  and  conclusive  manner  this  obligation,  founded  on  the  natural 
law  itself.  Indeed,  the  same  St.  Chrysostom  tells  us,  "  that  at  that  time  a  very 
widely-spread  opinion  represented  the  Apostles  as  seditious  men  and  innovators, 
laboring  by  their  speeches  and  acts  to  bring  about  the  downfall  of  laws/' 
"  Plurima  tune  temporis  circumferebatur  fama,  traducens  Apostolos  veluti  sedi- 
tiosos  rerumque  novatores ;  qui  omnia  ad  evertendum  leges  communes  et  face- 
rent  et  dicerent."  (Horn.  23,  in  Epist.  ad  Tim.) 

It  was  no  doubt  to  this  that  St.  Paul  alluded  when,  admonishing  the  faithful 
of  the  obligation  of  obeying  authority,  he  told  them  that  "  such  was  the  will  of 
God,  that  by  acting  thus  they  might  put  to  silence  the  imprudence  of  foolish 
men."  (Epist.  i.  c.  2.)  We  also  know  from  St.  Jerome,  that  in  the  beginning 
of  the  Church,  some,  hearing  the  Gospel  liberty  preached,  imagined  that  uni- 
versal liberty  also  was  meant.  The  necessity  of  inculcating  a  duty,  the  fulfil- 
ment of  which  is  indispensable  for  the  preservation  of  society,  will  be  clearly 
perceived  if  we  consider  with  what  ease  an  error  so  flattering  to  proud  and  rebel- 
lious minds  might  take  root.  After  fourteen  centuries  had  passed  away,  we  see 
the  error  reproduced  in  the  time  of  Wickliflf  and  John  IIuss.  The  Anabaptists 
made  a  dreadful  application  of  it  when  they  inundated  Germany  with  blood. 
At  a  later  period,  the  fanatical  sectaries  of  England  raised  the  greatest  disorders 
and  brought  about  fearful  catastrophes  by  a  similar  doctrine,  condemning  alike 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power. 

The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  law  of  peace  and  love,  when  preaching 
liberty,  spoke  of  that  liberty  which  draws  us  from  the  slavery  of  sin  and  the 
power  of  the  devil,  renders  us  co-heirs  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  participators  of 
grace  and  glory.  But  she  was  very  far  from  propagating  doctrines  which  could 
favor  disorder,  or  subvert  law  and  authority.  It  was,  then,  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance to  her  to  disprove  the  calumnies  by  which  her  enemies  attempted  to 
injure  her;  it  was  necessary  for  her  to  proclaim,  by  her  words  and  acts,  that 
the  public  interest  had  nothing  to  fear  from  her  doctrines.  We  also  see  that 
after  the  Apostles  had  inculcated  this  sacred  obligation  on  several  occasions,  the 
Fathers  of  the  earliest  times  insist  again  and  frequently  on  the  same  point.  St. 
Polycarp,  quoted  by  Eusebius,  (lib.  iv.  Hist.  cap.  15,)  says,  when  speaking  to 
the  proconsul :  "  It  is  ordained  to  render  to  the  magistrates  and  powers  ap- 
pointed by  God  the  honor  which  we  owe  them."  St.  Justin,  in  his  Apology 
for  the  Christians,  also  recalls  the  precept  of  Jesus  Christ  touching  the  pay- 
ment of  tributes :  Tertullian,  in  his  Apology,  chapter  third,  reproaches  the 
Gentiles  with  the  persecution  they  directed  against  the  Christians,  even  at  the 
time  when  the  latter,  with  their  hands  raised  to  heaven,  were  praying  for  the 
safety  of  the  emperors.  The  zeal  of  the  saints  who  were  charged  with  the 
instruction  and  direction  of  the  faithful  succeeded  in  inculcating  this  precept  so 
well,  that  the  Christians  were  everywhere  a  model  of  submission  and  obedience. 
Thus  Pliny,  writing  to  the  Emperor  Trajan,  avowed  that,  religion  excepted,  he 
could  not  accuse  them  of  being  at  all  wanting  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  laws  and 
imperial  edicts. 

Nature  herself  has  pointed  out  the  persons  in  whom  resides  the  paternal 
power  j  the  wants  of  the  family  mark  the  limits  of  this  power ;  the  feelings  of 
the  heart  prescribe  its  object  and  regulate  its  conduct.  In  society  it  is  other- 
wise :  the  rights  of  the  civil  power  are  tossed  about  by  the  storms  of  human 
events ;  here  this  right  resides  in  one  person,  there  in  several  \  to-day  it  belongs 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  287 

to  one  family,  to-morrow  to  another ;  one  day  it  is  exercised  under  one  form, 
the  next  under  another  very  different.  The  infant  who  weeps  at  his  mother's 
bosom  reminds  her  of  the  obligation  of  nourishing  and  watching  over  it;  woman, 
weak  and  unsupported,  calls  unmistakably  on  man  to  protect  her  and  her  child; 
youth,  without  strength  to  sustain  or  knowledge  to  direct  itself,  shows  parents 
their  obligation  of  care  and  guardianship.  We  see  clearly  the  will  of  God;  the 
order  of  nature  forcibly  expresses  it ;  the  tenderest  feelings  are  its  echo  and 
interpreter ;  we  do  not  require  any  thing  else  to  show  us  what  is  the  will  of 
God ;  we  do  not  need  any  refinement  to  convince  us  that  the  parental  power  is 
from  above.  The  rights  and  duties  of  parents  and  children  are  written  in  cha- 
racters as  distincf  as  they  are  beautiful.  But  where  shall  we  find,  with  respect 
to  the  civil  power,  an  expression  as  unequivocal  ?  If  power  comes  from  God, 
by  what  means  does  he  communicate  it  ?  In  what  channel  is  it  conveyed  ? 
This  leads  us  to  other  secondary  questions,  which  all  conduce  to  the  explanation 
and  solution  of  the  principal  question. 

Was  there  ever  a  man  who  by  natural  right  found  himself  invested  with  civil 
power  ?  It  is  clear  that  in  this  case  power  would  have  no  other  origin  than 
paternal  authority ;  that  is  to  say,  in  that  case,  the  civil  power  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered as  an  amplification  of  that  authority,  as  a  transformation  of  domestic 
into  civil  power.  We  immediately  see  the  difference  between  the  domestic  and 
the  social  order,  their  separate  objects,  the  diversity  of  rules  by  which  they 
must  be  regulated,  and  we  see  how  different  are  the  means  which  they  both  use 
for  their  government.  I  do  not  deny  that  the  type  of  society  is  found  in  the 
family,  and  that  society  is  in  the  most  desirable  condition  when  it  most 
resembles  the  family  in  command  and  in  obedience ;  but  mere  analogies  do  not 
suffice  to  establish  rights,  and  it  always  remains  indubitable  that  those  of  the 
civil  power  must  not  be  confounded  with  those  of  the  paternal. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  nature  of  things  shows  that  Providence,  in  ordaining 
the  destinies  of  the  world,  did  not  establish  the  paternal  as  the  source  of  the 
civil.  Indeed,  we  do  not  see  how  such  a  power  could  have  been  transmitted, 
and  the  legitimacy  of  its  claims  have  been  justified.  We  can  easily  understand 
the  limited  rule  of  an  old  man,  governing  a  society,  composed  of  two  or  three 
generations  only,  who  were  descended  from  him ;  but  as  soon  as  this  society 
increased,  extended  to  several  countries,  and  consequently  was  divided  and 
subdivided,  the  patriarchal  power  must  have  disappeared,  its  exercise  must  have 
become  impossible,  and  we  can  no  longer  understand  how  the  pretenders  to  the 
throne  could  come  to  an  understanding  with  each  other  and  the  rest  of  the 
people,  to  justify  and  legitimize  their  rule.  The  theory  which  acknowledges 
the  paternal  as  the  origin  of  the  civil  power  may  be  as  promising  as  you  please ; 
it  may  sustain  itself  on  the  example  of  the  patriarchal  government,  which  we 
observe  in  the  cradle  of  society;  but  there  are  two  things  against  it.  First,  it 
asserts,  but  does  not  prove ;  second,  it  has  no  means  of  attaining  the  end  for 
which  it  was  intended,  viz.  the  consolidation  of  government,  for  it  cannot 
establish  itself  by  proving  its  legitimacy.  The  greatest  of  kings  and  the 
humblest  of  subjects  equally  know  that  they  are  the  sons  of  Noe;  nothing  more. 
I  have  not  been  able  to  find  this  theory  either  in  St.  Thomas,  or  in  any  of  the 
other  principal  theologians;  and  to  go  still  higher,  I  do  not  know  that  it  can 
find  any  authority  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Fathers,  in  the  tradition  of  the  Church, 
or  in  Scripture  itself.  It  is  consequently  a  mere  philosophical  opinion,  of 
which  the  explanation  and  proof  belong  to  those  who  advance  it.  Catholicity 
says  nothing  either  for  or  against  it. 

It  is  then  demonstrated  that  the  civil  power  does  not  reside  in  any  man  of 
natural  right,  and  on  the  other  hand,  we  know  that  power  comes  from  God. 
Who  receives  this  power  from  God,  and  how  does  he  receive  it  ?  It  is  necessary 
first  to  observe,  that  the  Catholic  Church,  while  acknowledging  the  divine 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

origin  of  the  civil  power,  an  origin  which  is  expressly  stated  in  Scripture,  does 
not  define  any  thing  either  as  to  the  form  of  this  power,  or  the  means  which 
God  employs  in  communicating  it.  So  that  after  the  Catholic  doctrine  is  esta- 
blished, there  still  remains  to  be  examined  and  discussed,  who  immediately 
receives  the  power,  and  how  it  is  transmitted  ?  This  is  acknowledged  by  theo- 
logians when  they  have  treated  of  this  matter;  this  should  be  enough  to 
remove  the  prejudices  of  those  who  consider  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  on  this 
point  as  conducive  to  popular  degradation.  The  Church  teaches  the  obligation 
of  obeying  legitimate  authority,  and  adds  that  the  power  which  it  exercises 
emanates  from  God ;  this  doctrine  is  as  applicable  to  republics  as  to  absolute 
monarchies,  and  does  not  prejudge  either  the  forms  of  government  or  the  par- 
ticular claims  of  legitimacy.  As  to  these  latter  questions  they  cannot  be 
answered  in  general  terms  ;  they  depend  upon  a  variety  of  circumstances  into 
which  the  general  principles  which  are  the  foundation  of  the  good  order  and 
peace  of  society  cannot  enter.  I  think  it  is  so  important  to  give  clear  ideas  on 
this  point,  and  to  state  the  doctrines  of  the  most  distinguished  Catholic  divines, 
that  I  consider  it  necessary  to  devote  an  entire  chapter  to  this  subject. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

THE   ORIGIN   OF    SOCIETY,    ACCORDING   TO   CATHOLIC   DIVINES. 

THERE  is  nothing  more  instructive  or  more  interesting,  than  the  study  of 
public  law  in  those  writers  who,  pretending  not  to  pass  for  statesmen,  and 
entertaining  no  views  of  ambition,  express  themselves  without  flattery  and  with- 
out bitterness;  and  explain  these  matters  with  as  much  calmness  and  tran- 
quillity as  they  would  theories  of  rare  application  and  limited  extent.  At  the 
present  time  it  is  almost  impossible  to  open  a  book  without  immediately  per- 
ceiving to  which  of  the  two  contending  parties  the  author  belongs ;  it  seldom 
happens  that  his  ideas  are  not  affected  by  passion,  or  adapted  to  serve  particular 
designs;  and  it  not  unfrequently  happens  that,  without  conviction,  he  speaks 
according  to  the  dictates  of  his  interest. 

It  is  not  so  with  the  old  writers,  of  whom  we  are  speaking.  Let  us  render 
them  at  least  this  justice ;  that  their  opinions  are  conscientious,  their  language 
loyal  and  sincere;  and  whatever  may  be  the  judgment  with  respect  to  them, 
whether  we  consider  them  as  real  sages,  or  as  ignorant  men  and  fanatics,  we 
cannot  call  in  question  their  sincerity;  that  they  are  animated  by  a  religious 
idea,  that  they  develop  a  philosophical  system,  that  their  pens  are  the  faithful 
interpreters  of  their  thoughts. 

Rousseau  attempts  to  seek  the  origin  of  society,  and  of  the  civil  power ;  and 
begins  the  first  chapter  of  his  work  with  these  words :  "  Man  is  born  free,  and 
he  is  everywhere  in  fetters. "  Do  you  not  immediately  perceive  the  tribune 
under  the  mantle  of  the  philosopher  ?  Do  you  not  observe  that,  instead  of 
addressing  himself  to  the  reason,  the  writer  appeals  to  the  passions;  and  wounds 
the  most  susceptible  of  them — viz.  pride.  It  is  in  vain  for  the  philosopher  to 
endeavor  to  make  us  believe  that  he  does  riot  intend  to  reduce  his  doctrines  to 
practice ;  his  language  betrays  his  design.  In  another  place,  where  he  attempts 
nothing  less  than  to  give  advice  to  a  great  nation,  he  has  hardly  begun  when 
he  holds  over  Europe  the  torch  of  an  incendiary. 

"  When  we  read  ancient  history,  we  fancy  ourselves  transported  to  another 
world,  and  among  other  beings.  What  have  the  French,  the  English,  the  Rus- 
sians, in  common  with  the  Greeks  and  Romans  ?  Hardly  any  thing  but  the 
form.  The  great  souls  of  the  latter  appear  to  the  others  as  exaggerations  of 
history.  How  can  they,  who  feel  themselves  to  be  so  little,  imagine  that  such 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  289 

great  men  ever  existed  ?  They  did  exist,  however ;  and  they  were  human  like 
ourselves.  What  hinders  our  being  men  like  them  ?  Our  prejudices,  our  low 
philosophy,  and  grovelling  passions,  combined  with  the  egotism  of  men's  hearts, 
by  absurd  institutions,  directed  by  men  of  little  minds."  (Considerations  on  the 
Government  of  Poland,  &c.,  Chap.  2.)  Do  you  not  observe  the  poison  conveyed 
in  these  words  of  the  publicist  ?  And  is  it  not  palpable  that  he  had  something 
more  in  view  than  enlightening  the  mind  ?  See  with  what  address  he  attempts 
to  produce  a  feeling  of  irritation,  by  harsh  and  indecent  reproaches. 

Let  us  take  the  opposite  extreme  of  the  comparison,  and  see  in  how  different 
a  tone  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  in  his  work  De  Regimine  Principum,  begins  his 
explanation  on  the  same  subject,  and  gives  directions  for  good  government. (a)1 

"  If  man,"  he  says,  "  was  intended  to  live  alone,  like  many  animals,  he 
would  not  require  any  one  to  govern  him  ;  every  man  would  be  his  own  king, 
under  the  supreme  command  of  Grod ;  inasmuch  as  he  would  govern  himself  by 
the  light  of  reason  given  him  by  the  Creator.  But  it  is  in  the  nature  of  man 
to  be  a  social  and  political  animal,  living  in  community,  differently  from  all 
other  animals ;  a  thing  which  is  clearly  shown  by  the  necessities  of  his  nature. 
Nature  has  provided  for  other  animals  food  ;  skins  for  a  covering,  means  of 
defence,- — as  teeth,  horns,  claws, — or,  at  least,  speed  in  flight;  but  she  has  not 
endowed  man  with  any  of  those  qualities ;  and  instead  she  has  given  him  rea- 
son, by  which,  with  the  assistance  of  his  hands,  he  can  procure  what  he  wants. 
But  to  procure  this,  one  man  alone  is  not  enough ;  for  he  is  not  in  a  condition 
to  preserve  his  own  life;  it  is,  therefore,  in  man's  nature  to  live  in  society. 
Moreover,  nature  has  granted  to  other  animals  the  power  of  discerning  what  is 
useful  or  injurious  to  them :  thus  the  sheep  has  a  natural  horror  of  his  enemy 
the  wolf.  There  are  also  certain  animals  who  know  by  nature  the  herbs  which 
are  medicinal  to  them,  and  other  things  which  are  necessary  for  their  preserva- 
tion. But  man  has  not  naturally  the  knowledge  which  is  requisite  for  the  sup- 
port of  life,  except  in  society ;  inasmuch  as  the  aid  of  reason  is  capable  of  lead- 
ing from  universal  principles  to  the  knowledge  of  particular  things,  which  are 
necessary  for  life.  Thus,  then,  since  it  is  impossible  for  man  alone  to  obtain 
all  this  knowledge,  it  is  necessary  that  he  should  live  in  society,  one  aiding 
another ;  each  one  applying  to  his  own  task ;  for  example,  some  in  medicine ; 
some  in  one  way,  and  some  in  another.  This  is  shown  with  great  clearness  in 
that  faculty  peculiar  to  man,  language — which  enables  him  to  communicate  his 
thoughts  to  others.  Indeed,  brute  animals  mutually  communicate  their  feel- 
ings; as  the  dog  communicates^his  anger  by  barking,  and  other  animals  their 
passions  by  various  ways.  But  man,  with  respect  to  his  fellows,  is  more  com- 
municative than  any  other  animal;  even  than  those  who  are  the  most  inclined 
to  live  in  union,  as  cranes,  ants,  and  bees.  In  this  sense,  Solomon  says,  in 
Ecclesiastes  :  '  It  is  better,  therefore,  that  two  should  be  together  than  one ;  for 
they  have  the  advantage  of  their  society/  Thus,  if  it  be  natural  for  man  to 
live  in  society,  it  is  necessary  that  some  one  should  direct  the  multitude ;  for  if 
many  were  united,  and  each  one  did  as  he  thought  proper,  they  would  fall  to 
pieces,  unless  somebody  looked  after  the  public  good,  as  would  be  the  case  with 
the  human  body,  and  that  of  any  other  animal,  if  there  did  not  exist  a  power  to 
watch  over  the  welfare  of  all  the  members.  Thus  Solomon  says :  '  Thus,  where 
there  is  no  one  to  govern,  the  people  will  be  dispersed.'  In  man  himself  the 
soul  directs  the  body;  and  in  the  soul,  the  feelings  of  anger  and  concupiscence 
are  governed  by  the  reason.  Among  the  members  of  the  body,  there  is  one 

1  This  subject  is  so  important,  so  delicate,  that  I  shall  not  be  satisfied  with  giving  a  translation 
of  the  passages  which  I  quote,  however  careful  I  may  be  to  render  them  exact  and  literal,  at  the 
risk  of  irregularity  of  style  and  violation  of  the  idiom  of  our  language.  I  wish,  therefore,  to  set 
before  the  reader  the  original  texts  themselves,  desiring  him  to  judge  from  them  and  not  from 
my  version.  [They  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix.] 


290  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

principal  one,  which  directs  all ;  as  the  heart  or  the  head.  There  ought,  then, 
to  be  in  every  multitude  some  governing  power."  (St.  Thomas,  De  Regimine 
Priiicipum)  lib.  i.  cap.  1.) 

This  passage,  so  remarkable  for  profound  wisdom,  clearness  of  ideas,  solidity 
of  principles,  vigor  and  exactness  of  deductions,  contains,  in  a  few  words,  all 
that  can  be  said  with  respect  to  the  origin  of  society,  and  of  power;  to  the  rights 
enjoyed  by  the  latter,  and  the  obligations  incumbent  upon  it :  the  matter  being 
considered  in  general,  and  by  the  light  of  reason  alone.  In  the  first  place,  it 
was  required  to  show,  with  clearness,  the  necessity  of  the  existence  of  society ; 
and  this  the  holy  doctor  does  by  this  very  simple  reasoning — man  is  of  such  a 
nature  that  he  cannot  live  alone,  and  then  he  has  need  of  being  united  to  his 
fellows.  If  a  proof  of  this  fundamental  truth  be  required,  it  is  found  in  the  fact 
that  he  is  endowed  with  speech ;  this  is  a  sign  that  by  nature  he  is  destined  to 
communicate  with  other  men,  and  consequently  to  live  in  society.  After  having 
proved  this  invincible  necessity,  it  remained  to  demonstrate  a  necessity  not  less 
absolute — viz.  the  necessity  of  a  power  to  govern  society.  In  order  to  make 
this  demonstration,  St.  Thomas  does  not  invent  extravagant  systems,  or 
unfounded  theories ;  he  does  not  appeal  to  absurd  suppositions ;  he  is  satisfied 
with  a  reason  founded  on  the  nature  of  things,  dictated  by  common  sense,  and 
supported  by  daily  experience — viz.  that  in  all  bodies  of  men,  there  is  a  direc- 
tor requisite ;  since,  without  him,  disorder,  and  even  dispersion,  are  inevitable ; 
for  in  all  societies  there  must  be  a  chief. 

It  must  be  allowed  that  this  clear  and  simple  explanation  enables  us  to  under- 
stand the  theory  of  the  origin  of  society  much  better  than  all  the  subtilties  of 
explicit  and  implicit  pacts;  it  is  enough  for  a  thing  to  be  founded  on  nature 
itself,  for  it  to  be  viewed  as  demonstrated  as  a  real  necessity,  in  order  that  its 
existence  may  be  easily  conceived ;  why  then  seek,  by  subtilties  and  supposi- 
tions, what  is  apparent  at  the  first  view  ? 

Let  us  not,  however,  suppose  that  St.  Thomas  does  not  acknowledge  divine 
right,  or  is  ignorant  that  the  obligation  of  obedience  to  power  may  be  founded 
on  it :  far  from  it ;  this  truth  he  establishes  in  many  places  in  his  works ;  but 
ihe  does  not  forget  the  natural  and  the  human  law,  which,  on  this  point,  are 
•combined  and  allied  with  the  divine,  in  such  a  way,  that  the  latter  is  only  a 
•confirmation  of,  and  gives  a  sanction  to,  the  others.  We  ought  thus  to  inter- 
pret the  passages  in  which  the  holy  doctor  attributes  the  civil  power  to  human 
law,  considering  this  law  with  that  of  grace.  For  example,  when  examining 
whether  infidels  can  have  dominion  or  supremacy  over  the  faithful,  he  says :  (b) 
"  It  is  necessary  here  to  consider  that  dominion  or  supremacy  is  introduced  by 
virtue  of  human  law;  the  distinction  between  the  faithful  and  infidels,  is  by 
divine  law.  Divine  law,  which  emanates  from  grace,  does  not  take  away  human 
law,  which  is  founded  on  the  law  of  natural  reason ;  therefore  the  distinction 
between  the  faithful  and  infidels,  considered  in  itself,  does  not  take  away  the 
dominion  or  supremacy  of  infidels  over  the  faithful." 

When  inquiring,  in  another  place,  if  the  prince  who  has  apostatized  from  the 
faith  by  this  fact  loses  dominion  over  his  subjects,  so  that  they  are  no  longer 
called  upon  to  obey  him,  he  expresses  himself  thus :  (c)  "As  has  been  said 
before,  infidelity  does  not  destroy  dominion  itself;  for  dominion  was  introduced 
by  the  law  of  nations,  which  is  human  right;  while  the  distinction  between  the 
faithful  and  infidels  is  by  a  divine,  which  does  not  take  away  the  human  right." 
Again ;  when  examining  if  man  is  obliged  to  obey  another  man,  he  says :  (d) 
"  As  natural  actions  proceed  from  natural  powers,  so  human  operations  proceed 
from  the  human  will.  In  natural  things,  it  was  necessary  that  inferior  things 
should  be  brought  into  their  respective  operations  by  the  excellence  of  the  natu- 
ral virtue  which  God  has  given  to  superior  things.  In  the  same  way,  also,  it  is 
necessary  that  in  human  things,  those  which  are  superior  should  urge  on  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  291 

inferior,  by  the  force  of  authority  ordained  by  God.  To  move,  by  means  of 
reason  and  the  will,  is  to  command;  and  as,  by  virtue  of  the  natural  order 
instituted  by  God,  inferior  things  in  nature  are  necessarily  subject  to  the  motion 
of  superior  things,  so  also,  in  human  things,  those  which  are  inferior  ought,  by 
natural  and  divine  right,  to  obey  those  which  are  superior." 

On  the  same  question,  St.  Thomas  examines  whether  obedience  is  a  special 
virtue,  and  he  answers,  (e)  "  That  to  obey  a  superior  is  a  duty  conformable  to 
the  divine  order  communicated  to  things/'  In  the  6th  article,  he  states  the 
question  whether  Christians  are  obliged  to  obey  the  secular  powers,  and  says  :  (/) 
"  The  faith  of  Christ  is  the  principle  and  cause  of  justice,  according  to  what  is 
said  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  chap.  iii.  'the  justice  of  God  by  the  faith  of 
Jesus  Christ/  Thus  the  faith  of  Christ  does  not  take  away  the  law  of  justice, 
but  rather  confirms  it.  This  law  wills  that  inferiors  should  obey  their  superiors ; 
for  without  that,  human  society  could  not  be  preserved;  and  thus  the  faith  of 
Christ  does  not  exempt  the  faithful  from  the  obligation  of  obeying  the  secular 
powers."  I  have  quoted  at  some  length  these  passages  from  St.  Thomas,  in 
order  to  show  that  he  does  not  understand  the  divine  right  in  the  sense  in  which 
the  enemies  of  Catholicity  have  made  it  a  reproach  to  us;  but  that,  properly 
speaking,  while  he  adheres  to  a  dogma  so  expressly  taught  in  the  sacred  text,  he 
considers  the  Divine  law  as  a  confirmation  and  sanction  of  the  natural  and  human 
law.  We  know  that  for  six  centuries  Catholic  doctors  have  regarded  the  author- 
ity of  St.  Thomas  as  worthy  of  the  highest  respect  in  all  that  concerns  faith  and 
morality. 

We  have  just  seen  that  this  angel  of  the  schools  establishes,  as  founded  on 
the  natural,  human,  and  divine  law,  the  duty  of  obeying  authority,  affirming 
that  the  source  of  all  power  is  found  in  God,  without  entering  into  the  question 
whether  God  communicates  this  power  directly  or  indirectly  to  those  who  exer- 
cise it,  and  leaving  a  vast  field  where  human  opinions  may  debate  without  violat- 
ing the  purity  of  faith.  In  the  same  way,  the  most  eminent  doctors  who  have 
succeeded  him  in  the  Catholic  pulpits  have  contented  themselves  with  establish- 
ing and  enforcing  the  doctrine,  without  rashly  making  use  of  the  authority  of 
the  Church  in  its  application.  To  prove  this  I  will  here  insert  some  passages 
from  distinguished  theologians.  Cardinal  Bellarinin  expresses  himself  in  these 
words :  (#)  "  It  is  certain  that  public  authority  comes  from  God,  from  whom 
alone  emanate  all  things  good  and  lawful,  as  is  proved  by  St.  Augustin  through- 
out almost  all  the  forty-five  books  of  the  City  of  God.  Indeed,  the  Wisdom 
of  God,  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs}  chap,  viii.,  cries  out,  (  It  is  by  Me  that  kings 
reign;'  and  further  on,  'It  is  by  Me  that  princes  rule/  The  prophet  Daniel,  in 
the  second  chapter,  'The  God  of  heaven  has  given  thee  the  kingdom  and  the 
empire ;'  and  the  same  prophet,  in  the  fourth  chapter,  l  Thy  dwelling  shall  be 
with  cattle  and  with  wild  beasts,  and  thou  shalt  eat  grass  as  an  ox,  and  shalt  be 
wet  with  the  dew  of  heaven,  and  seven  years  shall  pass  over  thee,  till  thou  know 
that  the  Most  High  ruleth  over  the  kingdom  of  men,  and  giveth  it  to  whomso- 
ever He  will/  "  After  having  proved,  by  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
this  dogma,  via.  that  the  civil  power  comes  from  God,  the  illustrious  writer 
explains  the  sense  in  which  it  ought  to  be  understood :  (K)  "  But,"  he  says,  "  it 
is  necessary  to  make  some  observations  here.  In  the  first  place,  political  power, 
considered  in  general,  and  without  descending  in  particular  to  monarchy,  aris- 
tocracy, or  democracy,  emanates  immediately  from  God  alone ;  for  being  neces- 
sarily annexed  to  the  nature  of  man,  it  proceeds  from  Him  who  has  made  that 
nature.  Besides,  that  power  is  by  natural  law,  since  it  does  not  depend  upon 
men's  consent,  since  they  must  have  a  government  whether  they  wish  it  or  not, 
under  pain  of  desiring  the  destruction  of  the  human  race,  which  is  against  the 
inclination  of  nature.  It  is  thus  that  the  law  of  nature  is  divine  law,  and 
government  is  introduced  by  divine  law;  and  it  is  particularly  this  which  the 


292  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

Apostle  seems  to  have  had  in  view  when  he  says  to  the  Romans,  chap,  xiii., 
1  He  who  resists  authority,  resists  the  ordinance  of  God/  " 

This  doctrine  destroys  all  the  theory  of  Rousseau,  who  makes  the  existence 
of  society  and  the  right  of  the  civil  power  depend  on  human  conventions ;  it  also 
overturns  the  absurd  systems  of  some  Protestants,  and  other  heretics,  their  prede- 
cessors, who,  in  the  name  of  Christian  liberty,  pretended  to  condemn  all  authority. 
No !  the  existence  of  society  does  not  depend  on  the  consent  of  man ;  society 
is  not  his  work;  it  satisfies  an  imperious  necessity,  which,  if  it  were  not  satisfied, 
would  entail  the  destruction  of  the  human  race.  God,  when  he  created  man, 
did  not  deliver  him  to  the  mercy  of  chance ;  He  has  given  him  the  right  of  ful- 
filling his  necessities,  and  has  imposed  on  him  the  care  of  his  own  preservation 
as  a  duty ;  therefore  the  existence  of  the  human  race  includes  also  the  existence 
of  government,  and  the  obligations  of  obedience.  There  is  no  theory  so  clear, 
simple,  and  solid.  Shall  it  be  called  the  enemy  and  oppressor  of  human  free- 
dom ?  Is  it  any  disgrace  to  man  to  acknowledge  himself  the  creature  of  God  ? 
to  confess  that  he  has  received  from  Him  what  is  necessary  for  his  preservation  ? 
Is  the  intervention  of  God  any  infringement  of  human  liberty,  and  cannot  man  be 
free  without  being  an  Atheist  ?  It  is  absurd  to  say  there  is  any  thing  favorable 
to  servitude  in  a  doctrine  which  tells  us  "  God  wills  not  that  you  should  live  like 
wild  beasts :  He  commands  you  to  be  united  in  society,  and  for  this  purpose  He 
orders  you  to  live  in  submission  to  an  authority  legitimately  established/'  If 
this  be  called  servitude  and  oppression,  we  desire  this  servitude,  we  willingly 
give  up  the  right  which  is  pretended  to  be  granted  to  us  of  wandering  in  the 
woods  like  wild  beasts :  true  liberty  does  not  exist  in  man  when  he  is  stripped 
of  the  finest  attribute  of  his  nature,  that  of  acting  in  conformity  with  reason. 

Such  is  the  explanation  of  divine  right  according  to  the  illustrious  commen- 
tator whom  we  have  just  quoted;  let  us  now  see  the  applications  which  he  makes 
of  it,  and  learn  in  what  way,  according  to  him,  God  communicates  the  civil 
power  to  those  who  are  charged  with  its  exercise.  After  the  words  quoted  above, 
Bellarmin  continues:  (i)  "In  the  second  place,  observe,  that  this  power  resides 
immediately,  as  in  its  subject,  in  all  the  multitude,  for  it  is  by  divine  right/  The 
divine  right  has  not  given  this  power  to  any  man  in  particular,  for  it  1ta&  jjiyen 
it  to  the  multitude;  besides,  the  positive  law  being  taken  away,  there  is  no'-rda^on 
why  one  should  rule  rather  than  another,  among  a  great  number  of  equal  men ; 
therefore  power  belongs  to  the  whole  multitude.  In  fine,  society  should  be  a 
perfect  state ;  it  should  have  the  power  of  self-preservation,  and,  consequently, 
that  of  chastising  the  disturbers  of  the  peace." 

This  doctrine  has  nothing  in  common  with  the  foolish  assertions  of  Rousseau 
and  his  followers ;  no  one  who  has  studied  public  law  will  confound  things  so 
different.  Indeed,  what  the  Cardinal  establishes  in  the  passage  quoted,  viz.  that 
power  resides  immediately  in  the  multitude,  is  not  in  opposition  to  what  he  him- 
self taught  a  little  before,  when  he  said  that  it  comes  from  God,  and  is  not  owing 
to  human  conventions.  His  doctrine  may  be  conveyed  in  this  form.  Suppose 
a  number  of  men  without  any  positive  law ;  there  is  then  no  reason  why  any 
one  of  them  should  have  a  right  to  rule  the  rest.  Nevertheless,  this  law  exists, 
nature  itself  indicates  its  necessity,  God  ordains  a  government;  therefore  there 
exists  among  this  number  of  men  the  legitimate  power  of  instituting  one.  To 
explain  more  clearly  the  ideas  of  this  illustrious  theologian,  let  us  suppose  that 
a  considerable  number  of  families,  perfectly  equal  among  themselves  and  abso- 
lutely independent  of  each  other,  were  thrown  by  a  tempest  on  a  desert  island. 
The  vessel  being  destroyed,  they  have  no  hope  either  of  returning  home  or  of 
pursuing  their  journey.  All  communication  with  the  rest  of  mankind  is  become 
impossible :  we  ask,  whether  these  families  could  live  without  government  ?  No. 
Has  any  one  among  them  a  right  of  governing  the  rest  ?  Clearly  not.  Can  any 
individual  among  them  pretend  to  such  a  right  ?  Certainly  not.  Have  they  a 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  293 

right  to  appoint  the  government  of  which  they  stand  in  need  ?  Certainly  they 
have.  Therefore  in  this  multitude,  represented  by  the  fathers  of  families  or  in 
some  other  way,  resides  the  civil  power,  together  with  the  right  of  transmitting 
it  to  one  or  more  persons,  according  as  they  shall  judge  proper.  It  is  difficult 
to  make  any  valid  objection  to  the  doctrine  placed  in  this  point  of  view.  That 
this  is  the  real  meaning  of  his  words  is  clearly  shown  by  the  observations  which 
follow :  (&)  "In  the  third  place,"  he  says,  "observe  that  the  multitude  transfers 
this  power  to  one  person  or  more  by  natural  right ;  for  the  republic  not  being 
able  to  exercise  it  by  itself,  is  obliged  to  communicate  it  to  one  or  to  a  limited 
number;  and  it  is  thus  that  the  power  of  princes,  considered  in  general,  is  by 
natural  and  divine  law ;  and  the  whole  human  race,  if  assembled  together,  could 
not  establish  the  contrary,  viz.  that  princes  or  governors  did  not  exist." 

But  the  fundamental  principle  being  once  established,  Bellarmin  allows  to 
society  an  ample  right  of  appointing  the  form  of  government  which  they  think 
proper.  This  ought  to  refute  the  accusations  made  against  the  Catholic  doctrine, 
of  favoring  servitude ;  for  if  all  forms  of  government  are  reconcilable  with  this 
doctrine,  it  is  evident  that  it  cannot  justly  be  accused  of  being  incompatible  with 
liberty.  Hear  how  the  same  author  continues  on  this  point :  (I)  "  Observe,  in 
the  fourth  place,"  he  says,  "  that  particular  forms  of  government  are  by  the 
law  of  nations,  and  not  by  divine  law,  since  it  depends  upon  the  consent  of  the 
multitude  to  place  over  themselves  a  king,  consuls,  or  other  magistrates,  as  is 
clear ;  and,  for  a  legitimate  reason,  they  can  change  royalty  into  aristocracy,  or 
into  democracy,  or  vice  versa,  as  it  was  done  in  Rome. 

"  Observe,  in  the  fifth  place,  that  it  follows,  from  what  we  have  said,  that  this 
power  in  particular  comes  from  God,  but  by  means  of  the  counsel  and  election 
of  man,  like  all  other  things  which  belong  to  the  law  of  nations ;  for  the  law  of 
nations  is,  as  it  were,  a  conclusion  drawn  from  the  natural  law  by  human 
reasoning.  Thence  follows  a  two-fold  difference  between  the  political  and  the 
ecclesiastical  power :  first,  difference  with  regard  to  the  subject,  since  political 
power  is  in  the  multitude,  and  ecclesiastical  in  a  man  immediately,  as  in  its 
subject;  second,  difference  with  respect  to  the  cause,  since  political  power, 
considered  generally,  is  by  divine  law,  and  in  particular  by  the  law  of  nations, 
while  the  ecclesiastical  power  is  in  every  way  by  divine  law,  and  emanates  imme- 
diately from  G-od." 

These  last  words  show  clearly  how  correct  I  was  in  saying  that  theologians 
understand  the  divine  law  in  a  very  different  manner,  according  as  it  is  applied 
to  the  civil  or  to  the  ecclesiastical  power.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the 
doctrine  now  stated  is  peculiar  to  Cardinal  Bellarmin ;  the  generality  of  theo- 
logians follow  him  on  this  point  •  but  I  have  preferred  quoting  his  authority, 
because  he,  being  so  strongly  attached  to  the  See  of  Rome,  if  the  latter  were 
imbued  with  the  principles  of  despotism,  as  it  has  been  charged  with  being,  no 
doubt,  something  of  them  would  appear  in  the  writings  of  this  theologian.  It 
is  easy  to  anticipate  the  objection  that  will  be  made  to  this  explanation ;  we 
shall  be  told  that  Bellarmin,  having  for  his  object  the  exaltation  of  the  authority 
of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  with  this  view  attempted  to  lower  the  power  of  kings, 
in  order  to  take  away  or  diminish  all  opposition  to  the  authority  of  the  Popes. 
I  will  not  now  enter  into  an  examination  of  the  opinions  of  Bellarmin  with 
respect  to  the  two  powers — this  would  be  foreign  to  my  design ;  besides,  such 
points  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  law  excited  at  that  time  great  interest,  on 
account  of  circumstances  at  that  period,  but  now  very  little,  on  account  of  the 
new  course  which  events  have  taken,  and  the  great  change  which  has  been 
brought  about  in  ideas.  I  shall,  nevertheless,  reply  to  this  supposed  difficulty 
by  two  very  simple  observations.  The  first  is,  that  we  have  not  to  inquire  the 
intentions  of  Bellarmin  in  explaining  his  doctrine,  but  in  what  that  doctrine 
consists.  Whatever  his  motive  may  have  been,  we  see  an  author  of  vast  renown, 

z2 


294  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

whose  opinion  has  great  weight  in  Catholic  schools,  and  who  wrote  at  Rome, 
where,  so  far  from  his  writings  being  condemned,  he  was  surrounded  with  respect 
and  honor  :  this  theologian,  I  say,  explaining  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  on  the 
Divine  origin  of  the  civil  power,  does  it  in  such  terms  that,  while  giving  sacred 
guarantees  for  the  good  order  of  society,  he  does  not  infringe  on  the  liberty  of 
the  people ;  this  is  the  vindication  of  Rome  against  the  attacks  made  upon  her. 
The  second  is,  that  Cardinal  Bellarmin  does  not  here  profess  an  isolated  opinion — 
the  generality  of  theologians  are  on  his  side  ',  therefore,  all  that  can  be  said 
against  him  personally  proves  nothing  against  his  doctrines.  Among  the  many 
authors  that  I  could  quote,  I  will  select  some  who  will  represent  many  different 

rriods :  and  as  the  obligation  of  being  brief  confines  me  within  narrow  limits, 
beg  the  reader  himself  to  examine  the  works  of  Catholic  theologians  and 
moralists ;  he  will  thus  make  sure  of  becoming  acquainted  with  their  thoughts 
on  this  subject.  Hear  how  Suarez  explains  the  origin  of  power  :  (m)  "Herein/' 
he  says,  "  the  common  opinion  seems  to  be,  that  God,  inasmuch  as  He  is  the 
author  of  nature,  gives  the  power ;  so  that  men  are,  so  to  speak,  the  matter  and 
subject  capable  of  this  power ;  while  God  gives  the  form  by  giving  the  power." 
(De  Leg.  lib.  iii.  c.  3.) 

He  goes  on  to  develop  his  doctrine,  relying  on  the  reason  usually  made  use  of 
in  this  matter }  and  when  he  comes  to  draw  the  conclusions,  he  explains  how 
society,  which,  according  to  him,  receives  the  power  immediately  from  God, 
communicates  it  to  certain  persons.  He  adds :  (n)  "  In  the  second  place,  it 
follows  from  what  |ias  been  said,  that  the  civil  power,  whenever  it  is  found  in  a 
man  or  a  prince,  has  emanated  according  to  usual  and  legitimate  law,  from  the 
people  and  the  community,  either  directly  or  remotely,  and  that  it  cannot 
otherwise  be  justly  possessed."  (Ibid.  cap.  4.) 

Perhaps  some  of  my  readers  may  not  know  that  a  Spanish  Jesuit  maintained 
against  the  King  of  England  in  person,  the  doctrine  that  princes  receive  power 
mediately  from  God,  and  immediately  from  the  people.  This  Jesuit  is  Suarez 
himself,  and  the  book  to  which  I  allude  is  called,  (o)  "  Defence  of  the  Catholic 
and  Apostolic  faith  against  the  errors  of  the  Anglican  sect ;  accompanied  by  a 
Reply  to  the  Apology  for  the  Oath  of  Fidelity,  and  to  the  monitary  Preface  pub- 
lished by  the  most  serene  James,  Xing  of  England.  By  P.  D.  Frangois  Suarez, 
Professor  at  the  University  of  Coimbra ;  addressed  to  the  most  serene  Kings  and 
Princes  of  the  Christian  world." 

In  the  third  book,  chapter  second,  where  he  discusses  the  question,  Whether 
the  political  sovereignty  comes  immediately  from  God  or  from  divine  institution, 
Suarez  says  :  "  Here  the  most  serene  King  not  only  gives  a  new  and  singular 
opinion,  but  also  acrimoniously  attacks  Cardinal  Bellarmin,  for  having  affirmed 
that  Kings  have  not  received  authority  immediately  from  God  like  the  Popes. 
He  himself  affirms  that  Kings  hold  their  power  not  from  the  people,  but  imme- 
diately from  God ;  and  he  attempts  to  support  his  opinion  by  arguments  and 
examples  the  value  of  which  I  shall  examine  in  the  next  chapter. 

"  Although  this  controversy  does  not  immediately  concern  the  dogmas  of  faith 
(for  we  have  nothing  in  reference  to  it  either  in  the  Scriptures  or  in  the  Fathers) , 
it  may  nevertheless  be  well  to  discuss  and  explain  it  carefully ',  1.  because  it 
might  possibly  lead  to  error  in  other  dogmas ;  2.  because  the  above  opinion  of  the 
King,  as  he  maintains  and  explains  it,  is  new,  singular,  and  apparently  invented 
to  exalt  the  temporal  at  the  expense  of  the  spiritual  power ;  and  3.  because  we 
consider  the  opinion  of  the  illustrious  Bellarmin  ancient,  received,  true,  and 
necessary."  But  we  must  not  attribute  these  opinions  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  times,  nor  suppose  that  they  disappeared  from  the  schools  of  theologians  as 
soon  as  they  were  advanced.  In  support  of  them,  a  multitude  of  authors  might 
very  easily  be  cited,  who  would  show  that  Suarez  was  correct  in  saying  that  the 
opinion  of  Bellarmin  was  received  and  ancient ;  they  would,  moreover,  show 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  295 

that  this  doctrine  continued  to  be  admitted  as  a  matter  of  course,  without  any 
doubt  of  its  orthodoxy,  or  of  its  containing  any  thing  dangerous  to  the  stability 
of  monarchies.  In  proof  of  what  is  here  adduced,  I  will*  cite  passages  from 
distinguished  authors,  proving  that  at  Rome  this  mode  of  explaining  the  right 
divine  has  never  been  called  in  question ;  and  that  in  France  and  Spain,  where 
absolute  monarchy  had  taken  so  deep  root,  this  opinion  was  no  longer  regarded 
as  dangerous  to  the  stability  of  thrones.  A  long  period  had  already  elapsed — 
the  critical  position  which  might  more  or  less  influence  the  direction  of  ideas  had 
consequently  disappeared,  yet  theologians  still  maintained  the  same  doctrines. 
Cardinal  Gotti,  who  wrote  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century,  gives,  in  his 
Treatise  upon  Laws,  the  above  opinion  as  previously  admitted,  without  even 
attempting  to  confirm  it.  (p)  In  the  Moral  Theology  of  Herman  Busenbaum, 
enlarged  by  St.  Alphonsus  Liguori,  book  1st,  second  Treatise  upon  Laws, 
(chap.  i.  dub.  2,  §  104,)  it  is  expressly  said  :  "  It  is  certain  that  the  power  of 
making  laws  exists  among  men,  but  as  far  as  civil  laws  are  concerned,  this  power 
belongs  naturally  to  no  individual.  It  belongs  to  the  community,  who  transfer 
it  to  one  or  to  more,  that  by  them  the  community  itself  may  be  governed." 

Should  any  one  say  that  I  quote  the  Jesuits  only,  or  suspect  that  these  doc- 
trines are  mere  casuistry,  I  will  cite  remarkable  passages  from  other  theologians, 
who  are  neither  casuists  nor  prepossessed  in  favor  of  the  Jesuits.  Father  Daniel 
Concina,  who  wrote  at  Rome  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  supports  the 
same  doctrine  as  generally  admitted;  in  his  Theologie  chretienne  dogmatico- 
morale,  Roman  edition,  1768,  he  expresses  himself  as  follows  :  (q)  "  All  writers 
generally  assert  that  the  origin  of  supreme  power  is  of  God,  as  Solomon  declares 
in  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  c.  viii.,  saying,  '  By  Me  kings  reign,  and  lawgivers 
decree  just  things  :'  as  truly  as  subordinate  princes  are  dependent  upon  the 
supreme  temporal  majesty,  so,  in  like  manner,  this  majesty  itself  must  depend 
upon  the  supreme  King  and  Lord  of  lords.  Theologians  and  jurists  dispute 
whether  this  supreme  power  comes  immediately  from  God,  or  merely  in  an  indi- 
rect manner.  Many  affirm  that  it  emanates  immediately  from  God,  because  it 
cannot  emanate  from  men,  whether  we  consider  them  collectively  or  individually  ; 
for  all  fathers  of  families  are  equal,  and  each  possesses,  with  regard  to  his  own 
family,  a  power  merely  economical ;  from  which  it  follows,  that  they  cannot 
confer  upon  others  that  civil  and  political  power  which  they  themselves  do  not 
possess.  Moreover,  if  the  community,  in  its  superiority,  had  delegated  to  one 
or  to  more  the  power  here  under  discussion,  it  could  revoke  it  at  pleasure,  for 
the  superior  is  always  at  liberty  to  withdraw  the  facilities  he  has  delegated  to 
another,  and  this  would  be  very  injurious  to  society. 

11  In  support  of  the  opposite  opinion,  many  answer,  and  certainly  with  more 
probability  and  truth,  that,  in  reality,  all  power  proceeds  from  God,  but  that  it 
is  not  delegated  to  any  particular  individual  directly,  unless  by  consent  of  civil 
society.  That  this  power  is  not  vested  directly  in  any  individual,  but  in  the 
entire  collection  of  men,  is  what  St.  Thomas  expressly  teaches  (1,  2,  qu.  90, 
art.  3,  ad  2,  et  qu.  97,  art.  3,  ad  3),  followed  by  Dominic  Soto  (lib.  i.  qu.  1, 
art.  3);  by  Ledesma  (2  part.  qu.  18,  art.  3);  and  by  Covarruvias  (in  Pract. 
cap.  i.).  The  reason  of  this  is  evident ;  for  as  all  men  are  born  free  with  regard 
to  civil  society,  no  one  has  any  civil  power  over  another,  since  this  power  exists 
not  in  each,  nor  in  any  of  them  in  a  fixed  manner ;  it  follows,  therefore,  that  it 
is  vested  in  the  whole  collection  of  men.  God  does  not  confer  this  power  by  any 
special  act  distinct  from  creation,  but  it  is  a  property  of  right  reason,  inasmuch 
as  right  reason  dictates  that  men,  united  in  one  moral  whole,  shall  prescribe,  by 
express  or  tacit  consent,  in  what  manner  society  shall  be  governed,  preserved,  and 
upheld" 

It  is  proper  to  remark,  that  Father  Concina,  speaking  here  of  tacit  or  express 
consent,  has  not  in  view  the  actual  existence  of  society,  nor  the  authority  by 


296  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

which  it  is  governed,  but  merely  the  mode  of  exercising  this  authority  for  the 
direction,  preservation,  and  defence  of  society.  Hence,  his  opinion  coincides 
with  that  of  Bellarmin ;  society  and  power  are  of  right  divine  and  natural,  but 
the  mode  of  organizing  society,  and  of  transmitting  and  exercising  authority,  is 
human.  After  having  shown  in  what  sense  we  are  to  understand  that  civil 
power  comes  from  God,  Concina  resumes  the  question  which  he  had  proposed, 
viz.  in  what  manner  authority  exists  in  kings,  princes,  and  other  supreme  heads 
of  government.  He  proceeds  as  follows  :  (r)  "  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the 
power  existing  in  the  prince,  the  king,  or  in  many  persons  whether  nobles  or 
plebeians,  emanates  from  the  community  itself,  directly  or  indirectly ;  for,  if  it 
came  immediately  from  God,  it  would  be  manifested  to  us  in  a  particular  man- 
ner, as  in  the  instances  of  Saul  and  David,  who  were  chosen  by  God.  We 
consider,  therefore,  erroneous,  the  doctrine  that  God  confers  this  power  imme- 
diately and  directly  upon  the  king,  the  prince,  or  any  other  head  of  supreme 
government  whatever,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  tacit  or  express  consent  of  the 
public.  This  discussion,  it  is  true,  is  one  of  words  rather  than  of  things,  for 
this  power  comes  from  God,  the  author  of  nature,  inasmuch  as  He  has  ordained 
and  appointed  that  the  public  itself  shall  confer  upon  one  or  more  the  power  of 
supreme  government,  for  the  preservation  and  defence  of  society.  The  nomi- 
nation of  the  person  or  persons  appointed  to  command  being  once  made,  their 
power  is  said  to  come  from  God,  because  society  itself  is  bound  by  natural  and 
divine  right  to  obey  him  who  commands.  In  fact,  it  is  the  will  of  God  that 
society  shall  be  governed,  whether  by  one  individual  or  by  several.  In  this 
manner  the  several  opinions  of  theologians  are  reconciled  with  each  other,  and 
the  oracles  of  Scripture  appear  in  their  true  sense  :  '  He  that  resisteth  the 
power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God/  '  There  is  no  power  but  from  God.' 
t  Be  subject,  therefore,  to  every  human  creature  for  God's  sake,  whether  to  the 
king,'  &c.  '  Thou  wouldst  not  have  any  power  against  Me,  unless  it  were  given 
thee  from  above.'  These  testimonies,  and  others  of  a  like  nature,  ought  to  con- 
vince us  that  all  is  ordained  and  directed  by  God,  the  supreme  Mediator.  This, 
however,  does  not  exclude  the  operations  of  human  institutions,  as  is  very  justly 
interpreted  by  St.  Augustin  and  St.  John  Chrysostom." 

Father  Billuart,  who  lived  in  the  early  part  of  last  century,  and,  consequently, 
at  the  same  epoch  when  the  highly  monarchical  traditions  of  Louis  XIV.  were 
in  all  their  vigor,  expressed  the  same  ideas  on  this  subject  as  the  theologians 
above  cited.  In  his  work  on  Moral  Theology,  which,  for  almost  a  century,  has 
been  widely  circulated,  he  thus  expresses  himself:  (s)  "I  maintain,  in  the  first 
place,  that  legislative  power  belongs  to  the  community,  or  to  its  representative." 
After  quoting  St.  Thomas  and  St.  Isidore,  he  continues  :  "  Reason  proves,  that 
to  make  laws  belongs  of  right  to  him  who  is  appointed  to  watch  over  the  public 
good ;  for  the  maintenance  of  the  public  good,  as  has  been  already  said,  is  the 
end  and  aim  of  the  laws.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  community,  or  of  its  ruler,  to 
watch  over  the  public  good;  for  as  the  welfare  of  an  individual  is  a  fit  object 
for  individual  agency,  so  is  the  public  good  for  the  agency  of  the  community,  or 
of  him  to  whom  its  functions  have  been  delegated ;  the  power  of  legislation, 
therefore,  is  vested  in  the  community,  or  in  its  representative.  I  will  confirm 
what  is  here  advanced.  The  law  has  the  power  of  commanding  and  of  coercing 
in  such  a  manner  that  no  individual  has  any  authority  to  command  or  restrain 
the  multitude.  This  authority  belongs  exclusively  to  the  community,  or  to  its 
representative;  to  these,  therefore,  legislative  power  belongs."  Having  made 
these  reflections,  Billuart  starts  another  difficulty  with  regard  to  the  extreme 
extension  which  he  appears  to  have  given  to  the  rights  of  the  multitude.  On 
this  occasion  he  developes  his  system  still  further,  (t) 

11  It  will  be  objected,"  says  he,  "  that  the  right  of  commanding  and  compel- 
ling is  vested  in  the  superior,  and  cannot  belong  to  the  community,  since  it  is 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  297 

not  superior  to  itself.  To  this  I  reply :  Society,  in  one  sense,  ia  not  superior 
to  itself,  but  in  another  it  is.  The  community  may  be  considered  collectively 
as  one  moral  body,  and  in  this  sense  it  is  superior  to  itself  as  considered  distri- 
butively  in  each  of  its  members.  Again ;  it  may  be  considered  as  acting  in  the 
place  of  God,  from  whom  emanates  all  legislative  power,  as  it  is  said  in  Pro- 
verbs :  '  By  Me  kings  reign  and  the  lawgivers  decree  just  things ;'  or  as  capable 
of  being  governed  conformably  to  the  public  good.  In  the  former  case,  it  is 
superior  and  legislative;  in  the  latter,  inferior  and  subject  to  the  law." 

As  this  explanation  might  appear  somewhat  obscure,  Billuart  proceeds  to 
investigate  more  profoundly  the  origin  of  society  and  of  civil  power.  He  endea- 
vors to  show  how  the  natural,  the  divine,  and  the  human  laws  agree  on  this 
point,  defining  what  belongs  to  each.  He  then  continues  as  follows  :  (u)  "  To 
render  this  more  clear,  it  must  be  observed,  that  man,  unlike  other  animals,  is 
born  destitute  of  many  things  necessary  both  for  body  and  soul,  and  that  for 
these  he  is  indebted  to  society  and  the  assistance  of  his  fellow-mortals ;  conse- 
quently he  is,  by  his  very  nature,  a  social  animal.  This  society,  which  nature 
and  reason  prescribe  to  him  as  indispensable,  cannot  long  exist  without  some 
power  to  direct  it,  according  to  what  is  said  in  Proverbs :  '  Where  there  is  no 
governor,  the  people  will  come  to  ruin/  Whence  it  follows,  that  God,  who  has 
given  this  nature,  has  also  given  the  power  of  governing  and  of  legislating.  He, 
in  fact,  who  gives  the  form,  gives,  at  the  same  time,  all  that  such  form  necessa- 
rily requires.  But  as  it  is  not  possible  for  this  executive  and  legislative  power 
to  be  exercised  by  the  entire  multitude,  since  it  would  be  difficult  for  all. and 
each  forming  this  multitude  to  assemble  on  all  occasions  when  the  affairs  of  the 
commonweal  are  to  be  discussed,  or  laws  to  be  established,  it  is  usual  for  the 
multitude  to  transfer  its  right  or  governing  power,  either  to  a  number  of  people 
selected  from  all  classes,  and  bearing  the  name  of  a  democracy ;  or  to  a  select 
number  of  the  nobles,  which  takes  the  name  of  an  aristocracy ;  or  to  one  alone, 
for  himself  only,  or  for  his  successors,  by  virtue  of  the  right  of  hereditary  suc- 
cession, which  is  styled  a  monarchy.  From  .which  it  is  evident  that  all  power 
comes  from  God,  as  the  Apostle  says,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  chap.  xiii. 
This  power  resides  in  the  community,  directly  and  by  natural  right,  but  in 
kings  and  other  rulers  merely  indirectly  and  by  human  right,  unless  God  con- 
fers it  directly  upon  certain  individuals,  as  He  did  upon  Moses  over  the  Jews, 
and  as  Christ  has  conferred  it  upon  the  Supreme  Pontiff  over  the  whole  Church." 
What  is  still  more  remarkable,  our  absolute  monarchies  were  never  alarmed  at 
these  theological  doctrines,  not  >mly  previous  to  the  French  Revolution,  but 
since  that  Revolution,  and  up  to  the  time  commonly  styled  with  us  the  fatal 
decade,  (from  1823  to  1833,  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  VII.) 
It  is  well  known  that  during  that  period  the  Compendium  Salmaticense  (Com- 
pendium of  Salamanca)  had  a  most  favorable  reception  in  this  country,  and 
served  as  a  text-book  among  the  professors  of  ethics  in  the  colleges  and  univer- 
sities. Ye  who  are  continually  declaiming  against  this  epoch,  imagining,  with- 
out doubt,  that  in  those  days  no  other  doctrines  than  those  in  favor  of  the  most 
arrant  despotism  could  be  circulated,  listen  to  what  is  said  in  the  above  book, 
which  was  then  placed  in  the  hands  of  every  youth  destined  to  the  ecclesiastical 
state.  After  having  established  the  existence  of  a  civil  legislative  power,  the 
author  thus  proceeds :  (x)  "  You  will  ask  me,  in  the  second  place,  whether  the 
prince  receives  this  civil  legislative  power  immediately  from  God.  I  reply,  It 
,is  universally  admitted  that  princes  receive  this  power  from  God;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  it  is  maintained  with  more  truth,  that  they  do  not  receive  it  directly^ 
but  through  the  medium  of  the  people's  consent ;  for  all  men  are  naturally  equal, 
and  there  is  no  natural  distinction  of  superiority  or  inferiority.  Since  nature 
has  not  given  any  individual  power  over  another,  God  has  conferred  this  power 
upon  the  community ;  which,  as  it  may  think  it  more  proper  to  be  ruled  by  one 


298  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

or  by  many  appointed  persons,  transfers  it  to  one  or  to  many,  that  by  them  it 
may  be  ruled;  according  to  St.  Thomas  (1,  2,  qu.  90,  art.  3,  ad  2).  From  this 
natural  principle  arises  the  variety  in  the  forms  of  civil  government ;  for  if  a 
state  transfers  all  its  power  to  a  single  individual,  this  government  is  termed 
monarchical ;  if  it  confers  it  upon  the  nobles  of  the  nation,  it  takes  the  name 
of  an  aristocracy ;  if  the  people  or  the  state  retain  this  power  in  their  own 
hands,  the  civil  government  is  styled  a  democracy.  Princes,  therefore,  receive 
from  God  the  power  of  commanding ;  for  supposing  the  election  made  by  the 
whole  state,  God  confers  upon  the  prince  the  power  which  was  vested  in  the 
community.  Whence  it  follows,  that  the  prince  rules  and  governs  in  the  name 
of  God,  and  whoever  resists  him  resists  the  ordinance  of  God,  according  to  the 
words  of  the  Apostle  above  cited/' 


CHAPTER  L. 

ON   THE   RIGHT   DIVINE,  ACCORDING   TO   THE   CATHOLIC   DOCTORS. 

THE  doctrine  of  the  right  divine,  considered  in  its  relation  to  society,  presents 
to  our  notice  two  particular  points  which  this  doctrine  contains  :  1.  The  origin 
of  civil  power ;  2.  The  mode  in  which  God  communicates  this  power. 

The  former  point  is  a  question  of  doctrine.  No  Catholic  can  entertain  any 
doubt  upon  it.  The  second  is  open  to  discussion  ;  and  various  opinions  may  be 
formed  upon  it,  without  interfering  with  faith.  With  regard  to  the  right  divine, 
considered  in  itself,  true  philosophy  agrees  with  Catholicity.  In  fact,  if  civil 
power  comes  not  from  God,  to  what  source  can  we  trace  its  origin  ?  Upon  what 
solid  principle  can  we  support  it  ?  If  the  man  who  exercises  it  does  not  rest 
upon  God  the  legitimacy  of  his  power,  no  title  will  avail  to  uphold  his  right. 
It  will  be  radically  and  irretrievably  null.  On  the  contrary,  supposing  autho- 
rity to  come  from  God,  our  duty  to  submit  to  it  becomes  evident,  and  our  dig- 
nity is  not  in  the  least  hurt  by  the  submission ;  but,  in  the  other  supposition, 
we  see  only  force,  craft,. tyranny,  but  no  reason  or  justice;  perhaps  a  necessity 
for  submission,  but  no  obligation.  By  what  title  does  any  man  pretend  to 
command  us  ?  Because  he  is  possessed  of  superior  intellect  ?  Who  had  the 
right  of  adjudging  to  him  the  palm  ?  Besides,  this  superiority  does  not  con- 
stitute a  right ;  in  some  instances  its  direction  might  be  useful  to  us,  but  it  will 
not  be  obligatory.  Is  it  because  he  is  stronger  than  we  ?  In  that  case  the 
elephant  ought  to  be  king  of  the  entire  world.  Is  it  because  he  is  more  wealthy 
than  we  ?  Reason  and  justice  exist  not  in  metal.  The  rich  man  is  born  naked, 
and  his  riches  will  not  descend  with  him  into  the  tomb.  Upon  earth  they  have 
enabled  him  to  acquire  power ;  but  they  do  not  confer  upon  him  any  right  to 
exercise  it  over  others.  Shall  it  consist  in  certain  faculties  conferred  on  him 
by  others?  who  has  constituted  other  men  our  proxies?  where  is  their  consent? 
who  has  collected  their  votes  ?  and  how  can  either  we  or  they  natter  ourselves 
that  we  possess  faculties  equal  to  the  exercise  of  civil  power  ?  and  if  we  do  not 
possess  them,  how  can  we  delegate  them  ? 

We  must  here  consider  the  doctrine  which  places  the  origin  of  civil  power  in 
the  will  of  men,  supposing  that  this  power  is  the  result  of  a  pact,  by  which 
individuals  have  agreed  to  submit  to  the  retrenchment  of  a  part  of  their  natural 
liberty,  in  order  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  society.  According  to  this  system, 
the  rights  of  the  civil  power,  as  well  as  the  duties  of  the  subject,  are  alike 
founded  on  a  pact,  differing  from  other  contracts  only  in  the  nature  and  extent 
of  its  object;  so  that,  in  this  case,  power  would  emanate  from  God  merely  in  a 
general  sense,  just  as  all  rights  and  duties  emanate  from  Him.  Those  writers 
who  thus  explain  the  origin  of  power,  do  not  always  agree  with  Rousseau.  The 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  299 

Contrat  of  the  philosopher  of  Geneva  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  pact  spoken 
of  in  other  authors.  This  is  not  the  place  to  compare  the  doctrines  of  Rous- 
seau with  those  of  other  writers ;  suffice  it  to  say,  that  although  they  rely  upon 
the  pact,  they  wish,  nevertheless,  to  establish  the  rights  of  civil  power  as  they 
have  been  hitherto  understood  by  the  common  consent  of  mankind,  whilst  the 
author  of  the  Contrat  Social  proposes  in  his  book  the  following  problem,  which 
he  considers  fundamental.  I  quote  his  own  words  :  "To  find  a  form  of  asso- 
ciation which  shall  defend  and  protect  with  all  the  common  strength  the  person 
and  property  of  each  associate ,  and  by  which  each  one,  being  united  to  all,  shall 
nevertheless  obey  only  himself,  and  remain  as  free  as  before." 

Such  is  the  fundamental  problem,  the  solution  of  which  is  given  in  the  Con- 
trat Social.  This  nonsense  of  having  none  but  one's  self  to  obey,  making  a 
contract,  and  remaining  as  free  as  before,  needs  no  comment,  after  what  the 
author  himself  says  in  the  following  line :  "  The  clauses  of  this  contract  are  so 
fixed  by  the  very  nature  of  the  act,  that  the  least  modification  would  render 
them  vain  and  of  no  effect."  (Book  i.  chap.  6.)  Rousseau's  ideas  on  this  sub- 
ject do  not,  therefore,  agree  with  those  of  many  other  writers,  who  also  have 
spoken  of  pacts,  in  their  explanation  of  the  origin  of  power ;  the  latter  sought  a 
theory  in  support  of  power,  the  former  wished  to  destroy  that  which  existed, 
and  to  throw  society  into  a  state  of  excitement.  Through  a  singular  idea, 
Rousseau,  in  his  vault  at  the  Pantheon,  is  represented  to  us  with  the  door  half 
open,  and  a  lighted  torch  in  his  hand — an  emblem,  perhaps,  more  significant 
than  has  been  imagined.  The  artist's  intention  was,  to  express  the  idea  of 
Rousseau's  enlightening  the  world  even  after  his  death;  but  it  should  be 
remembered,  that  the  torch  is  also  an  emblem  of  the  incendiary.  La  Harpe 
said  of  him : 

"  Sa  parole  est  un  feu,  mais  un  feu  qui  ravage." 

To  return  to  the  question,  I  will  observe,  that  the  doctrine  of  a  pact  is  of  no 
avail  in  accounting  for  the  establishment  of  power ;  for  it  cannot  even  render 
legitimate  either  its  origin  or  its  exercise.  First,  an  explicit  pact  has  evidently 
never  existed ;  and  secondly,  in  the  formation  of  even  the  most  limited  society, 
such  a  pact  never  could  obtain  the  consent  of  every  individual  member.  In  any 
convention  for  such  an  object,  only  the  heads  of  families  could  take  part ;  and 
hence,  women,  children,  and  servants  might  protest  against  it.  In  assenting 
•  to  such  a  pact,  what  right  would  fathers  have  to  represent  the  whole  of  their 
families  ?  The  will  of  the  latter,  it  will  be  said,  was  virtually  included  in  that 
of  their  chief;  but  this  is  the  very  point  that  wants  proof.  Supposition  here 
is  easy  enough ;  proof  is  not  so  easy.  When  you  seek  the  origin  of  power  in 
principles  of  strict  right,  and  attempt  to  maintain  that  this  is  only  one  of  those 
cases  to  which  ordinary  conditions  of  contracts  are  applicable,  you  are  met  at  once 
by  a  very  serious  difficulty ;  for  you  are  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  a  fiction  : — 
the  words  "  implicit  consent"  are  a  mere  fiction,  and  nothing  more.  Is  it  not  evi- 
dent, that  the  consent  of  families  must  have  been  implicit,  even  supposing  that 
of  their  heads  to  be  explicit  ?  This  explicit  consent  would,  in  fact,  be  impos- 
sible in  the  formation  of  any  society,  however  limited  in  extent.  And  more- 
over, the  consent  of  succeeding  generations  will  be  equally  implicit,  since  it  is 
impossible  to  be  continually  renewing  the  contract,  for  the  purpose  of  consulting 
the  wishes  of  the  parties  interested  in  its  effects.  Reason  and  history  teach  that 
society  has  never  been  thus  organized ;  our  own  experience  tells  us  that  it  is  not 
now  upheld  or  governed  by  any  such  principles.  Of  what  use,  then,  is  this 
inexplicable  theory  ?  When  a  theory  has  a  practical  object,  the  best  way  of 
proving  its  fallacy  is,  to  prove  its  impracticability. 

The  faculties  with  which  civil  power  is,  and  always  has  been,  considered  to 
be  invested,  are  of  such  a  nature,  that  they  cannot  have  proceeded  from  a  pact. 


300  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

The  right  of  life  and  death  can  have  come  only  from  God.  Man  is  not  in  pos- 
session of  this  right.  No  pact  merely  human  could  invest  him  with  a  power 
which  he  has  not,  either  in  relation  to  himself  or  to  others.  I  will  endeavor  to 
demonstrate  this  point  with  all  possible  precision.  If  the  right  of  taking  away 
life  emanates  not  from  God,  but  from  a  pact,  it  must  have  originated  in  the 
following  manner  :  every  member  of  society  must  have  said,  expressly  or  tacitly, 
"  I  consent  to  the  establishment  of  laws  to  decree  punishment  of  death  for  cer- 
tain crimes ;  and  if  I  should  at  any  time  transgress  them,  I  am  willing  from 
that  moment  to  forfeit  my  life."  In  this  manner,  every  individual  will  have 
given  up  his  life,  supposing  that  the  conditions  specified  are  realized ;  but  no  in- 
dividual having  a  right  over  his  own  life,  the  resigning  of  it  becomes  radically  null. 
The  joint  consent  of  all  the  members  of  society  does  not  obviate  the  radical 
and  essential  nullity  of  each  one's  right  to  give  up  his  life ;  the  sum  of  their 
resignations  is  therefore  equally  null,  and  consequently  incapable  of  producing 
any  right  whatever.  It  will  be  said,  perhaps,  that  man,  properly  speaking,  has 
no  right  over  his  own  life,  when  an  arbitrary  right  is  implied,  but  that  when 
he  chooses  to  dispose  of  it  for  his  own  advantage,  the  general  principle  should 
be  restricted.  This  reflection,  at  first  sight  plausible,  would  lead  to  the  terrible 
consequence  of  authorizing  suicide.  In  reply,  it  will  be  said,  that  suicide  is  no 
advantage  to  him  who  commits  it ;  but  if  you  once  grant  to  the  individual  the 
right  of  disposing  of  his  life,  provided  he  reap  an  advantage  from  so  doing,  you 
cannot  constitute  yourselves  judges  to  decide  whether  or  not  this  advantage 
exists  in  any  particular  case.  According  to  you,  he  had  a  right  to  sacrifice  his 
life  when,  for  example,  to  satisfy  his  wants  or  his  taste,  he  had  stolen  the  pro- 
perty of  another.  That  is  to  say,  that  he  had  a  right  of  choice  between  the 
advantages  of  life  and  those  of  satisfying  a  desire  :  what  will  you  answer,  if  he 
tell  you  that  he  prefers  death  to  misery,  to  ennui,  to  grief,  or  to  such  and  such 
misfortunes  which  torment  him  ? 

The  right  of  life  and  death  cannot  consequently  emanate  from  a  pact.  Man's 
life  is  not  his  own ;  he  has  only  the  use  of  it  so  long  as  it  pleases  the  Creator 
to  grant  it  him.  He  has  not,  therefore,  the  right  of  disposing  of  it,  and  all 
conventions  he  may  make  for  that  purpose  are  null.  In  some  instances,  it  is 
lawful,  glorious,  it  may  be  even  obligator}',  to  deliver  one's  self  up  to  certain 
death ;  but  let  us  not  confound  ideas  :  man  does  not  in  that  case  sacrifice  his 
life  as  being  the  master  of  it,  he  is  a  voluntary  victim  to  the  salvation  of  his 
country,  or  to  the  good  of  mankind.  The  warrior  who  scales  a  wall,  the  chari- 
table man  who  confronts  the  most  dangerous  contagion  in  visiting  the  sick,  the 
missionary  who  resorts  to  unknown  countries,  who  resigns  himself  to  live  in 
unhealthy  climates,  and  who  penetrates  into  inaccessible  forests,  seeking  fero- 
cious hordes,  do  not  dispose  of  their  lives  as  being  their  own ;  they  sacrifice  them 
to  a  purpose  great,  sublime,  just,  and  pleasing  to  God;  for  God  loves  virtue, 
especially  heroic  virtue ;  and  it  is  a  heroic  virtue  to  die  for  one's  country,  to 
die  in  visiting  the  sick,  or  in  carrying  the  light  of  truth  to  those  seated  in 
darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death.  This  right  of  life  and  death,  with 
which  civil  power  has  ever  been  considered  invested,  may  by  some  be  con- 
sidered as  founded  upon  the  natural  right  of  self-defence  vested  in  society. 
Every  individual,  they  will  say,  has  the  right  of  taking  away  the  life  of  another 
in  self-defence ;  therefore  society  also  has  this  right.  In  the  chapter  on  Intole- 
rance, I  have  touched  slightly  upon  this  point,  and  made  some  reflections  which 
may  be  repeated  here.  I  will  endeavor,  nevertheless,  to  extend  them  and  con- 
firm them  by  arguments  of  another  kind.  In  the  first  place,  I  maintain  that 
th§  right  of  self-defence  may  confer  upon  society  that  of  taking  away  life.  If 
one  individual  attacked  by  another  may  lawfully  repel  him — kill  him  even,  if 
necessary  to  save  his  own  life,  it  is  evident  that  an  assemblage  of  men  have  the 
same  right.  This  appears  so  evident,  that  demonstration  is  superfluous.  One 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  301 

Bociety  attacked  by  another  has  incontestably  the  right  of  resisting  and  repelling 
the  attack — it  is  justified  in  making  war.  With  more  reason,  therefore,  might 
it  resist  an  individual,  to  make  war  on  him,  or  kill  him.  This  is  all  perfectly 
true  and  obvious;  and  I  grant  that  there  thus  exists,  from  the  very  nature 
of  things,  a  title  upon  which  we  may  found  the  right  of  inflicting  capital 
punishment. 

These  ideas  are  plausible,  and  seem  at  first  sight  to  nullify  the  reasons  on 
which  we  have  supported  the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to  God  for  the  origin 
of  this  formidable  right.  Nevertheless,  when  we  come  to  examine  them 
thoroughly,  they  are  far  from  satisfactory ;  and  it  may  be  even  said,  that  in  the 
sense  in  which  they  are  understood  and  applied,  they  are  subversive  of  the 
acknowledged  principles  of  society.  In  fact,  if  such  a  theory  be  admitted,  if 
the  right  of  inflicting  capital  punishment  be  made  to  rest  exclusively  on  this 
principle,  the  ideas  of  penalty,  chastisement,  and  of  human  justice  disappear  at 
once.  It  has  always  been  thought  that  the  criminal  dying  upon  a  gibbet  suffers 
a  penalty ;  and  although  this  terrible  act  is  certainly  a  satisfaction  to  society,  a 
means  of  preservation,  yet  the  principal  and  predominant  idea,  that  which  sur- 
passes all  others,  which  best  justifies  and  exculpates  society,  which  gives  to  the 
judge  his  august  character,  and  stamps  disgrace  upon  the  criminal,  is  the  idea  of 
chastisement,  of  penalty,  and  of  justice.  All  this  disappears  when  once  we  can 
assert  that  society,  in  taking  away  life,  only  acts  in  self-defence.  Such  an  act 
is  conformable  to  reason,  it  is  just,  but  it  no  longer  merits  the  honorable  title 
of  an  executive  act  of  justice.  A  man  is  justified  in  killing  an  assassin ;  but 
in  so  doing  he  does  not  administer  justice,  he  does  not  execute  justice,  nor 
inflict  a  penalty.  These  things  are  very  different,  and  of  a  distinct  order;  we 
cannot  confound  them  without  shocking  the  good  sense  of  mankind. 

We  will  render  this  distinction  more  apparent  by  putting  the  two  theories 
into  the  mouth  of  the  judge  :  the  contrast  is  striking.  In  the  former  case,  the 
judge  says  to  the  criminal :  "  You  are  guilty ;  the  law  decrees  against  you  the 
penalty  of  death;  I,  the  minister  of  justice,  apply  it;  the  executioner  is  ordered 
to  inflict  it."  In  the  second,  he  says  to  him :  "  You  have  attacked  society, 
which  cannot  exist  if  such  attacks  are  tolerated.  It  defends  itself,  and  for  this 
reason  puts  you  to  death ;  I,  its  agent,  declare,  that  the  time  for  its  defending 
itself  is  come,  and  hence  I  give  you  up  to  the  executioner."  In  the  former 
supposition,  the  judge  is  a  minister  of  justice,  and  the  culprit  a  criminal  who 
undergoes  a  just  penalty ;  in  the  latter,  the  judge  is  an  instrument  of  force,  the 
culprit  a  victim.  But,  it  will  be*  said,  the  criminal  is  not  on  this  account  less 
criminal,  and  still  merits  the  penalty  which  he  undergoes.  This  is  true  with 
respect  to  the  guilt,  but  not  with  respect  to  the  penalty.  The  fault  exists  in 
the  eyes  of  God,  and  also  in  the  eyes  of  man,  inasmuch  as  he  possesses  a  con- 
science capable  of  judging  of  the  morality  of  actions;  but  it  does  not  exist  in 
the  eyes  of  man,  considered  as  a  judge.  According  to  you,  the  judge  does  not 
punish  a  crime;  he  restrains  an  act  injurious  to  society":  but  if  you  say  that 
the  judge  inflicts  a  penalty,  you  change  the  nature  of  the  question,  for  he  then 
does  something  more  than  protect  society.  It  follows  from  what  we  have  just 
established,  that  the  right  of  inflicting  capital  punishment  can  only  emanate 
from  God,  and,  consequently,  if  there  existed  no  other  reason  for  referring  to 
God  the  origin  of  power,  this  alone  would  suffice.  War  against  an  invading 
nation  may  be  explained  by  the  right  of  self-defence ;  invasion  also  comes  under 
the  same  principle  ;  for  if  it  be  just,  it  can  be  entered  upon  only  with  a  view  to 
enforce  some  reparation  or  compensation  refused  by  the  enemy.  War  for  the 
sake  of  alliance  enters  into  that  class  of  actions  which  are  performed  for,  the 
assistance  of  a  friend ;  so  that  this  phenomenon  of  war,  with  all  its  glory,  and 
all  its  ravages,  does  not  so  forcibly  oblige  us  to  have  recourse  to  a  divine  origin 
as  this  simple  right  of  condemning  a  man  to  the  gibbet.  The  sanction  of  law- 

•«  A, 


302  PROTESTANTISM   COMPAEED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

ful  wars  also  undoubtedly  belongs  to  God,  for  in  Him  exists  the  sanction  of  all 
rights  and  of  all  duties ;  but  there  is  not,  in  this  case  at  least,  any  need  of  par- 
ticular authorization,  as  in  the  case  of  inflicting  capital  punishment.  It  is  suf- 
ficient to  have  the  general  sanction  which  God,  as  the  author  of  nature,  has 
given  to  all  natural  rights  and  duties. 

How  do  we  know  that  God  has  granted  such  an  authorization  to  man  ?  There 
are  three  ways  of  answering  this  question.  1.  The  testimony  of  the  Scriptures 
is  sumcient  for  all  Christians.  2.  The  right  of  life  and  death  is  a  universal 
tradition  of  the  human  race,  and  does,  therefore,  exist  in  reality ;  and  as  we 
have  shown  that  it  can  have  its  origin  only  in  God,  it  is  right  to  suppose  that 
He  has  communicated  it  to  man  in  one  way  or  another.  3.  This  right  is  essen- 
tial to  the  preservation  of  society ;  God  must,  therefore,  have  granted  it ;  for  if 
He  wills  the  preservation  of  a  being,  it  is  evident  that  He  will  have  bestowed 
upon  it  all  things  necessary  for  such  preservation.  To  recapitulate  what  we 
have  hitherto  advanced :  the  Church  teaches  that  civil  power  comes  from  God, 
and  this  doctrine,  which  agrees  with  the  formal  texts  of  Scripture,  agrees  also 
with  natural  reason.  The  Church  contents  herself  with  establishing  this  dogma, 
and  deducing  from  it  the  immediate  consequence  resulting  from  it,  viz.  that 
obedience  to  the  lawful  authorities  is  of  right  divine.  With  regard  to  the  mode 
in  which  this  right  divine  is  communicated,  the  Church  has  not  determined  any 
thing :  the  general  opinion  of  theologians  is,  that  society  receives  it  from  God, 
and  that,  from  society,  it  is  transferred,  by  lawful  means,  to  the  person  or  per- 
sons appointed  to  exercise  it.  In  order  that  civil  power  may  exact  obedience, 
and  be  considered  invested  with  this  right  divine,  it  must  be  legitimate ;  that 
is  to  say,  the  person  or  persons  in  possession  of  it  must  have  acquired  it  by  law- 
ful means,  or  this  power  must  have  become  legitimate  in  their  possession,  by 
means  acknowledged  to  be  in  accordance  with  right.  With  respect  to  political 
forms,  the  Church  does  not  determine  any  thing ;  but  whatever  be  the  form  of 
government,  the  civil  power  must  be  confined  within  legitimate  bounds,  while 
the  subject,  on  his  side,  is  bound  to  obey.  The  fitness  and  legitimacy  of  such 
or  such  persons,  and  of  such  and  such  forms,  are  subjects  not  appertaining  to 
right  divine.  They  are  particular  questions,  depending  upon  a  variety  of  cir- 
cumstances, and  to  which  no  general  theory  is  applicable. 

One  example  of  private  right  will  serve  to  illustrate  what  we  have  just  ex- 
plained. Respect  for  property  is  of  natural  and  divine  right ;  but  the  ownership 
of  property,  the  respective  rights  of  individuals  to  the  same  thing,  the  restric- 
tions to  which  property  should  be  subject,  are  questions  appertaining  to  civil 
right,  which  have  always  been  resolved,  and  are  still  resolved,  in  various  ways. 
The  main  object  is  to  adhere  to  the  protective  principle  of  property,  the  indis- 
pensable basis  of  all  social  organization ;  but  the  application  of  this  principle  is, 
and  must  be,  subject  to  a  variety  of  circumstances  and  events,  a  variety  arising 
from  the  course  of  human  affairs.  It  is  the  same  with  power.  The  Church, 
intrusted  with  the  great  deposit  of  the  most  important  truths,  keeps  in  this  de- 
posit the  truth  which  guaranties  a  divine  origin  to  civil  power,  and  makes  the 
existence  of  the  law  an  affair  of  right  divine ;  but  she  does  not  interfere  in  par- 
ticular cases,  which  are  always  controlled  more  or  less  by  the  fluctuation  and 
uncertainty  with  which  the  world  is  agitated.  When  thus  explained,  the 
Catholic  doctrine  is  not  in  the  least  opposed  to  true  liberty;  it  consolidates 
power,  and  does  not  prejudice  the  questions  that  may  arise  between  the  go- 
vernors and  the  governed.  No  unlawful  power  can  lay  claim  to  the  right 
divine ;  for  it  must  be  legitimate  to  merit  the  application  of  this  right.  This 
legitimacy  is  determined  and  declared  by  the  laws  of  each  country,  from  which 
it  follows  that  the  law  is  the  organ  of  the  right  divine.  This  right,  therefore, 
only  consolidates  what  is  just;  and  certainly  that  which  insures  justice  in  the 
world  cannot  be  said  to  lead  to  despotism,  for  nothing  can  be  more  opposed  to 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  803 

the  liberty  and  happiness  of  the  people  than  the  absence  of  justice  and  legiti- 
macy. 

Popular  liberties  are  not  endangered  by  the  strong  safeguards  surrounding 
the  legitimacy  of  the  governing  power.  On  the  contrary,  reason,  history,  and 
experience  teach  that  all  illegitimate  powers  are  tyrannical.  Their  illegitimacy 
necessarily  carries  weakness  along  with  it ;  and  it  is  not  the  strong,  but  the 
weak  powers  that  oppress  the  people.  Real  tyranny  consists  in  the  person 
governing  taking  care  of  his  own  instead  of  the  public  interest.  Now  this  is 
precisely  what  takes  place  when,  feeling  himself  weak  and  tottering,  he  is  forced 
to  guard  and  protect  himself.  His  object  is  then,  no  longer  society,  but  him- 
self. Instead  of  thinking  how  he  may  benefit  those  over  whom  he  rules,  he 
only  studies  and  calculates  beforehand  the  utility  he  may  derive  from  his  own 
measures.  I  have  said  in  another  place,  and  I  repeat,  that,  in  looking  over  his- 
tory, we  find  continually  this  important  truth  written  in  letters  of  blood :  Wo  to 
the  people  governed  by  a  power  which  is  obliged  to  think  of  its  own  preservation  ! 
A  fundamental  truth  in  political  science,  and  which  has,  nevertheless,  been 
lamentably  overlooked  in  modern  times.  Much  labor  has  been  and  is  still  spent 
to  produce  guarantees  for  liberty.  To  this  end  a  multitude  of  governments 
have  been  overturned,  and  attempts  have  been  made  to  weaken  them  all,  with- 
out thinking  that  this  was  the  most  certain  means  of  introducing  oppression. 
What  signify  the  veils  under  which  despotism  is  concealed,  and  the  forms  by 
which  it  seeks  to  disguise  its  existence  ?  History,  which  has  recorded  the  out- 
rages committed  in  Europe  during  the  last  century;  true  history,  not  that 
written  by  the  authors  of  those  outrages,  by  their  accomplices,  or  by  interested 
parties,  will  relate  to  posterity  the  injustices  and  crimes  committed  in  the  midst 
of  civil  discord  by  governments  foreseeing  their  end,  and  feeling  in  themselves 
extreme  weakness  caused  by  their  tyrannical  conduct  and  the  illegality  of  their 
origin. 

How  is  it,  then,  that  such  a  violent  warfare  has  been  declared  against  doc- 
trines tending  to  consolidate  civil  authority  by  rendering  it  legitimate,  and  to 
prove  this  legitimacy  by  declaring  that  power  descends  from  Heaven  ?  How 
has  it  been  overlooked  that  the  legitimacy  of  power  is  an  essential  element  of 
its  strength,  and  that  this  strength  is  the  safest  guarantee  of  true  liberty  ?  Let 
it  not  be  said'  that  these  are  paradoxes.  What  is  the  object  of  societies  and 
governments  ?  Is  it  not  the  substitution  of  public  for  private  force,  of  the  rule 
of  right  for  the  rule  of  the  strong  ?  But  when  once  you  begin  to  undermine 
power,  to  make  it  an  object  of  popular  aversion  or  defiance ;  when  once  you 
represent  it  to  the  people  as  their  natural  enemy,  and  vilify  the  sacred  titles  on 
which  obedience  due  to  it  is  founded,  you  attack  at  once  the  very  object  of  the 
institution  of  society;  and  by  weakening  the  action  of  public  force,  you  provoke 
a  development  of  private  force,  which  is  the  very  thing  that  governments  were 
instituted  to  prevent.  The  secret  of  that  mildness  for  which  European  mo- 
narchies were  remarkable,  consisted  chiefly  in  their  security  and  strength, 
founded  upon  the  loftiness  and  legality  of  the  titles  of  their  power ;  whilst  you 
will  find  in  the  perils  with  which  the  thrones  of  the  Roman  emperors  and  East- 
ern monarchs  were  beset,  one  reason  for  their  monstrous  despotism.  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  assert,  and  in  the  course  of  this  work  I  shall  prove  more  and  more, 
that  one  cause  of  the  evils  to  which  Europe  has  been  exposed  during  the  labori- 
ous solution  of  the  problem  of  the  alliance  between  order  and  liberty,  is  the 
oblivion  of  Catholic  doctrines  on  this  point.  These  doctrines  have  been  con- 
demned without  being  heard  or  examined  into,  and  the  enemies  of  the  Church 
have  copied  each  other  without  ever  having  recourse  to  the  real  sources,  where 
they  might  easily  have  found  out  the  truth. 

Protestantism,  departing  from  the  teaching  of  Catholicity,  has  been  thrown 
alternately  upon  two  opposite  rocks ;  wishing  to  establish  order,  it  has  done  so 


804  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

to  the  prejudice  of  true  liberty ;  and  in  its  desire  to  maintain  liberty,  it  has 
become  an  enemy  to  order.  From  the  bosom  of  false  reform  have  arisen  the 
insane  doctrines,  which,  preaching  up  Christian  liberty,  discharged  the  subject 
from  his  obedience  to  the  lawful  authorities;  from  the  bosom  of  the  same 
reform  has  likewise  arisen  the  theory  of  Hobbes,  which  sets  up  despotism  in  the 
midst  of  society  as  a  monstrous  idol,  to  which  all  should  be  sacrificed,  without 
regard  for  the  eternal  principles  of  morality,  with  no  other  rule  than  the  caprice 
of  him  who  rules,  with  no  other  bounds  to  his  power  than  those  marked  out  by 
the  extent  of  his  strength.  Such  is  the  necessary  result  of  banishing  from  the 
world  the  authority  of  God.  Man,  left  to  himself,  can  only  succeed  in  pro- 
ducing slavery  or  anarchy ;  the  same  thing  under  two  forms ;  the  reign  of  force. 

In  explaining  the  origin  of  society  and  power,  divers  modern  writers  have 
said  a  great  deal  about  a  certain  state  of  nature  anterior  to  all  societies,  and 
ha.ve  supposed  that  these  societies  were  formed  by  a  gradual  transition  from  a 
barbarous  to  a  civilized  state.  This  erroneous  doctrine  lies  deeper  than  some 
persons  imagine.  If  we  pay  particular  attention  to  the  subject,  we  shall  find 
that  the  erroneous  ideas  entertained  on  this  subject  maybe  traced  to  the  forget- 
fulness  of  Christian  teaching.  Hobbes  derives  every  kind  of  right  from  a  pact. 
According  to  him,  when  men  live  in  a  state  of  nature,  they  have  a  right  to  every 
thing;  which  means,  in  other  terms,  that  there  is  no  difference  between  good 
and  evil.  From  which  it  follows  that  society  was  organized  without  any  regard 
to  morality,  and  ought  to  be  considered  merely  as  a  means  to  an  end.  Puffen- 
dorf  and  some  others,  admitting  the  principle  of  sociality,  that  is,  deriving  from 
society  the  rules  of  morality,  arrive  at  last  at  the  principle  of  Hobbes,  and  tram- 
ple under  foot  both  the  natural  and  eternal  laws.  Investigating  the  causes  of 
these  grave  errors,  I  find  them  in  the  deplorable  contempt  which  writers  on  phi- 
losophy and  morality  in  modern  times  have  so  eagerly  evinced  for  the  treasures 
of  light  afforded  us  by  religion.  This  light,  religion  affords  us  on  all  questions, 
fixing  by  its  dogmas  the  cardinal  points  of  all  true  philosophy,  and  offering  us 
in  its  narrations  the  only  thread  that  can  guide  us  through  the  labyrinth  of  the 
first  ages.  Read  the  Protestant  writers,  compare  them  with  the  Catholic,  and 
you  will  find  a  remarkable  difference  between  them.  The  latter  reason,  give 
their  minds  free  scope,  and  allow  them  a  wide  range ;  but  they  ever  leave 
untouched  certain  fundamental  principles,  and  every  theory  which  they  cannot 
reconcile  with  these  principles  is  inexorably  rejected  by  them  as  erroneous.  The 
former  roam  without  guide  or  compass  in  the  boundless  space  of  human  opinions, 
presenting  to  us  a  lively  image  of  that  pagan  philosophy  which  had  not  the 
light  of  faith  to  guide  its  inquiries  into  the  principles  of  things.  Instead  of 
finding  a  God,  the  Creator  and  Director,  occupied  without  ceasing,  like  a  tender 
father,  with  the  happiness  of  beings  whom  He  has  drawn  from  nothing,  this 
philosophy  never  discovered  any  thing  but  chaos,  either  in  the  physical  or  in  the 
social  world.  This  degraded  and  brutalized  state,  disguised  under  the  name  of 
nature,  is  in  reality  nothing  but  the  chaos  of  society.  This  chaos  will  be  found 
in  a  great  number  of  modern  writers  who  are  not  Catholics;  and  by  a  surprising 
coincidence,  worthy  of  the  most  serious  reflection,  it  will  also  be  found  in  the 
principal  writers  on  pagan  science. 

From  the  moment  that  we  lose  sight  of  the  great  traditions  of  mankind,  tra- 
ditions in  which  man  is  represented  to  us  receiving  from  God  himself  intelli- 
gence, speech,  and  rules  for  his  conduct  in  this  life;  from  the  moment  that  we 
forget  the  narration  of  Moses,  that  simple,  sublime,  and  only  true  explanation  of 
the  origin  of  man  and  of  society;  our  ideas  become  confused,  the  facts  are  jumbled, 
one  absurdity  creates  another,  and,  like  the  builders  of  the  tower  of  Babel, 
we  suffer  the  just  punishment  of  our  pride.  How  wonderful !  that  antiquity, 
which,  deprived  of  the  light  of  Christianity,  and  lost  in  the  labyrinth  of  human 
inventions,  had  almost  forgotten  the  primitive  tradition  of  the  origin  of  society, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  305 

and  had  recourse  to  the  absurd  transition  from  the  barbarous  to  the  civilized 
state,  should  nevertheless,  whenever  a  society  was  to  be  formed,  have  invoked 
this  right  divine,  which  certain  philosophers  have  treated  with  so  much  disdain. 
The  most  renowned  legislators  sought  to  establish  upon  Divine  authority,  the 
laws  they  were  giving  to  the  people,  thus  rendering  a  solemn  homage  to  that 
truth  logically  established  by  Catholics,  viz.  that  all  power,  to  be  regarded  as 
legitimate  and  to  exercise  its  due  ascendency,  must  receive  its  titles  from  God. 
If  you  desire  that  the  legislator  should  not  be  placed  under  the  sad  necessity  of 
feigning  revelations  which  he  has  never  received,  or  bringing  forward  the  inter- 
vention of  God  at  every  moment  in  an  extraordinary  manner  in  human  affairs, 
establish  the  general  principle  that  all  power  proceeds  from  God,  that  the  author 
of  nature  is  likewise  the  author  of  society,  that  the  existence  of  society  is  a  pre- 
cept imposed  upon  mankind  for  their  own  preservation.  Let  submission  and 
obedience  be  so  regulated  as  not  to  wound  man's  pride;  let  those  who" rule  over 
him  be  invested  with  superior  authority,  to  which  he  can  submit  without  a 
shadow  of  self-abasement.  In  short,  establish  the  Catholic  doctrine.  Whatever 
be  the  form  of  government,  you  will  then  have  found  a  solid  basis  on  which  to 
support  the  respect  due  to  the  authorities ;  you  will  have  placed  the  social  edifice 
upon  a  foundation  far  more  secure  than  human  conventions. 

Examine  the  right  divine  such  as  I  have  represented  it,  supported  by  the 
interpretations  of  illustrious  doctors,  and  I  am  certain  that  you  cannot  refuse  to 
admit  its  perfect  conformity  to  the  lights  of  true  philosophy ;  but  if  you  persist 
in  giving  to  this  right  a  strange  sense  which  it  does  not  possess,  pretending  that 
it  ought  to  have  a  different  explanation,  I  shall  insist  upon  one  thing  which  you 
cannot  refuse  me  :  produce  me  a  text  of  Scripture,  a  monument  of  the  traditions 
acknowledged  as  articles  of  faith  in  the  Catholic  Church,  a  decision  of  the  Coun- 
cils or  of  the  Pontiffs,  showing  your  interpretation  to  be  well  founded.  Until 
you  have  done  this,  I  have  a  right  to  tell  you,  that,  possessed  with  the  desire  of 
rendering  Catholicity  odious,  you  impute  to  it  doctrines  which  it  does  not  pro- 
fess, you  attribute  to  it  dogmas  which  it  does  not  acknowledge ;  that  you  are 
adversaries  without  candor  or  honesty,  and  employ  weapons  disallowed  by  the 
laws  of  combat.  (28) 


CHAPTER  LI. 

TRANSMISSION   OF  POWER,   ACCORDING   TO   THE   CATHOLIC   DOCTORS. 

THE  difference  of  opinion  concerning  the  mode  in  which  God  communicates 
civil  power,  however  grave  in  theory,  does  not  appear  to  be  of  great  importance 
in  practice.  We  have  already  observed,  that,  among  those  who  assert  that  this 
power  comes  from  God,  some  maintain  that  it  proceeds  from  Him  directly,  others 
indirectly.  In  the  opinion  of  the  former,  when  once  the  nomination  of  the  per- 
sons appointed  to  exercise  authority  is  made,  society  not  only  lays  down  the 
necessary  conditions  for  the  communication  of  power,  but  actually  communicates 
it,  having  first  received  it  from  God.  The  latter  maintain  that  society  merely 
makes  the  appointment,  and,  by  means  of  this  act,  God  confers  the  power  upon 
the  person  appointed.  I  repeat,  that,  in  practice,  the  result  is  the  same,  and  the 
difference  therefore  vanishes.  Nay,  even  in  theory,  the  divergence  may  not  be 
so  great  as  it  appears  at  first  sight.  I  shall  endeavor  to  demonstrate  this  by 
submitting  the  two  opinions  to  rigorous  investigation. 

The  explanation  given  of  the  origin  of  power  by  both  parties  may  be  set  forth 

in  the  following  terms :  In  the  opinion  of  some,  God  says,  "  Society,  for  thy 

preservation  and  well-being,  thou  requirest  a  government;  choose,  therefore, 

under  what  form  this  government  shall  be  exercised,  and  appoint  the  persons 

39  2  A  2 


306  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

who  are  to  take  charge  of  it ;  I,  on  my  part,  will  confer  upon  them  the  faculties 
necessary  for  the  fulfilment  of  their  mission."  In  the  opinion  of  others,  God 
says,  "  Society,  for  thy  preservation  and  well-being,  thou  requirest  a  government : 
I  confer  upon  thee  the  faculties  necessary  for  the  fulfilment  of  this  object ;  choose 
thyself  the  form  under  which  this  government  shall  bo  exercised,  and,  appoint- 
ing the  persons  who  are  to  take  charge  of  it,  transmit  to  them  the  faculties 
which  I  have  communicated  to  thee." 

In  order  to  be  convinced  of  the  identity  of  the  results  of  these  two  formulas, 
we  must  examine  them  in  their  relations:  1.  to  the  sanctity  of  their  origin; 
2.  to  the  rights  and  duties  of  power;  3.  to  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  subject. 
Whether  God  has  communicated  power  to  society,  to  be  transmitted  by  it  to  the 
persons  appointed  to  exercise  it,  or  has  merely  conferred  upon  it  the  right  of 
determining  the  form  and  appointing  such  persons,  that,  by  means  of  this  deter- 
mination and  appointment,  the  rights  annexed  to  supreme  power  may  be  directly 
communicated  to  the  persons  intrusted  with  the  exercise  of  it,  it  follows,  in  either 
case,  that  this  supreme  power,  wherever  it  exists,  emanates  from  God ;  and  is 
not  less  sacred  because  it  passes  through  an  intermediate  means  appointed  by 
Him.  I  will  illustrate  these  ideas  by  a  very  simple  and  obvious  example.  Sup- 
pose there  exists  in  a  state  some  particular  community,  instituted  by  the  sove- 
reign, and  having  no  rights  but  those  granted  by  him ;  no  duties  but  those 
which  he  imposes  upon  it;  in  fine,  a  community  indebted  to  the  sovereign  for  all 
that  it  is  and  has.  This  community,  however  small  it  may  be,  will  require  a 
government :  this  government  may  be  formed  in  two  ways ;  either  the  sovereign 
who  has  given  it  its  laws  has  conferred  upon  it  the  right  of  governing  itself, 
and  of  transmitting  this  right  to  the  person  or  persons  whom  it  may  think  proper 
to  elect ;  or  he  has  left  to  the  community  itself  the  determination  of  the  form 
and  the  appointment  of  the  persons,  adding  that  such  determination  and  appoint- 
ment being  once  made,  it  shall  be  understood  that,  by  this  simple  act,  the  sove- 
reign grants  to  the  ,persons  appointed  the  right  of  exercising  their  functions 
within  lawful  bounds.  It  is  evident  that  the  parity  is  complete;  and  now  I  ask, 
Is  it  not  true  that,  in  this  case,  as  in  the  other,  the  faculties  of  him  who  governs 
should  be  considered  and  respected  as  an  emanation  from  the  sovereign  ?  Is  it 
jiot  true  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  discover  any  difference  between  these  two 
ikinds  of  investiture  ?  In  both  suppositions,  the  community  would  have  the 
iright  of  determining  the  form  and  appointing  the  person ;  in  both  cases,  he  who 
governs  could  only  obtain  his  powers  by  virtue  of  the  previous  determination 
^nd  appointment;  in  neither  case  would  there  need  any  new  manifestation  on 
the  part  of  the  sovereign,  that  the  person  nominated  might  be  understood  to  be 
invested  with  faculties  corresponding  to  the  exercise  of  his  functions.  In  prac- 
tice, therefore,  there  would  be  no  difference ;  further,  I  will  assert  that,  in  theory 
even,  it  would  be  difficult  to  trace  the  point  of  separation  between  the  two 
^cases. 

Certainly,  if  we  view  the  matter  with  the  eye  of  an  acute  metaphysician,  we 
may  very  easily  discover  this  difference,  by  considering  the  moral  entity  which 
we  call  power  ;  not  as  it  is  in  itself,  and  in  its  effects,  but  as  an  abstract  being, 
passing  from  one  hand  to  another,  in  the  manner  of  corporeal  objects.  But, 
instead  of  examining  the  question  for  the  curiosity  of  knowing  whether  this 
moral  entity,  before  arriving  at  one  person,  has  not  first  passed  through  another, 
let  us  first  seek  to  verify  from  whence  it  emanates,  and  what  are  the  faculties  it 
confers,  the  rights  it  imposes  :  we  shall  then  find  that,  in  saying,  "  I  confer  this 
faculty  upon  you,  transmit  it  to  whomsoever  you  think  proper,  and  in  whatever 
way  you  think  proper,"  the  sovereign  expresses  no  more  than  if  he  should  say  : 
"  Such  or  such  a  faculty  shall  be  conferred  by  me  upon  the  person  you  wish,  and 
in  the  manner  you  wish,  by  the  simple  fact  of  the  election  you  have  made."  It 
follows  hence,  that  whether  we  adopt  the  opinion  of  direct  communication,  or 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  307 

the  contrary  one,  the  supreme  rights  of  hereditary  monarchies,  of  elective  mon- 
archies, and  in  general  of  all  supreme  powers,  whatever  be  their  forms  of  govern- 
ment, will  not  on  this  account  be  less  sacred,  less  certainly  sealed  with  divine 
authority.  Difference  in  the  forms  of  government  does  not  in  the  least  diminish 
the  obligations  of  submitting  to  civil  power,  lawfully  established ;  so  that  the 
refusing  of  obedience  to  the  president  of  a  republic,  in  a  country  in  which  repub- 
licanism is  the  legal  form  of  government,  is  no  less  a  criminal  resistance  to  the 
ordinance  of  God,  than  the  refusing  of  the  same  obedience  to  the  most  absolute 
monarch.  Bossuet,  so  strongly  attached  to  monarchy,  and  writing  in  a  country 
and  at  a  period  in  which  the  king  might  exclaim,  "  I  am  the  state;"  and  in  a 
work,  in  which  he  proposed  nothing  less  than  to  offer  a  complete  treatise  on 
Politics,  taken  from  the  words  of  Holy  Scripture ;  established,  nevertheless,  in 
a  manner  the  most  explicit  and  conclusive,  the  truth  which  I  have  just  pointed 
out.  "  We  ought  to  be  subject,"  says  he,  "  to  the  form  of  government  estab- 
lished in  our  country."  And  he  afterwards  quotes  these  words  of  St.  Paul  in 
his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  chap.  xiii. :  "  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to  higher 
powers  ;  for  there  is  no  power  but  from  God ;  and  those  that  are,  are  ordained 
of  God;  therefore  he  that  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God." 
"  There  is  no  form  of  government,"  continues  Bossuet,  "  nor  any  human  insti- 
tution, without  its  inconveniences ;  so  that  it  is  necessary  to  remain  in  the  state 
to  which  length  of  time  has  inured  the  people.  For  this  reason,  God  takes  under 
His  protection  all  legitimate  governments,  in  whatever  form  they  may  be  estab- 
lished ;  whoever  undertakes  to  overturn  them,  is  not  only  an  enemy  to  the  pub- 
lic, but  also  to  God."  (Liv.  ii.  prop.  12.) 

It  is  of  little  consequence  whether  power  be  communicated  directly  or  indi- 
rectly ;  the  respect  and  obedience  due  to  it  are  not  in  the  least  changed,  and 
consequently  the  sacredness  of  the  origin  of  power  remains  the  same,  whichever 
opinion  be  adopted  j  neither  do  the  rights  and  duties  of  government,  and  those 
of  the  subject,  remain  less  sacred.  These  rights  and  duties  suffer  no  change, 
whether  there  be  or  not  an  intermediate  means  for  the  communication  of  power ; 
their  nature  and  limits  are  founded  upon  the  very  object  of  the  institution  of 
society  ;  but  this  object  is  totally  independent  of  the  mode  in  which  God  com- 
municates power  to  man.  Against  what  I  have  advanced  upon  the  small  amount 
of  difference  existing  between  these  various  opinions,  the  authority  of  the  theo- 
logians, whose  texts  I  have  cited  in  the  preceding  chapter,  will  be  objected. 
"  These  theologians,"  it  will  be  said,  "  certainly  understood  these  affairs ;  and 
as  they  placed  so  much  importance  upon  the  distinction  here  under  discussion, 
they  undoubtedly  saw  in  it  some  great  truth  proper  to  be  taken  into  account." 
This  objection  acquires  the  more  force,  when  we  consider  that  the  distinction 
made  upon  this  point  by  these  theologians  does  not  proceed  from  a  spirit  of 
subtilty,  as  it  might  be  suspected  in  the  case  of  those  scholastic  theologians, 
whose  writings  are  replete  with  dialectic  arguments,  rather  than  with  reasoning 
founded  upon  Scripture,  upon  the  apostolical  traditions  and  other  theological 
resources,  from  which  we  ought  principally  to  take  our  arguments  in  contro- 
versies of  this  nature ;  but  the  theologians  whom  I  have  quoted  are  certainly 
not  of  this  class.  We  need  only  name  Bellarmin,  to  recognise  a  grave  and 
extremely  solid  author,  who  opposed  the  Protestants  with  Scripture,  with  tradi- 
tions, with  the  authority  of  the  holy  Fathers,  the  decisions  of  the  universal 
Church  and  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs  :  Bellarmin  was  not  one  of  those  theolo- 
gians who  excited  the  lamentations  of  Melchior  Cano,  and  of  whom  he  said,  that 
in  the  hour  of  combat  against  heresy,  instead  of  wielding  well-tempered  weapons, 
they  wielded  only  long  reeds  :  arundines  longas.  Such  was  the  importance 
given  to  this  distinction,  that  James,  King  of  England,  complained  loudly  that 
Cardinal  Bellarmin  taught  that  the  power  of  kings  came  from  God  only  indi- 
rectly ;  and  the  Catholic  schools  were  so  far  from  looking  upon  this  distinction 


308  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED    WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

as  insignificant,  that  they  defended  it  against  the  attacks  of  King  James ;  and 
that  one  of  their  most  illustrious  doctors,  Suarez,  entered  the  lists  to  contend 
for  the  doctrines  of  Bellarmin. 

It  appears,  then,  at  first  sight,  that  I  am  wrong  in  what  I  have  said  upon  the 
slight  importance  of  the  distinction  here  mentioned.  I  believe,  nevertheless, 
that  the  difficulty  may  be  easily  removed,  and  that  it  will  suffice  for  this  purpose 
to  distinguish  the  different  aspects  under  which  the  question  presents  itself. 
First  of  all,  I  will  observe,  that  the  Catholic  theologians  proceeded  upon  this 
point  with  admirable  prudence  and  foresight ;  and  truly  the  question,  such  as  it 
was  then  proposed,  comprehended  more  than  a  subtilty ;  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  it  included  one  of  the  most  serious  points  of  public  right.  In  order  to 
examine  deeply  these  doctrines  of  Catholic  theologians,  and  to  lay  hold  of  their 
true  sense,  we  must  fix  our  attention  upon  the  tendencies  which  the  religious 
reform  of  the  sixteenth  century  communicated  to  European  monarchy.  Even 
before  this  reform,  thrones  had  acquired  a  great  deal  of  force  and  solidity,  through 
the  decline  in  the  power  of  the  feudal  lords,  and  the  development  of  the  demo- 
cratic element.  That  element,  which  in  due  time  was  destined  to  acquire  the 
power  of  which  it  is  now  possessed,  was  not  then  in  sufficiently  favorable  circum- 
stances to  exert  its  action  on  the  vast  scale  which  it  embraces  in  our  days.  On 
this  account,  it  was  obliged  to  take  refuge  under  the  shadow  of  the  throne — an 
emblem  of  order  and  justice  elevated  in  the  midst  of  society — a  sort  of  universal 
regulator  and  leveller,  destined  gradually  to  destroy  the  extreme  inequalities  so 
harassing  and  obnoxious  to  the  people.  Thus,  democracy  itself,  which,  in  after 
ages,  was  to  overturn  so  many  thrones,  served  them,  at  that  time,  as  a  firm  sup- 
port, sheltering  them  from  the  attacks  of  a  turbulent  and  formidable  aristocracy, 
unwilling  to  be  transformed  into  mere  courtiers.  There  was  nothing  in  this  state 
of  things  very  mischievous,  so  long  as  matters  remained  within  the  limits  pre- 
scribed by  reason  and  justice;  but,  unfortunately,  good  principles  were  exagge- 
rated, regal  authority  was  gradually  converted  into  an  absorbent  force,  which 
would  have  concentrated  in  itself  all  other  forces.  European  monarchy  lost  thus 
its  true  character,  which  consists  in  monarchy  having  just  limits,  even  when 
these  limits  are  not  marked  out  and  guarded  by  political  institutions. 

Protestantism  exalts  to  an  incredible  degree  the  pretensions  of  kings,  by 
attacking  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Pope,  by  painting  in  the  darkest  colors  the 
dangers  of  his  temporal  power,  and  especially  by  establishing  the  fatal  doctrine, 
that  the  supreme  civil  power  has  ecclesiastical  ufi'airs  totally  under  its  direction; 
and  by  accusing  of  abuse,  of  usurpation,  of  unbounded  ambition,  the  indepen- 
dence which  the  Church  claims  by  virtue  of  the  sacred  canons,  of  the  guarantee 
afforded  by  the  civil  law,  of  the  traditions  of  fifteen  centuries,  and  above  all,  of 
the  institution  of  her  Divine  Founder.  He  had  no  need  of  the  permission,  of 
any  civil  power  to  send  His  apostles  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  to  baptize  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  A  glance  at  the  his- 
tory of  Europe  at  the  epoch  here  mentioned  will  convince  us  of  the  evil  con- 
sequenCes  of  such  a  doctrine,  and  show  us  how  agreeable  it  must  have  been  to 
the  ears  of  power,  which  it  invested  with  unbounded  faculties,  even  in  matters 
purely  religious.  This  exaggeration  of  the  rights  of  civil  power,  coinciding 
with  the  efforts  made  on  the  other  hand  to  repress  the  pontifical  authority,  must 
have  favored  the  doctrine  which  attempted  to  place  the  power  of  kings  upon 
a  level,  in  every  respect,  with  that  of  Popes;  and  consequently,  it  was  very 
natural  that  its  authors  should  wish  to  establish,  that  sovereigns  received  their 
power  from  God,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Popes,  without  any  difference  what- 
ever. The  doctrine  of  direct  communication,  although  very  susceptible,  as  we 
have  seen,  of  a  reasonable  explanation,  might  involve  a  more  extensive  mean- 
ing, which  would  have  made  the  people  oblivious  of  the  special  and  characte- 
ristic manner  in  which  the  supreme  power  of  the  Church  was  instituted  by  God 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  309 

himself.  What  I  have  ju&t  advanced  cannot  be  considered  as  merely  conjec- 
tural; the  whole  is  supported  by  facts  which  cannot  have  been  forgotten.  The 
reigns  of  Henry  VIII.  and  of  Elizabeth  of  England,  and  the  usurpations  and 
violence  in  which  Protestant  powers  indulged  against  the  Catholic  Church,  are 
a  sufficient  confirmation  of  these  sad  truths.  But,  unfortunately,  even  in 
countries  where  Catholicity  remained  triumphant,  attempts  were  then,  have 
since  been,  and  still  are  witnessed,  that  show  clearly  enough  how  strong  was 
the  impulse  given  in  this  sense  to  the  civil  power ;  for  even  now  it  is  but  too 
prone  to  transgress  its  legitimate  bounds. 

The  circumstances  under  which  the  two  illustrious  theologians  above  cited, 
Bellarmin  and  Suarez,  wrote,  are  another  reason  in  support  of  what  I  have  just 
adduced.  I  have  quoted  remarkable  passages  from  a  work  by  Suarez,  written 
in  refutation  of  a  publication  of  King  James  of  England.  This  King  could  not 
bear  the  idea  of  Cardinal  Bellarmin' s  having  established  that  the  power  of  kings 
does  not  emanate  directly  from  God,  but  is  communicated  through  the  medium 
of  society,  which  receives  it  in  a  direct  manner.  Possessed,  as  is  well  known, 
with  the  mania  for  theological  debates  and  decisions,  King  James  did  not  con- 
fine himself  to  simple  theory;  he  reduced  his  theory  to  practice,  and  said  to  his 
Parliament :  "  that  God  had  appointed  him  absolute  master ;  and  that  all  pri- 
vileges which  co-legislative  bodies  enjoyed  were  pure  concessions  proceeding 
from  the  bounty  of  kings."  His  courtiers,  in  their  adulations,  decreed  him 
the  title  of  the  modern  Solomon ;  he  might  well,  therefore,  feel  displeased 
with  the  Italian  and  Spanish  theologians  for  endeavoring  to  humble  the  pride 
of  his  presumptuous  wisdom,  and  restrain  his  despotism.  If  we  reflect  upon 
the  words  of  Bellarmin,  and  especially  on  those  of  Suarez,  we  shall  find  that 
the  aim  of  these  eminent  theologians  was  to  point  out  the  difference  between 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  with  respect  to  the  mode  of  their  origin. 
They  admit  that  both  powers  come  from  God ;  that  it  is  an  indispensable  duty 
to  be  subject  to  them ;  and  that  to  resist  them  is  to  resist  the  ordinance  of 
God ;  but  not  finding,  either  in  the  Scripture  or  in  tradition,  the  least  founda- 
tion for  establishing  that  civil  power,  like  that  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs,  has 
been  instituted  in  a  special  and  extraordinary  manner,  they  are  anxious  that 
this  difference  should  remain  obvious,  and  seek  to  avoid  the  introduction,  in  a 
point  of  such  import,  of  a  confusion  of  ideas,  from  which  dangerous  errors  might 
arise.  "This  opinion,"  says  Suarez,  " is  new,  singular,  and  apparently  in- 
vented to  exalt  the  temporal  over  the  spiritual  power."  (See  above.)  Hence, 
in  discussing  the  question  of  the  "origin  of  civil  power,  they  require  you  to  bear 
in  mind  the  influence  of  society.  "  By  means  of  man's  counsel  and  election" 
says  Bellarmin ;  thus  reminding  the  King,  that  how  sacred  soever  his  authority 
might  be,  it  had  been  very  differently  instituted  from  that  of  the  Sovereign 
Pontiff.  The  distinction  between  direct  and  indirect  communication  served,  in 
a  particular  manner,  to  prove  the -difference  in  question;  for  this  very  distinction 
recalled  to  mind  that  civil  power,  although  established  by  God,  owed  its  exist- 
ence to  no  extraordinary  measure,  and  could  not  be  considered  as  supernatural, 
but  was  to  be  looked  upon  as  dependent  upon  human  and  natural  right,  sanc- 
tioned, nevertheless,  in  an  express  manner,  by  right  divine. 

These  theologians  would  not,  perhaps,  have  forcibly  insisted  upon  this  dis- 
tinction, had  it  not  been  for  the  efforts  made  by  others  to  efface  it.  It  was  a 
matter  of  consequence  with  them  to  humble  the  pride  of  power,  to  prevent  it 
from  assuming,  whether  in  respect  to  its  origin  or  its  rights,  titles  not  apper- 
taining to  it ;  to  prevent  its  ascribing  to  itself  an  unlawful  supremacy,  even  in 
religious  affairs,  and  thus  causing  monarchy  to  degenerate  into  a  sort  of  Oriental 
despotism,  in  which  the  governing  power  is  every  thing,  the  people  and  their 
affairs  nothing.  If  we  weigh  their  words  attentively,  we  shall  find  that  the 
predominating  idea  with  them  was  that  which  I  have  just  stated.  At  first 


310  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

sight,  their  language  appears  exceedingly  democratical,  from  their  frequent  use 
of  the  words  community,  state,  society ,  people ;  but  on  examining  closely  their 
system  of  doctrine,  and  paying  attention  to  the  expressions  they  use,  we  per- 
ceive that  they  had  no  subversive  design,  and  that  anarchical  theories  never 
once  entered  their  minds.  They  advocated  on  the  one  hand  the  rights  of 
authority,  whilst  they  protected  on  the  other  those  of  the  subject,  thus  en- 
deavoring to  resolve  the  problem  which  formed  the  continual  occupation  of  all 
honest  political  writers ;  to  limit  power  without  destroying  it,  or  placing  it 
under  too  great  restraint ;  to  protect  society  against  the  disorder  of  despotism, 
without  rendering  it  at  the  same  time  refractory  or  turbulent.  From  the 
above  reasoning  we  see  that  the  distinction  between  direct  and  indirect  com- 
munication may  be  of  great  or  of  little  importance,  according  to  the  view  we 
take  of  it.  It  is  of  great  importance  when  serving  to  remind  the  civil  power 
that  the  establishment  of  governments  and  the  regulation  of  their  forms  has 
in  some  way  been  dependent  upon  society  itself,  and  that  no  individual,  no 
family,  can  presume  upon  having  received  from  God  the  government  of  the 
people  without  regard  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  as  if  those  laws,  in  whatever 
form,  were  a  free  offering  made  by  them  to  the  people.  This  same  distinction 
serves,  in  short,  to  establish  the  origin  of  civil  power  as  an  emanation  from  the 
Deity,  the  Author  of  nature,  but  not  as  instituted  in  an  extraordinary  manner, 
as  something  supernatural,  as  in  the  case  of  the  supreme  ecclesiastical  power. 
From  this  latter  consideration  two  consequences  follow,  one  of  which  is  of 
more  importance  than  the  other  to  the  legitimate  liberties  of  mankind  and  the 
independence  of  the  Church.  To  call  in  the  intervention,  express  or  tacit,  of 
society  for  the  establishment  of  governments  and  the  regulation  of  their  forms, 
is  to  prevent  the  concealment  of  their,  origin  under  any  veil  of  mystery ;  it  is 
simply  and  plainly  to  define  their  object,  consequently  to  explain  their  duties, 
as  well  as  to  point  out  their  faculties.  By  these  means  a  restraint  is  put  upon 
the  disorders  and  abuses  of  authority,  which  it  is  thenceforth  clearly  seen  are 
not  to  find  support  in  enigmatical  theories. 

The  independence  of  the  Church  is  thus  established  upon  a  solid  basis. 
Whenever  the  civil  power  attempts  to  offer  it  violence,  the  Church  may  say : 
'*  My  authority  is  established  directly  and  immediately  by  God  in  a  special,  ex- 
traordinary, and  miraculous  manner;  yours  likewise  emanates  from  God,  but 
through  the  intervention  of  man,  through  the  intermediary  of  the  laws,  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  pointed  out  by  nature  and  determined  by  human  prudence ;  but 
neither  man  nor  the  civil  power  has  a  right  to  destroy  or  change  what  God 
Himself,  deviating  from  the  course  of  nature  and  making  use  of  ineffable 
prodigies,  has  thought  proper  to  institute."  So  long  as  the  ideas  here  set  forth 
are  respected,  so  long  as  direct  communication  is  not  received  in  too  extensive 
a  sense,  and  care  taken  not  to  confound  things  whose  limits  so  gravely  affect 
religion  and  society,  the  distinction  here  spoken  of  is  of  little  importance.  We 
have  seen,  even,  that  the  two  opinions  may  be  reconciled  with  each  other.  At 
all  events,  this  distinction  will  have  served  to  illustrate  with  what  exalted  views 
Catholic  theologians  have  discussed  the  grave  questions  of  public  right.  Guided 
by  sound  philosophy,  and  without  ever  losing  sight  of  the  beacon  of  revelation, 
they  have  given  equal  satisfaction  to  the  desires  of  both  schools.  They  have 
not  fallen  into  the  errors  of  either;  democratical  without  being  anarchists, 
monarchical  without  being  base  adulators.  In  establishing  the  rights  of  the 
people,  they  were  not,  like  modern  demagogues,  under  the  necessity  of  destroy- 
ing religion,  but  made  her  the  guardian  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  as  well  as 
of  those  of  kings.  Liberty  was  not  with  them  a  synonyme  for  license  and 
irreligion;  in  their  opinion,  men  might  be  free  without  being  rebellious  or 
impious;  liberty  consisted  in  being  subject  to  the  law;  and,  as  they  could  not 
conceive  that  law  was  possible  without  religion  and  without  God;  in  like  man- 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY.  311 

ner  also  they  believed  that  liberty  was  not  possible  without  God  and  religion. 
What  reason,  revelation,  and  history  taught  them  has  become  evident  to  us  by 
experience.  Shall  we  be  told  of  the  dangers,  grave  or  slight,  in  which  theolo- 
gians could  involve  governments  ?  But  people  now-a-days  are  not  led  astray 
by  affected  and  insidious  declamations ;  and  kings  well  know  whether  the 
schools  of  theologians  have  exiled  royalty,  and  led  it  to  the  scaffold.  (29) 


CHAPTER    LIL 

FREEDOM   OF    SPEECH   UNDER   THE    SPANISH    MONARCHY. 

EXTREME  doctrines  neither  insure  the  liberty  of  the  people,  nor  the  force 
and  stability  of  governments;  both  require  truth  and  justice,  the  only  founda- 
tions upon  which  we  can  build  with  any  hope  of  the  durability  of  the  edifice. 
In  general,  maxims  favorable  to  liberty  are  never  carried  to  a  higher  pitch  than 
on  the  eve  of  the  establishment  of  despotism ;  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the 
overthrow  and  ruin  of  governments  are  very  near  when  undue  adulations  are 
lavished  upon  their  power.  When  was  the  power  of  kings  more  extolled  than 
about  the  middle  of  last  century  ?  Who  is  not  aware  of  the  exaggerations 
given  to  the  prerogatives  of  royal  power,  when  the  Jesuits  were  to  be  expelled, 
and  the  authority  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  impugned  ?  In  Portugal,  Spain, 
Italy,  Austria,  and  in  France,  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  purest  and  most  fer- 
vent royalism  was  heard ;  and  yet  what  became  of  this  great  love,  this  lively 
zeal  for  monarchy,  from  the  moment  that  the  revolutionary  storm  had  placed 
it  in  danger  ?  Observe  what,  generally  speaking,  has  been  the  conduct  of  men 
opposed  to  the  ecclesiastical  authority;  they  have  united  themselves  to  dema- 
gogues for  destroying,  at  the  same  time,  the  authority  of  the  Church  and  that 
of  kings ;  they  have  forgotten  their  base  adulations,  and  abandoned  themselves 
to  insults  and  violence.  People  and  governments  should  never  lose  sight  of 
this  rule  of  conduct,  so  useful  to  men  of  sense,  to  mistrust  flatterers,  and  to 
confide  in  those  who  warn  and  correct  them.  Let  them  beware  whenever  they 
are  caressed  with  an  affected  tenderness,  and  their  cause  is  maintained  with 
especial  warmth ;  it  is  a  sure  sign  of  an  attempt  to  make  use  of  them  as  tools 
for  the  furtherance  of  interests  very  different  from  their  own.  In  France,  at 
certain  times,  monarchical  zeal  was  carried  to  such  an  extent  as  to  call  forth, 
in  the  assembly  of  the  States-General,  a  motion  for  establishing,  as  a  sacred 
principle,  that  kings  receive  their  supreme  authority  immediately  from  God  : 
this  was  not  carried  into  effect,  but  the  proposal  shows  how  ardently  the  cause 
of  the  throne  was  then  maintained.  Now,  what  did  all  this  ardor"  mean? 
Simply  an  antipathy  against  the  Court  of  Rome,  a  dread  of  the  extension  of 
papal  power ;  it  was  an  obstacle  to  be  opposed  to  the  phantom  of  a  universal 
monarchy.  Louis  XIV.,  so  tenacious  of  the  royal  prerogative,  assuredly  did 
not  foresee  the  misfortunes  of  Louis  XVI. ;  and  Charles  III.,  in  listening  to  the 
Count  of  Aranda  and  Campomanes,  little  thought  that  the  constituent  Cortes 
of  Cadiz  was  so  near. 

In  the  midst  of  their  splendor,  monarchs  forgot  one  principle  predominating 
in  the  whole  modern  history  of  Europe,  viz.  that  social  organization  is  an 
emanation  of  religion,  and,  consequently,  that  the  two  powers  to  which  the 
defence  and  preservation  of  society  appertain  ought  to  co-exist  in  perfect 
harmony. 

The  power  of  the  Church  cannot  be  diminished  without  injury  to  the  civil 
power ;  he  who  sows  schism  will  reap  rebellion.  During  the  last  three  centu- 
ries the  most  liberal  and  popular  doctrines  upon  the  origin  of  power  have  been 
circulated  amongst  us.  What  did  it  matter  to  the  Spanish  monarchy,  since 


312  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

those  very  persons  who  advocated  these  doctrines  were  the  first  to  condemn 
resistance  to  the  lawful  authorities,  to  inculcate  the  obligation  of  obedience  to 
them,  and  to  establish  in  all  hearts,  respect,  love,  and  veneration  for  the  sove- 
reign ?  The  disturbances  of  our  epoch,  and  the  dangers  constantly  besetting 
thrones,  are  not  exactly  attributable  to  the  propagation  of  doctrines  more  or 
less  democratical,  but  to  the  absence  of  moral  and  religious  principles.  What 
will  be  gained  by  asserting  that  power  comes  from  God,  if  people  believe  not 
in  God?  Point  out  the  sacred  character  of  the  duty  of  obedience,  and  what 
effect  will  it  produce  upon  those  who  admit  not  the  existence  of  moral  order, 
and  to  whom  duty  is  merely  a  chimerical  idea?  Suppose,  on  the  contrary, 
that  you  have  to  deal  with  men  penetrated  with  moral  and  religious  principles, 
who  bow  to  the  will  of  God,  and  believe  themselves  bound  to  submit  to  it,  so 
soon  as  it  is  manifested  to  them.  What  does  it  matter  then  whether  civil 
power  proceeds  from  God  directly  or  indirectly?  it  is  enough  to  convince  them, 
in  one  way  or  another,  that,  whatever  be  its  origin,  God  approves  of  it,  and 
wills  that  it  should  be  obeyed ;  they  will  immediately  submit  with  pleasure, 
for  they  will  see  in  this  submission  the  accomplishment  of  a  duty. 

These  considerations  serve  to  explain  the  reason  why  certain  doctrines  appear 
more  dangerous  now  than  formerly.:  incredulity  and  immorality  give  them 
perverse  interpretations,  arid  apply  them  so  as  to  create  nothing  but  excesses 
and  disorders.  From  the  manner  in  which  the  despotism  of  Philip  II.  and  his 
successors  is  now  spoken  of,  we  might  be  led  to  suppose  that  in  their  time  no 
other  doctrines  than  those  in  favor  of  the  most  rigid  absolutism  could  be  cir- 
culated ;  and  yet  we  find  that  there  were  circulated,  without  the  least  apprehen- 
sion on  the  part  of  power,  works  maintaining  theories  which,  even  in  our  days, 
would  be  esteemed  too  bold.  Is  it  not,  therefore,  remarkable,  that  the  famous 
book  of  Father  Mariana,  intituled  De  Rege  el  Regis  institutions,  which  was 
burned  at  Paris  by  the  hand  of  the  public  executioner,  had  been  published  in 
Spain  eleven  years  before,  without  the  least  obstacle  to  its  publication,  either 
on  the  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  or  civil  authority  ?  Mariana  undertook  his  task 
at  the  instigation  and  request  of  D.  Garcia  de  Loaisa,  tutor  to  Philip  III.,  and 
subsequently  Bishop  of  Toledo ;  so  that  the  work,  strange  to  say,  was  intended 
for  the  instruction  of  the  heir-apparent.  Never  was  more  freedom  used  in 
speaking  to  kings;  never  was  tyranny  condemned  in  a  louder  voice;  never 
were  more  popular  doctrines  proclaimed ;  and  the  work  was,  nevertheless, 
published  at  Toledo,  in  1599,  in  the  printing-office  of  Pedro  Rodrigo,  printer  to 
the  king,  with  the  approbation  of  P.  Fr.  Pedro  de  Ona,  provincial  of  the  Mer- 
cenaries of  Madrid,  with  the  permission  of  Stephen  Hojeda,  visitor  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  in  the  province  of  Toledo,  under  the  generalship  of  Claude 
Aquaviva;  and,  what  is  still  more  forcible,  with  the  royal  sanction,  and  a 
dedication  to  the  king  himself.  We  should  also  observe,  that  Mariana  was  not 
satisfied  with  this  dedication  placed  at  the  commencement  of  the  book,  but  he 
makes  the  very  title  itself  serve  to  show  to  whom  it  was  addressed :  De  Rege 
et  Reyis  institutione.  Libri  3,  ad  Philippum  3,  Hispanice  Reg  em  Catholicum; 
and,  as  if  this  were  not  sufficient,  in  dedicating  his  Spanish  version  of  the  His- 
tory of  Spain  to  Philip  III.,  he  says  to  him:  "I  last  year  dedicated  to  your 
majesty  a  work  of  my  own  composition,  upon  the  virtues  which  ought  to  exist 
in  a  good  king,  my  desire  being  that  all  princes  should  read  it  carefully  and 
understand  it."  "El  ano  pasado  presente  &  V.  M.  un  libro  que  cornpuse  de  las 
virtudes  que  debe  tener  un  buen  Rey,  que  deseo  lean  y  entiendan  todos  los 
principes  con  cuidado." 

We  will  pass  over  his  doctrine  upon  tyrannicide,  which  was  the  principal 
cause  of  its  condemnation  in  France,  where  there  existed,  without  doubt,  mo- 
tives of  alarm,  since  kings  were  perishing  there  by  the  hand  of  the  assassin. 
On  examining  his  theory  upon  power,  we  find  it  as  popular  and  liberal  as  those 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  313 

of  modern  democrats  could  be.  Mariana  ventures  to  express  his  opinions  without 
evasion  or  disguise.  For  example,  drawing  a  parallel  between  the  king  and 
the  tyrant,  he  says :  "  The  king  exercises  with  great  moderation  the  power 

which  he  has  received  from  his  subjects Hence,  he  does  not,  like  the 

tyrant,  oppress  his  subjects  as  slaves,  but  governs  them  as  free  men;  and  having 
received  his  power  from  the  people,  he  takes  particular  care  that  during  his 
life,  the  people  shall  voluntarily  yield  him  submission."  "  Rex  quam  a  sub- 

ditis  accepit  potestatem  singulari  modestia  exercet Sic  fit,  ut  subditis  non 

tanquam  servis  dominetur,  quod  faciunt  tyranni,  sed  tanquam  liberis  praesit,  et 
qui  a  populo  potestatem  accepit,  id  in  primis  curse  habet  ut  per  totam  vitam 
volentibus  imperet."  (Lib.  1,  cap.  4,  p.  57.)  This  was  said  in  Spain  by  a 
simple  religious,  was  sanctioned  by  his  superiors,  and  attentively  listened  to  by 
kings.  To  what  grave  reflections  does  this  simple  fact  lead  us  !  Where  is  that 
strict  and  indissoluble  alliance  which  the  enemies  of  the  Church  have  imagined 
to  exist  between  her  dogmas  and  those  of  slavery  ?  If  such  expressions  as  the 
above  were  tolerated  in  a  country  in  which  Catholicity  predominated  so  exten- 
sively, how  can  it  be  maintained  that  such  a  religion  tends  to  enslave  the 
human  race,  and  that  its  doctrines  are  favorable  to  despotism  ?  Nothing  would 
be  easier  than  to  fill  whole  volumes  with  remarkable  passages  of  our  writers, 
both  lay  and  clerical,  showing  the  extreme  liberty  granted  upon  this  point,  as 
well  by  the  Church  as  by  the  civil  government.  What  absolute  monarch  in 
Europe  would  approve  of  one  of  his  high  functionaries  expressing  the  origin 
of  power  after  the  manner  of  our  immortal  Saavedra  ?  "  It  is  from  the  centre 
of  justice/'  says  he,  "that  the  circumference  of  the  crown  has  been  drawn.  The 
latter  would  not  be  necessary,  if  we  could  dispense  with  the  former. 

Hac  una  reges  olim  sunt  fine  creati, 
Dicere  jus  populis,  injustaque  tollere  facta. 

In  the  first  age,  there  was  no  necessity  for  penalties,  because  the  law  did  not 
take  cognisance  of  transgressions ;  rewards  were  equally  unnecessary,  because 
integrity  and  honor  were  loved  for  their  own  sakes.  But  vice,  growing  with 
the  age  of  the  world,  intimidated  virtue ;  simple  and  confiding,  the  latter,  till 
then,  dwelt  in  the  country.  Equality  was  despised,  modesty  and  chastity  lost, 
ambition  and  force  introduced,  and  after  them  domination.  Prudence,  forced 
by  necessity,  and  aroused  by  the  light  of  nature,  reduced  men  to  a  state  of  civil 
society,  to  exercise  therein  those  virtues  to  which  reason  inclines  them.  By 
means  of  the  articulate  voice  with  which  nature  had  gifted  them,  they  could 
explain  to  each  other  their  mutual  thoughts,  manifest  to  each  other  their  sen- 
timents, and  explain  their  wants,  instruct,  counsel,  and  protect  each  other. 
Society  once  formed,  a  power  was  created  by  common  consent,  in  the  whole  of  this 
community,  enlightened  by  the  law  of  nature,  for  preserving  its  different  parts,  for 
maintaining  them  in  justice  and  peace,  by  punishing  vice  and  rewarding  virtue. 
As  this  power  could  not  remain  spread  through  the  whole  body  of -the  people,  on 
account  of  the  confusion  which  would  have  arisen  from  the  resolutions  and  their 
execution,  and  as  it  was  absolutely  necessary  that  there  should  be  some  to  com- 
mand, and  others  to  obey,  one  portion  divested  itself  of  this  power,  and  vested  it 
in  one  member,  or  in  a  small,  or  in  a  great,  number  of  members,  that  is  to  say, 
in  one  of  the  three  forms  of  every  state  government — monarchy,  aristocracy,  or 
democracy.  Monarchy  was  the  first ;  because  men  selected  for  their  govern- 
ment, out  of  their  families,  and  afterwards  even  from  among  the  whole  people, 
some  one  who  excelled  the  rest  in  goodness :  his  greatness  increasing,  they 
honored  his  hand  with  the  sceptre,  and  encircled  his  head  with  a  crown  as  an 
emblem  of  majesty,  and  as  a  badge  of  the  supreme  power  which  they  had  con- 
ferred upon  him.  This  power,  however,  consists  chiefly  in  that  justice  which 
ought  to  maintain  the  people  in  peace:  this  justice  failing,  the  order  of  the  state 
40  2B  ' 


314  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

fails,  and  the  office  of  king  ceases,  as  was  the  case  in  Castile,  when  the  govern- 
ment by  judges  was  substituted  for  that  by  kings,  on  account  of  the  injustice 
of  D.  Ordona  and  of  D.  Fruela."  (Character  of  a  Christian  Prince's  Policy,  set 
forth  in  a  hundred  Devices,  by  D.  Diego  de  Saavedra  Fajardo,  Knight  of  the 
Order  of  St.  James,  Member  of  his  Majesty's  Supreme  Council  for  the  Indies, 
device  22.) 

The  words  people,  pact,  consent,  have  ended  in  becoming  the  dread  of  men  of 
sound  ideas  and  upright  intentions,  on  account  of  the  deplorable  abuses  which 
have  been  made  of  them  in  those  immoral  schools  which  ought  rather  to  be 
qualified  with  the  epithet  of  irreligious  than  with  that  of  democratical.  No,  it 
was  not  the  desire  of  ameliorating  the  condition  of  the  people  which  led  them 
to  overthrow  the  world,  by  overturning  thrones  and  shedding  torrents  of  blood 
in  civil  discord ;  the  real  cause  was  a  blind  rage  for  reducing  to  ashes  the  work 
of  ages,  by  especially  attacking  religion,  the  main  support  of  every  thing  wise, 
just,  and  salutary,  that  European  civilization  had  acquired.  And,  in  fact,  have 
we  not  seen  impious  schools,  whilst  boasting  of  their  liberty,  bend  under  the 
hand  of  despotism,  whenever  they  thought  it  useful  to  their  designs  ?  Previous 
to  the  French  Revolution,  were  they  not  the  basest  adulators  of  kings,  whose 
prerogatives  they  extended  immeasurably,  with  the  intention  of  making  regal 
power  the  means  of  oppressing  the  Church  ?  After  the  revolutionary  epoch, 
did  we  not  see  them  assembled  round  Napoleon ;  and  even  yet,  do  they  not 
almost  deify  him  ?  And  why  ?  Because  Napoleon  was  revolution  personified, 
the  representative  and  executor  of  the  new  ideas  sought  to  be  substituted  for 
the  old  ones.  In  the  same  manner  Protestantism  extols  its  Queen  Elizabeth  ] 
because  it  was  she  who  placed  the  Establishment  upon  a  solid  foundation. 
Revolutionary  doctrines,  besides  the  evils  they  inflict  upon  society,  produce 
indirectly  another  effect,  which  may,  at  first  sight,  appear  salutary,  but  which, 
in  reality,  is  not  so.  They  occasion  dangerous  reactions  in  the  order  of  events, 
and  check  the  progress  of  knowledge,  by  narrowing  and  debasing  men's  ideas, 
leading  them  to  condemn  as  erroneous  and  pernicious,  or  to  view  with  mistrust, 
principles  which  would  previously  have  been  looked  upon  as  sound,  or  that 
would,  at  all  events,  have  been  regarded  as  mere  harmless  errors.  The  rea- 
son of  all  this  is,  simply,  that  liberty  has  no  worse  enemy  than  licentiousness. 

In  support  of  this  last  observation,  it  may  be  well  to  show,  that  the  most 
rigorous  doctrines  in  political  matters  have  originated  in  countries  in  which 
anarchy  had  made  the  greatest  ravages,  and  precisely  at  the  time  when  the  evil, 
still  present,  or  very  recent,  was  most  keenly  felt.  The  religious  revolution  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  political  commotions  consequent  upon  it,  were 
principally  felt  in  the  north  of  Europe;  the  south,  and  especially  Italy  and 
Spain,  were  almost  entirely  preserved  from  them.  Now,  these  last  two  coun- 
tries are  precisely  those  in  which  the  dignities  and  prerogatives  of  civil  power 
have  been  the  least  exaggerated,  as  well  as  those  in  which  they  were  not  dis- 
paraged in  theory,  and  were  respected  in  practice.  Of  all  modern  nations, 
England  was  the  first  in  which  a  revolution,  properly  so  called,  was  realized ; 
for  I  do  not  consider  as  such  the  insurrection  of  the  German  peasantry,  which, 
in  spite  of  the  terrible  catastrophe  which  it  caused,  never  effected  any  change  in 
the  state  of  society ;  or  that  of  the  United  Provinces,  which  may  be  considered 
a  war  of  independence.  Now,  it  was  precisely  in  England  that  the  most  erro- 
neous doctrines  in  favor  of  the  supreme  authority  of  civil  power  appeared. 
Hobbes,  who,  whilst  he  refused  to  allow  the  rights  of  the  Creator,  attributed 
unbounded  authority  to  the  monarchs  of  the  earth,  lived  at  the  most  agitated 
and  turbulent  epoch  in  the  annals  of  Great  Britain.  He  was  born  in  1588,  and 
died  in  1679. 

In  Spain,  where  the  impious  and  anarchical  doctrines,  which  had  troubled 
Europe  since  the  schism  of  Luther,  did  not  penetrate  until  the  latter  part  of  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  315 

eighteenth  century,  we  have  seen  that  the  greatest  license  of  expression  was 
permitted  upon  the  most  important  points  of  public  right,  and  that  doctrines 
were  maintained  which,  in  any  other  country,  would  have  been  looked  upon  as 
dangerous.  Error  gave  rise  to  exaggeration;  the  rights  of  monarchs  were 
never  so  much  extolled  as  under  the  reign  of  Charles  III.;  that  is,  at  the  time 
when  the  modern  epoch  was  inaugurated  among  us. 

Religion,  which  predominated  in  all  consciences,  maintained  them  in  the  obe- 
dience due  to  the  sovereign,  without  there  being  any  need  of  giving  this  obedi- 
ence any  extraordinary  titles,  when  its  real  ones  were  sufficient,  as  they  cer- 
tainly were.  For  him  who  knows  that  God  has  prescribed  obedience  to  lawful 
authority,  it  matters  little  whether  this  authority  emanate  from  Heaven  directly 
or  indirectly,  or  whether  society  has  more  or  less  taken  part  in  the  determina- 
tion of  political  forms,  or  in  the  election  of  the  persons  or  families  who  are  to 
exercise  the  supreme  command.  Hence  we  find  that  in  Spain,  although  the 
words  people,  consent,  pacts,  were  spoken  of,  monarchs  were  held  in  the  most 
profound  veneration,  so  much  so  that  modern  history  does  not  mention  a  single 
attempt  upon  their  persons.  Popular  tumults  were  also  of  rare  occurrence ;  and 
those  which  did  happen  are  not  attributable  to  either  of  the  two  above-men- 
tioned doctrines.  How  does  it  happen  that,  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  Council  of  Castile  was  not  alarmed  at  the  bold  principles  of  Mariana,  in  his 
book  De  Rege  et,  Regis  institutione,  whilst  those  of  the  Abbe  Spedalieri,  at  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  were  such  a  terror  to  it  ?  The  reason  of  this  lies 
not  so  much  in  the  contents  of  the  works,  as  in  the  epoch  of  their  publication. 
The  former  appeared  at  a  time  when  the  Spanish  nation,  confirmed  in  religious 
and  moral  principles,  might  be  compared  to  those  robust  constitutions  capable 
of  bearing  food  difficult  of  digestion.  The  latter  was  introduced  among  us  when 
the  doctrines  and  deeds  of  the  French  Revolution  were  shaking  all  the  thrones 
of  Europe,  and  when  the  propagandism  of  Paris  was  beginning  to  pervert  us  by 
its  emissaries  and  books.  In  a  nation  in  which  reason  and  virtue  prevail,  in 
which  evil  passions  are  never  excited,  in  which  the  well-being  and  prosperity 
of  the  country  are  the  only  aim  of  every  citizen,  the  most  popular  and  liberal 
forms  of  government  may  exist  without  danger ;  for  in  such  a  nation  numerous 
assemblies  produce  no  disorder,  merit  is  not  obscured  by  intrigue,  nor  are 
worthless  persons  raised  to  the  government,  and  the  names  of  public  liberty  and 
felicity  do  not  serve  as  means  to  raise  the  fortunes  or  satisfy  the  ambition  of 
individuals.  So  also  in  a  country  in  which  religion  and  morality  rule  in  every 
breast,  in  which  duty  is  not  looked  upon  as  an  empty  word,  in  which  it  is  con- 
sidered really  criminal  to  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  the  state,  to  revolt  against 
the  lawful  authorities :  in  such  a  country,  I  say,  it  is  less  dangerous  to  discuss, 
with  more  or  less  freedom,  questions  arising  from  theories  on  the  formation 
of  society  and  the  origin  of  the  civil  power,  and  to  establish  principles  favorable 
to  popular  rights.  But  when  these  conditions  do  not  exist,  it  is  of  little  use  to 
proclaim  rigorous  doctrines.  To  abstain  from  pronouncing  the  name  of  people, 
as  a  sacrilegious  word,  is  a  useless  precaution.  How  can  it  be  expected,  that 
he  who  respects  not  Divine  Majesty,  should  respect  human  ?  The  conservative 
schools  of  our  age,  proposing  to  place  a  restraint  upon  the  revolutionary  torrent, 
and  to  tranquillize  agitated  nations,  have  almost  always  been  infected  with  a 
certain  failing,  which  consists  in  forgetting  the  truth  which  I  have  just  noticed: 
royal  majesty,  authority  of  the  government,  supremacy  of  the  law,  parliamentary 
sovereignty,  respect  for  established  forms,  and  order :  such  are  the  terms  they 
are  constantly  making  use  of.  This  is  their  palladium  of  society ;  and  they 
condemn  with  all  their  might  the  state,  insubordination,  disobedience  to  the  laws, 
insurrection,  riot,  anarchy;  but  they  forget  that  these  doctrines  will  not  suffice, 
unless  there  be  some  fixed  point  to  which  the  first  link  of  the  chain  may  be 
riveted.  These  schools,  generally  speaking,  originate  in  the  bosom  of  revolu- 


316  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

tion  j  they  are  directed  by  men  who  have  figured  in  revolutions,  who  have  con- 
tributed to  prepare  them,  who  have  given  them  their  force,  and  who,  in  order 
to  attain  the  object  of  their  ardent  desires,  feared  not  to  ruin  the  edifice  at  its 
foundation,  by  diminishing  the  ascendency  of  religion  and  opening  the  way  to 
moral  relaxation.  Hence  they  become  powerless  when  prudence,  or  their  own 
interests,  bid  them  say,  "We  have  gone  far  enough;"  and,  hurried  on  like  the 
rest  by  the  furious  whirlwind,  they  have  neither  the  means  of  stopping  the 
movement  nor  of  giving  it  a  proper  direction. 

We  are  continually  hearing  the  Contrat  Social  of  Rousseau  condemned  on 
account  of  its  anarchical  doctrines,  whilst  at  the  same  time  doctrines  are  circu- 
lated tending  visibly  to  weaken  religion.  Can  we  possibly  believe  that  the  Con- 
trat Social  has  alone  caused  all  the  commotions  of  Europe  ?  It  has  doubtless 
produced  serious  evils,  but  still  more  serious  ones  have  been  caused  by  that  irre- 
ligion  which  so  deeply  undermines  the  foundations  of  society,  which  loosens 
family  bonds,  and  delivers  up  the  individual  to  the  caprice  of  his  passions,  with 
no  other  restraint  or  guide  than  the  promptings  of  his  own  low  egotism.  Men 
of  upright  and  reflecting  minds  begin  to  penetrate  these  truths.  We  find,  never- 
theless, in  the  political  sphere,  this  error,  which  attributes  to  the  action  of  civil 
government  sufficient  creative  power  to  form,  organize,  and  preserve  society, 
independently  of  all  moral  and  religious  influences.  It  is  of  little  consequence 
what  be  maintained  in  theory,  if  this  error  be  acted  upon  in  practice ;  and  what 
avails  the  proclaiming  of  certain  sound  principles,  if  our  conduct  is  not  guided 
by  them  ?  These  philosophico-political  schools,  which  are  desirous  of  ruling 
the  destinies  of  the  world,  proceed  in  a  way  diametrically  opposite  to  that  of 
Christianity.  The  latter,  whose  principal  object  was  heaven,  did  not,  however, 
neglect  the  happiness  of  man  upon  earth ;  it  addressed  itself  directly  to  the 
understanding  and  the  heart,  considering  that  the  community  is  regulated  by  the 
conduct  of  individuals,  and  that,  in  order  to  have  a  well-regulated  society,  it  was 
necessary  to  have  good  citizens.  To  proclaim  certain  political  principles,  to 
institute  particular  forms — such  is  the  panacea  of  some  schools,  who  deem  it 
possible  to  govern  society  without  exercising  a  due  influence  over  the  intelli- 
gence and  heart  of  man ;  reason  and  experience  agree  in  teaching  us  what  we 
may  expect  from  such  a  system. 

Profoundly  to  impress  the  minds  of  men  with  religion  and  morality, — this  is 
the  first  step  towards  the  prevention  of  revolutions  and  disorganization.  When 
these  sacred  objects  have  acquired  their  full  influence  over  the  hearts  of  men, 
there  is  no  longer  any  thing  to  be  apprehended  from  a  greater  or  less  latitude 
in  political  opinions.  What  confidence  can  a  government  repose  in  a  man  pro- 
fessing highly  monarchical  opinions,  if  he  join  impiety  to  them  ?  Will  he  who 
refuses  to  give  to  God  his  rights,  respect  those  of  temporal  kings  ?  "  The  first 
thing,"  says  Seneca,  "  is  the  worship  of  the  gods,  and  faith  in  their  existence ; 
we  are  next  to  acknowledge  their  majesty,  and  bounty,  without  which  there  is 
no  majesty."  "  Primum  est  Deorum  cultus,  Deos  credere ;  deinde  reddere  illis 
majestatem  suam,  reddere  bonitatem,  sine  qua  nulla  majestas  est."  (Seneca, 
Epist.  95.)  Observe  how  Cicero,  the  first  orator  and  perhaps  the  greatest  phi- 
losopher of  Home,  expresses  himself:  "It  is  necessary,"  says  he,  "that  the 
citizens  should  be  first  persuaded  of  the  existence  of  gods,  the  directors  and 
rulers  of  all  things,  in  whose  hands  are  all  events,  who  are  ever  conferring  on 
mankind  immense  benefits,  who  search  the  heart  of  man,  who  see  his  actions, 
the  spirit  of  piety  which  he  carries  into  the  practice  of  religion,  and  who  distin- 
guish the  life  of  the  pious  from  that  of  the  ungodly  man."  "  Sit  igitur  jam  hoc 
a  principio  persuasum  civibus,  dominos  esse  omnium  rerum,  ac  moderatores 
deos;  eaque  quae  gerantur,  eorum  geri  ditione  ac  numine,  eosdemque  optime 
de  genere  hominum  mereri,  et  qualis  quisque  sit,  quid  agat,  quid  inde  admittat, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  317 

qua  mente,  qua  pietate  colat  religiones  intueri :  piorumque  et  impiorum  habere 
rationem."  (Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor.  2.) 

These  truths  should  be  profoundly  impressed  upon  the  mind :  the  evils  of 
society  do  not  principally  emanate  from  political  ideas  or  systems ;  the  root  of 
the  evil  lies  in  religion ;  and  if  a  check  is  not  put  upon  irreligion,  it  is  vain  to 
proclaim  the  most  rigid  monarchical  principles.  Hobbes  did  certainly  flatter 
kings  a  little  more  than  Bellarmin ;  and  yet,  when  these  two  writers  are  com- 
pared, what  sensible  monarch  would  not  prefer  as  a  subject  the  learned  and 
pious  controvertist  ?  (30) 


CHAPTER  LIH. 

ON   THE   FACULTIES   OP   THE   CIVIL   POWER. 

HAVING  shown  that  the  Catholic  doctrine  upon  the  origin  of  the  civil  power 
does  not  include  any  thing  but  what  is  perfectly  reasonable  and  reconcilable 
with  the  true  interests  of  the  people,  let  us  discuss  the  second  of  the  proposed 
questions.  Let  us  inquire  into  the  nature  of  the  faculties  of  this  power,  and 
see  whether  under  this  aspect  the  Church  teaches  any  thing  favorable  to  despot- 
ism— to  that  oppression  of  which  she  is  so  calumniously  accused  of  being  a  sup- 
porter. We  invite  our  opponents  to  demonstrate  the  contrary,  fully  confident 
that  they  will  find  it  more  difficult  to  succeed  in  so  doing,  than  to  accumulate 
vague  accusations,  which  serve  only  to  lead  too  confiding  minds  astray.  To 
sustain  these  charges  properly,  recourse  should  be  had  to  texts  of  Scripture,  to 
tradition,  to  the  decisions  of  Councils,  or  to  those  of  Supreme  Pontiffs,  to  pas- 
sages of  the  Fathers ;  and  it  should  be  shown  that  these  immoderately  extend 
the  bounds  of  power,  with  the  design  of  placing  undue  restraint  upon  the  liberty 
of  the  people,  or  of  destroying  it.  But  it  will  be  said,  if  the  sources  retained 
their  purity,  the  streams  have  been  polluted  by  commentators ;  in  other  terms, 
theologians  of  latter  ages,  becoming  the  adulators  of  civil  power,  have  power- 
fully labored  to  extend  its  faculties,  and,  consequently,  to  establish  despotism. 
As  many  persons  too  readily  claim  the  right  of  criticizing  the  doctors  of  what 
is  termed  the  period  of  decline,  flippantly  censuring  those  illustrious  men,  with- 
out having  ever  taken  the  trouble  to  open  their  works,  it  is  necessary  for  us  to 
enter  into  some  details  on  this  subject,  and  to  dispel  prejudices  and  errors  which 
are  seriously  injurious  to  religion)  and  not  less  so  to  science. 

The  declamations  and  invectives  of  Protestants  have  induced  certain  minds  to 
imagine  that  every  idea  of  liberty  would  have  disappeared  from  the  heart  of 
Europe,  had  it  not  been  for  the  timely  intervention  of  the  pretended  Reforma- 
tion of  the  sixteenth  century.  According  to  this  idea,  Catholic  theologians  are 
represented  as  a  crowd  of  ignorant  monks,  capable  only  of  writing,  in  bad  lan- 
guage and  in  still  worse  style,  a  heap  of  nonsense,  the  ultimate  and  only  aim  of 
which  was  to  exalt  the  authority  of  Popes  and  kings,  and  to  support  intellectual 
and  political  oppression,  obscurantism,  and  tyranny.  That  a  portion  should 
become  the  victim  of  illusion  in  matters  the  investigation  of  which  is  difficult 
and  arduous ;  that  the  reader  should  suffer  himself  to  be  deceived  by  a  writer  on 
whose  word  he  must  either  rely  or  remain  in  complete  ignorance, — as,  for  example, 
in  the  description  of  a  country  or  a  phenomenon  examined  only  by  the  narrator, 
— is  nothing  strange ;  but  that  any  one  should  adhere  to  errors  which  a  few 
moments  spent  in  the  most  obscure  library  would  eradicate,  that  the  authors  of 
the  brilliant  volumes  of  Paris  should  have  the  privilege  of  disfiguring  with  im- 
punity the  opinions  of  a  writer  lying  covered  with  dust  and  forgotten  in  the 
same  library,  and  perhaps  on  the  same  shelf  upon  which  the  former  glitter;  that 
the  reader  should  peruse  with  avidity  the  glossy  pages  of  the  newly-published 

2  u  2 


318  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

work,  filling  his  mind  with  the  writer's  notions,  without  even  so  much  as  putting 
forth  his  hand  to  the  voluminous  tome  within  his  reach,  and  which  needs  only 
to  be  opened  to  furnish  at  every  page  a  refutation  of  the  censures  in  which 
levity,  if  not  bad  faith,  is  so  ready  to  indulge ;  is  difficult  to  be  conceived  or 
excused  in  any  man  professing  to  be  a  lover  of  science,  and  a  conscientious 
investigator  of  truth.  A  great  number  of  writers  would  assuredly  nol  be  so 
ready  and  free  to  speak  of  what  they  have  never  studied,  to  analyze  books  which 
they  have  never  read,  if  they  did  not  reckon  upon  the  docility  and  levity  of 
their  readers  j  they  would  certainly  refrain  from  pronouncing  magisterially  upon 
an  opinion,  a  system,  or  a  school,  in  fine,  upon  the  labors  of  many  ages,  from 
deciding  the  gravest  questions  by  a  sally  of  wit,  if  they  found  that  the  reader, 
seized  in  his  turn  with  distrust,  and  particularly  with  the  skepticism  of  the  period, 
would  not  place  implicit  faith  in  their  assertions,  but  would  take  the  trouble  to 
confront  them  with  the  facts  to  which  they  relate. 

Our  ancestors  did  not  consider  themselves  justified,  I  will  not  say  in  making 
an  assertion,  but  even  a  single  allusion,  without  giving  careful  references  to  the 
source  of  their  information.  Their  delicacy  on  this  point  was  carried  to  excess ; 
but  we  have  done  wrong  by  going  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  judging  that  we 
might  dispense  with  all  formality,  even  in  the  most  important  matters  which 
imperiously  demand  the  testimony  of  facts.  But  the  opinions  of  ancient  writers 
are  facts,  facts  averred  in  their  writings.  By  judging  them  hastily,  without 
entering  into  details,  without  imposing  upon  ourselves  the  obligation  of  quoting 
authorities,  we  incur  the  suspicion  of  falsifying  history,  and  history,  I  repeat, 
%the  most  precious,  that  of  the  human  mind.  The  levity  observable  in  certain 
writers  proceeds,  in  a  great  measure,  from  the  character  which  science  has 
assumed  in  our  days.  There  is  no  longer  any  particular  science,  but  only  a 
general  one,  embracing  them  all,  and  including  in  its  immense  circle  all  branches 
of  knowledge.  Consequently,  minds  of  ordinary  capacity  are  obliged  to  remain 
satisfied  with  vague  notions,  unfortunately  only  serving  to  stimulate  abstraction 
and  universality.  Never  was  knowledge  so  much  generalized  as  now,  and  never 
was  it  more  difficult  to  obtain  deserved  renown  for  wisdom.  In  every  aspirant 
to  scientific  excellence  the  state  of  science  requires  a  laborious  activity  in  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge,  profound  reflection  to  regulate  and  direct  it,  a  com- 
prehensive and  penetrating  view  to  simplify  and  concentrate  it,  an  intellect  of  a 
high  order,  elevating  him  to  the  regions  in  which  science  has  established  her 
abode.  How  many  men  are  endowed  with  these  qualifications  ?  But  let  us 
revert  to  the  subject. 

Catholic  theologians  are  so  far  from  favoring  despotism,  that  I  doubt  much 
whether  it  would  be  possible  to  find  better  books  than  theirs  for  enabling  us  to 
form  clear  and  just  ideas  of  the  faculties  of  power.  I  will  even  add  that,  gene- 
rally speaking,  they  incline,  in  a  very  remarkable  manner,  to  the  development 
of  true  liberty.  The  great  type  of  theological  schools,  the  model  to  the  con- 
templation of  which  they  have  constantly  turned  during  several  centuries,  are 
the  works  of  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin ;  and  we  may  with  full  confidence  defy  our 
opponents  to  find  us  a  jurist  or  philosopher  who  expounds  with  more  lucidity, 
wisdom,  noble  independence,  and  generous  dignity,  the  principles  to  which  civil 
power  ought  to  adhere.  His  Treatise  upon  Laws  is  immortal,  and  whoever  has 
fully  comprehended  it  has  no  further  information  to  acquire  respecting  the  great 
principles  which  ought  to  guide  the  legislator.  You  think  lightly  of  past  times, 
imagining  that  till  now  nothing  was  known  of  politics  or  public  right ;  and  in 
your  imagination  you  invent  an  incestuous  alliance  between  religion  and  despot- 
ism, fancying  you  have  discovered  in  the  distant  obscurity  of  the  cloister,  the 
plot  contrived  by  this  infamous  pact.  But  have  you  heard  the  opinion  of  a  reli- 
gious of  the  thirteenth  century  upon  the  nature  of  law  ?  You  already  imagine 
that  you  see  in  his  ideas  force  dominating  over  all,  and  constantly  invoking 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  319 

religion  the  better  to  disguise  his  rude  snares  with  a  few  falsehoods.  Learn, 
then,  that  you  could  not  yourself  have  given  a  milder  definition  of  law.  You 
would  never  have  thought,  as  he  has  done,  of  excluding  from  it  the  idea  of  force ; 
you  could  never  have  conceived  how,  in  so  few  words,  he  has  managed  to  say 
all,  and  with  such  exactitude,  such  lucidity,  in  terms  so  favorable  to  the  true 
liberty  of  the  people  and  to  the  dignity  of  man.  The  definition  here  spoken  of 
being  the  summary  of  his  entire  doctrine,  and  at  the  same  time  the  guide  which 
has  directed  theologians,  may  be  considered  as  an  abridgment  of  theological 
doctrines  in  their  relation  to  the  faculties  of  civil  power.  It  presents  to  us  at  a 
single  glance  what  were,  in  this  point  of  view,  the  predominating  principles 
among  Catholics. 

Civil  power  acts  upon  society  through  the  medium  of  the  law ;  and,  accord- 
ing to  St.  Thomas,  the  law  is,  "  a  rule  dictated  by  reason,  the  aim  of  which  is 
the  public  good,  and  promulgated  ~by  Mm  who  has  the  care  of  society"  "  Quae- 
dam  rationis  ordinatio  ad  bonum  commune,  et  ab  eo  qui  curam  communitatis 
habet  promulgata."  (1,  2,  quaest.  90,  art.  4.)  A  rule  dictated  by  reason, 
rationis  ordinatio.  Here  by  one  word  despotism  and  force  are  -banished  ;  here 
is  the  principle  that  the  law  is  not  a  pure  effect  of  the  will.  The  celebrated 
maxim,  Quod  principi  placuit  legis  habet  vigorem,  is  here  corrected.  Although 
capable  of  a  reasonable  and  just  interpretation,  this  maxim  was,  nevertheless, 
incorrect,  and  inclined  to  flattery.  A  celebrated  writer  of  our  days  has  devoted 
numerous  pages  to  proving  that  legitimacy  has  not  its  origin  in  the  will  of  man, 
but  in  reason,  inferring  from  this  that  what  ought  to  command  men  is  not  in 
the  will  of  another  man,  but  reason.  With  much  less  pomp,  but  not  less  solidity 
and  conciseness,  the  holy  Doctor  expresses  this  idea  in  the  words  above  quoted, 
rationis  ordinatio.  On  reflection  we  find  that  despotism,  arbitrary  power,  and 
tyranny  are  nothing  else  than  the  absence  of  reason  in  power,  the  domination 
of  the  will.  When  reason  commands,  there  is  legitimacy,  justice,  liberty ; 
when  the  will  alone  commands,  there  is  illegitimacy,  injustice,  despotism.  Hence 
the  fundamental  idea  of  all  law  is,  that  it  be  in  accordance  with  reason,  that  it 
be  an  emanation  from  reason,  an  application  of  reason  to  society ;  and  the  will, 
in  giving  its  sanction  to  law  and  carrying  it  into  execution,  should  be  merely 
auxiliary  to  reason,  its  instrument,  its  arm. 

It  is  evident  that,  without  the  action  of  the  will,  there  is  no  law ;  for  acts  of 
pure  reason,  without  the  co-operation  of  the  will,  are  thoughts  and  not  com- 
mands. They  enlighten  the  mind,  but  do  not  produce  action.  It  is,  therefore, 
impossible  to  conceive  the  existence  of  law  without  the  combined  operation  of 
the  will  and  of  reason.  But  this  is  no  reason  why  we  should  not  consider  all 
law  to  have  a  rational  foundation  and  to  be  conformable  to  reason,  that  it  may 
merit  the  name  of  law.  !£hese  observations  have  not  escaped  the  penetration 
of  the  holy  Doctor;  he  examines  them,  and  dispels  the  error  of  believing  that 
the  law  consists  in  the  mere  will  of  the  prince.  He  expresses  himself  as  fol- 
lows: "  Reason  receives  its  motive  power  from  the  will,  as  we  have  observed 
above  (quaest.  17,  art.  1 ;)  for  whilst  the  will  seeks  the  end,  reason  enjoins  the 
means  of  its  attainment;  but  the  will,  to  have  the  force  of  law,  must  be  guided 
by  reason.  In  this  sense  only  can  the  will  of  a  sovereign  be  said  to  have  the 
force  of  law ;  in  any  other  sense  it  would  not  be  law,  but  injustice/'  "  Ratio 
habet  vim  movendi  a  voluntate,  ut  supra  dictum  est.  (Quaest.  17,  art.  1.)  Ex 
hoc  enim  quod  aliquis  vult  finem,  ratio  imperat  de  his  quae  sunt  ad  finem,  sed 
voluntas  de  his  quae  imperantur,  ad  hoc  quod  legis  rationem  habeat,  oportet  quod 
sit  aliqua  ratione  regulata;  et  hoc  modo  intelligitur  quod  voluntas  principis 
habet  vigorem  legis ;  alioquin  voluntas  principis  magis  esset  iniquitas  quam  lex." 
(Quaest.  90,  art.  1.) 

These  doctrines  of  St.  Thomas  are  the  same  as  those  of  all  theologians.  Im- 
partiality and  good  sense  will  tell  us  whether  they  are  favorable  to  absolutism 


320  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

and  despotism,  whether  they  are  in  any  way  opposed  to  true  liberty,  whether 
they  are  not  eminently  conformable  to  the  dignity  of  man.  These  doctrines 
form  the  most  explicit  and  conclusive  proclamation  of  the  limits  of  civil  power, 
and  they  certainly  have  in  this  respect  more  weight  than  the  declarations  of 
imprescriptible  rights.  That  which  humbles  man,  wounds  in  him  the 
feeling  of  a  just  independence,  and  introduces  despotism  into  the  world,  is  the 
will  of  man  commanding  and  exacting  submission  merely  because  it  is  his  will ; 
but  by  submitting  to  reason,  being  guided  by  her  dictates,  we  are  not  degraded ; 
on  the  contrary,  we  are  elevated,  we  are  dignified,  for  we  live  conformably  to 
eternal  order  and  to  the  divine  will.  The  obligation  of  being  subject  to  the 
law  does  not  originate  in  the  will  of  another,  but  in  reason.  Theologians,  how- 
ever, have  not  considered  the  latter  of  itself  sufficient  to  command.  They  de- 
rive the  sanction  of  the  law  from  a  higher  source ;  when  the  conscience  of  man 
was  to  be  acted  upon,  to  be  bound  by  duty,  they  could  find  nothing  in  the 
sphere  of  created  things  capable  of  attaining  so  high  an  object.  "  Human 
laws,  if  they  are  just,"  says  the  holy  Doctor,  "  are  binding  in  conscience,  and 
they  derive  their  power  from  the  eternal  law,  from  which  they  are  formed,  ac- 
cording to  what  is  said  in  Proverbs,  chap,  viii.,  '  By  Me  kings  reign,  and  the 
lawgivers  decree  just  things/  "  "  Si  quidem  justse  sunt,  habent  vim  obligandi 
in  foro  conscientiae  a  lege  eterna,  a  qua  derivantur,  secundum  illud  Proverb, 
cap.  8,  per  me  reges  regnant,  et  legum  conditores  justa  decernunt."  (1,  "2, 
qusest.  96,  art.  3.)  This  proves,  according  to  St.  Thomas,  that  just  law  is 
derived  not  exactly  from  human  reason,  but  from  the  eternal  law ;  and  that 
this  is  what  makes  it  binding  upon  conscience. 

This  is  doubtless  more  philosophical  than  to  seek  the  obligatory  force  of  laws 
in  private  reason,  in  pacts,  or  in  the  general  will.  In  this  manner  the  titles, 
the  true  titles  of  humanity  are  explained,  a  reasonabie  limit  is  placed  upon 
civil  power,  and  obedience  is  easily  obtained ;  the  rights  and  duties  of  govern- 
ments, as  well  as  those  of  subjects,  are  established  upon  solid  and  indestructible 
foundations;  the  nature  of  power,  society,  command,  and  obedience  become 
perfectly  comprehensible.  It  is  no  longer  the  will  of  one  man  predominating 
over  that  of  his  fellow-man ;  it  is  not  his  reason,  but  reason  emanating  from 
God,  or  more  properly  speaking  the  reason  of  God,  the  eternal  law,  God  Him- 
self. A  sublime  theory,  in  which  power  finds  its  rights,  its  duties,  its  force, 
its  authority,  its  prestige,  and  in  which  society  possesses  its  safest  guarantee  of 
order,  well-being,  and  true  liberty;  a  theory  which  divests  authority  of  the 
will  of  man,  since  it  changes  this  will  into  an  instrument  of  the  eternal  law, 
into  a  divine  ministry,  whose  aim  is  the  public  yood,  ad  bonum  commune.  This, 
according  to  St.  Thomas,  is  also  one  of  the  essential  conditions  of  law.  It  has 
been  asked,  Whether  kings  are  made  for  the  people,  or  the  people  for  kings  ? 
Such  a  question  could  only  arise  from  a  want  of  due  reflection  upon  the  nature 
of  society,  its  object,  and  its  origin,  and  upon  the  intent  of  power.  The  con- 
cise expression  above  cited,  ad  bonum  commune,  is  a  fitting  answer  to  this 
question.  "  Laws,"  says  the  holy  Doctor,  "  may  be  unjust  in  two  ways ;  either 
by  being  opposed  to  the  commonweal,  or  by  having  an  improper  aim,  as  when 
a  government  imposes  upon  its  subjects  onerous  laws,  which  do  not  serve  the 
common  interest,  but  rather  cupidity  and  ambition.  Such  laws  are  rather  in- 
justices than  laws."  "Injustse  autem  sunt  leges  dupliciter;  uno  niodo  per 
contrarietatem  ad  bonum  commune,  e  contrario  prsedictis ;  vel  ex  fine,  sicut  cum 
aliquis  prsesidens  leges  irnponit,  onerosas  subditis  non  pertinentes  ad  utilitatem 

communem,  sed  magis  ad  propriam  cupiditatem  vel  gloriam : Et 

hujusmodi  magis  sunt  violentiae  quam  leges."  (1,  2,  q.  96,  art.  4.)  From 
this  doctrine  it  follows,  that  command  must  be  exercised  for  the  well-being  of 
all;  and,  failing  in  this  condition,  it  is  unjust:  governors  are  invested  with  it 
only  for  the  advantage  of  the  governed.  Kings  are  not,  as  some  philosophers, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  321 

^ 

regardless  of  the  most  palpable  inconsistencies,  have  absurdly  maintained,  the 
slaves  of  their  people ;  neither  is  their  power  a  simple  commission  without  any 
real  authority,  and  continually  subject  to  the  caprice  of  their  people ;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  the  people  are  not  the  property  of  their  kings.  The  latter  can, 
by  no  means,  consider  their  subjects  as  slaves,  to  be  disposed  of  at  their  free-  ' 
will :  governments  are  not,  by  any  means,  the  absolute  arbiters  of  the  lives  and 
fortunes  of  the  governed ;  they  are  bound  to  watch  over  them,  not  as  a  master 
over  slaves  from  whom  he  derives  profit,  but  as  a  father  over  the  son  whom  he 
loves  and  whose  happiness  he  has  at  heart. 

"  The  kingdom  is  not  made  for  the  king,  but  the  king  for  the  kingdom,"  says 
the  holy  Doctor,  from  whom  I  continue  to  quote ;  and,  in  a  style  remarkable 
for  its  force  and  freedom,  he  continues  as  follows  :  "  for  God  has  constituted 
kings  to  rule  and  govern,  and  to  secure  to  every  one  the  possession  of  his 
rights ;  such  is  the  aim  of  their  institution ;  but  if  kings,  turning  things  to  their 
own  profit,  should  act  otherwise,  they  are  no  longer  kings,  but  tyrants."  (D. 
Tli.  de  Reg.  Princ.  cap.  11.)  From  this  doctrine  it  is  evident,  that  the  people 
are  not  made  for  kings;  that  the  subject  is  not  made  for  the  ruler;  but  that  all 
governments  have  been  established  for  the  good  of  society,  and  that  this  alone 
should  be  the  compass  to  guide  those  who  are  in  command,  whatever  be  the 
form  of  government.  '  From  the  president  of  the  most  insignificant  republic  to 
the  most  powerful  monarch,  none  are  exempt  from  this  law ;  for  it  is  a  law  an- 
terior to  society, — a  law  which  presided  at  the  formation  of  society,  and  which 
is  superior  to  human  law,  inasmuch  as  it  emanates  from  the  Author  of  all  so- 
ciety, from  the  source  of  all  law. 

No,  the  people  are  not  made  for  kings ;  kings  are  all  appointed  for  the  good 
of  the  people  :  and  if  this  object  is  not  accomplished,  the  government  is  use- 
less ;  and  this  affects  the  republic  as  well  as  the  monarchy.  To  flatter  kings 
with  opposite  maxims  is  to  ruin  them.  Religion  has  not,  at  any  time,  done 
this ;  this  was  not  the  language  of  those  illustrious  men  who,  clothed  in  the 
sacerdotal  habit,  delivered  to  the  powerful  ones  of  the  earth  the  messages  of 
Heaven.  "  Kings,  princes,  magistrates,"  cries  out  the  venerable  Palafox,  "  all 
jurisdiction  is  ordained  by  God  for  the  preservation  of  His  people,  not  for  their 
destruction  ;  for  defence,  not  for  offence;  for  man's  right,  and  not  for  his  injury. 
They  who  maintain  that  kings  can  do  as  they  please,  and  who  establish  their 
power  upon  their  will,  open  the  way  to  tyranny.  Those  who  maintain  that 
kings  have  power  to  do  as  they  ought,  and  what  is  necessary  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  subjects  and  of  their  crowns,  for  the  exaltation  of  faith  and  reli- 
gion, for  the  just  and  right  administration  of  justice,  the  preservation  of  peace 
and  the  support  of  just  war,  for  the  due  and  becoming  eclat  of  regal  dignity, 
the  honorable  maintenance  of  their  houses  and  families,  speak  the  truth  with- 
out flattery,  throw  open  the  gates  to  justice,  and  to  magnanimous  and  royal 
virtues."  (Hist.  Real.  Sagrada,  lib.  i.  cap.  11.)  When  Louis  XIV.  said,  "I 
am  the  state,"  he  had  not  learned  this  maxim  either  from  Bossuet,  Bourdaloue, 
or  Masillon,  Pride,  exalted  by  so  much  grandeur  and  power,  and  infatuated 
by  base  adulators,  was  here  speaking  by  his  mouth.  .  How  unsearchable  are 
the  ways  of  Providence  !  The  corpse  of  this  man,  who  said  he  was  the  state, 
was  insulted  at  his  funeral ;  and,  before  the  lapse  of  a  century,  his  grandson 
suffered  death  on  the  scaffold !  Thus  the  crimes  of  families  are  expiated,  as 
well  as  those  of  nations.  When  the  measure  of  His  indignation  is  filled  up, 
the  Lord  reminds  terrified  man  that  the  God  of  mercy  is  likewise  a  God  of 
vengeance,  and  that,  as  He  opened  upon  the  world  the  floodgates  of  heaven,  so 
also  He  lets  loose  upon  kings  and  nations  the  tempests  of  revolution.  When 
once  the  rights  and  duties  of  power  are  founded  upon  a  base  as  solid  as  that  of 
their  divine  origin,  when  once  they  become  established  by  a  rule  as  exalted  as 
that  of  the  eternal  law,  there  is  no  longer  any  necessity  for  extolling  or  exag- 


322  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

gerating  power,  nor  of  attributing  to  it  faculties  to  which  it  has  no  claim ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  no  longer  necessary  to  exact  from  it  the  fulfilment  of 
its  obligations  with  that  imperious  haughtiness  which  enervates  by  humiliating 
it.  Flattery  and  menace  become  alike  needless  when  there  are  other  resources 
for  exciting  it  to  action,  and  other  barriers  for  restraining  it  within  due  bounds. 
The  statue  of  the  king,  it  is  true,  is  not  set  up  in  the  public  squares  as  an  ob- 
ject for  the  people's  adoration ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  king  is  no  longer 
placed  at  the  mercy  of  democrats,  soon  to  become  an  object  of  mockery  and 
derision,  the  contemptible  laughing-stock  of  demagogues. 

Observe  the  moderation  and  mildness  of  the  definition  we  have  just  ana- 
lysed !  It  does  not  contain  a  single  word  which  can  wound  the  most  delicate 
susceptibility  of  the  most  ardent  partisans  of  public  liberty.  The  law,  accord- 
ing to  this  definition,  consists  in  the  rule  of  reason ;  the  common  weal  is  its 
only  aim ;  and  when  the  authority  of  him  who  promulgates  and  executes  it  is 
spoken  of,  there  is  no  mention  made  of  any  sovereignty,  no  expression  is  used 
indicative  of  slavish  subjection,  the  most  measured  term  which  it  was  possible 
to  select  is  made  use  of — care :  Qui  CURAM  communitatis  habet.  Bear  in  mind, 
that  the  author  here  quoted  is  accustomed  to  weigh  his  words  like  precious 
metal,  and  to  employ  them  with  the  most  scrupulous  delicacy,  pausing  a  long 
time,  when  necessary,  to  explain  any  that  may  present  the  least  ambiguity,  and 
you  will  then  understand  what  ideas  this  great  man  entertained  upon  power ; 
you  will  discover  whether  the  spirit  of  oppressive  doctrines  could  have  pre- 
vailed in  the  Catholic  schools,  in  which  this  Doctor  was,  and  is  still,  acknowl- 
edged a,s  an  almost  infallible  oracle. 

Compare  the  definition  given  by  St.  Thomas,  and  adopted  by  all  theologians, 
with  that  which  Rousseau  has  given.  In  that  of  St.  Thomas,  law  is  the  ex- 
pression of  reason ;  in  that  of  Rousseau,  the  expression  of  will :  in  the  former, 
it  is  an  application  of  the  eternal  law ;  in  the  latter,  the  product  of  general  will. 
On  which  side  are  wisdom  and  good  sense  ?  Law  was  understood  among  the 
nations  of  Europe  as  it  is  explained  by  St.  Thomas  and  all  the  Catholic  schools ; 
and  tyranny  was  banished  from  Europe,  Asiatic  despotism  was  impossible,  the 
admirable  institution  of  European  monarchy  was  established.  At  a  later 
period,  Rousseau's  explanation  was  adopted,  and  then  came  the  Convention, 
with  its  scaffolds  and  its  horrors. 

Publicists  have  already  nearly  abandoned  the  theory  of  "  a  general  will ;" 
and  even  those  who  contend  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  do  not  maintain 
that  the  will  of  all  the  citizens  should  constitute  the  law.  The  law,  say  they, 
is  not  the  expression  of  general  will,  but  of  general  reason.  The  philosopher 
of  Geneva  would  have  the  will  of  individuals  collected,  the  aggregate  of  which 
he  termed  the  general  will.  In  like  manner,  the  publicists  of  whom  we  are 
speaking  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  necessary  to  collect,  amongst  the  governed, 
the  greatest  amount  of  reason,  and  to  give  this  to  the  government  for  its 
guidance,  the  governing  body  being  merely  an  instrument  for  the  application 
of  it.  It  is  not  men  who  command,  say  they,  but  the  law ;  and  the  law  is 
nothing  else  than  reason  and  justice. 

This  theory,  so  far  as  it  is  correct,  and  apart  from  the  applications  which 
might  be  made  of  it,  is  not  a  discovery  of  modern  science ;  it  is  a  traditional 
principle  of  all  Europe,  which  presided  at  the  formation  of  society,  and  has 
given  to  civil  power  an  organisation  differing  widely  from  those  of  antiquity, 
and  equally  so  from  those  of  modern  times  that  have  not  participated  in  our 
civilisation.  This,  on  close  examination,  appears  to  be  the  reason  why  Euro- 
pean monarchies,  even  the  most  absolute,  have  been  so  very  different  from  the 
Asiatic.  A  singular  phenomenon  :  at  the  very  time  when  society  among  us 
had  no  legal  guarantees  against  the  power  of  kings,  it  still  had  other  very  for- 
cible ones  which  were  purely  moral.  Modern  science  cannot,  therefore,  claim 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  323 

the  discovery  of  a  new  principle  of  government ;  it  has  unknowingly  resus- 
citated the  ancient  one.  By  rejecting  the  doctrine  of  Rousseau,  instead  of 
making,  according  to  the  vulgar  expression,  a  step  in  advance,  it  retrograded ; 
but  to  retrograde  is  not  always  to  lose  an  advantage.  What  is  or  can  be  lost 
by  receding  from  the  brink  of  a  precipice  to  enter  upon  a  safe  road  ?  Rous- 
seau complains,  and  with  reason,  that  certain  writers  have  so  far  exaggerated 
the  prerogatives  of  civil  power,  as  to  convert  mankind  into  a  common  herd,  of 
which  rulers  could  dispose  to  serve  their  interest  or  caprice.  Such  reproaches, 
however,  cannot  be  applied  to  the  Catholic  Church,  nor  to  any  of  the  illus- 
trious schools  sheltered  in  her  bosom.  The  philosopher  of  Geneva  makes  a 
severe  attack  upon  Hobbes  and  Grotius  for  having  maintained  this  servile  doc- 
trine. Catholics  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  cause  of  these  two  writers.  I 
will  observe,  however,  that  it  would  not  be  just  to  place  the  latter  upon  a  pa- 
rallel with  the  former.  Grotius  has  certainly  afforded  reason  for  the  accusa- 
tion. He  maintains  that  there  are  cases  in  which  governments  are  not  for  the 
benefit  of  the  governed,  but  for  that  of  the  governing  powers.  "  Sic  imperia 
qusedam  esse  possunt  comparata  ad  regum  utilitatem."  (Da  Jure  Belli  et 
Pacts,  lib.  i.  cap.  3.)  But,  whilst  we  acknowledge  that  this  principle  has  a 
dangerous  tendency,  we  grant  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Dutch  writer  do  not 
upon  the  whole  tend  to  the  total  ruin  of  morality. 

By  rendering  Grotius  his  due  share  of  justice,  we  prevent  any  exaggeration 
of  the  evil  which  may  exist  on  the  side  of  our  opponents;  it  must  now  be  per- 
mitted to  Catholic  hearts  to  remark  with  noble  satisfaction,  that  such  doctrines 
could  never  be  established  amongst  the  professors  of  the  true  faith,  and  that 
the  fatal  maxims  which  lead  to  oppression  have  originated  precisely  among 
those  who  have  deviated  from  the  teaching  of  the  Chair  of  St.  Peter.  No ; 
Catholics  have  never  brought  under  discussion  whether  kings  have  an  unlimited 
power  over  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  their  subjects,  to  such  a  degree  as  to  ad- 
mit of  no  opposition,  whatever  be  the  excess  of  the  absolutism  and  despotism 
exercised  over  them.  Whenever  flattery  raised  its  voice  to  exaggerate  the 
royal  prerogative,  this  voice  was  immediately  silenced  by  the  unanimous  out- 
cry of  the  supporters  of  sound  doctrine.  Witness  the  remarkable  example  of 
a  solemn  retractation  imposed  by  the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition  upon  a 
preacher  who  had  exceeded  his  bounds.  Not  so  in  England,  a  country  pro- 
verbial for  its  hatred  of  Catholicity.  Whilst  here,  in  Spain,  it  was  forbidden 
under  a  severe  penalty  to  circulate  maxims  so  degrading,  in  England  the 
question  was  proposed  with  the  greatest  gravity,  and  writers  upon  law  were 
divided  in  their  sentiments.  (See  end  of  chapter  39.) 

Every  impartial  reader  has  already  been  able  to  form  an  opinion  on  the  value 
of  declamations  against  the  right  divine,  and  on  that  pretended  affinity  of  Ca- 
tholic doctrines  with  despotism  and  slavery.  The  exposition  of  these  doctrines 
which  I  have  just  given  is  certainly  not  founded  upon  vain  reasoning,  sought 
out  on  purpose  to  darken  the  question.  I  have  not  in  any  way  shunned  the 
difficulty. 

The  question  was,  to  know  in  what  these  doctrines  consisted.  I  have  shown 
clearly,  that  those  who  calumniate  them  do  not  understand  them,  and  that  we 
imiy  even  be  allowed  to  suppose  that  they  have  never  taken  the  trouble  to  ex- 
amine them,  such  is  the  levity  and  ignorance  with  which  they  express  them- 
selves. Perhaps  I  have  adduced  too  many  facts  and  quotations ;  but  let  the 
reader  bear  in  mind,  that  my  object  is  not  to  present  him  with  a  code  of  doc- 
trines, but  to  give  to  this  point  of  doctrine  an  historical  investigation.  Now, 
history  does  not  call  for  discourses,  but  facts ;  and  in  matters  of  doctrine,  the 
sentiments  of  authors  are  facts.  Whilst  beholding  the  salutary  reaction  now 
taking  place  in  favour  of  sound  principles,  let  us  avoid  givipg  an  incomplete 
statement  of  the  truth.  For  the  cause  of  religion  it  is  highly  important  that 


324  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

its  advocates  should  be  free  from  even  the  most  remote  suspicion  of  dishonesty 
or  dissimulation.  On  this  account,  I  have,  without  hesitation,  given  in  their 
integrity  the  doctrines  laid  down  by  Catholic  writers,  just  as  I  find  them  in 
their  works.  By  misrepresenting  and  confounding  facts,  Protestants  and  un- 
believers have  succeeded  in  deceiving ;  let  me  hope  that,  by  explaining  and 
elucidating  them,  I  shall  not  be  unsuccessful  in  removing  the  deception. 

I  purpose  examining,  in  the  remaining  part  of  this  work,  some  other  ques- 
tions relating  to  the  same  subject — questions  perhaps  not  more  important,  but 
certainly  more  delicate.  And  for  this  reason,  I  was  obliged  to  smooth  the  way, 
that  I  might  proceed  with  more  liberty  and  ease.  I  have  hitherto  made  the 
cause  of  religion  defend  itself  with  its  own  weapons,  without  borrowing  the 
support  of  auxiliaries  which  were  superfluous.  I  shall  proceed  in  the  same 
course,  fully  convinced  that  Catholicity  can  only  lose  by  any  line  of  vindica- 
tion that  identifies  it  with  political  interests,  and  confines  it  within  a  circle  too 
limited  for  its  immensity.  Empires  appear  and  disappear ;  the  Church  of  Christ 
will  last  till  the  end  of  time.  Political  opinions  undergo  changes  and  modi- 
fications ;  the  august  dogmas  of  our  religion  remain  immutable.  Thrones  rise 
and  fall ;  and  the  rock  upon  which  Jesus  Christ  has  built  His  Church  stands 
unshaken  throughout  the  course  of  time,  ever  defying  the  powers  of  hell.  When 
we  take  up  arms  in  her  defence,  let  us  be  impressed  with  the  importance  of  our 
mission ;  let  there  be  no  exaggeration,  no  flattery — the  pure  truth  in  measured, 
but  accurate  and  firm  language.  In  addressing  ourselves  to  the  people,  in 
proclaiming  the  truth  to  kings,  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  religion  is  above  poli- 
tics, and  God  above  kings  and  people. 


CHAPTER  LIV. 

ON   RESISTANCE   TO   THE   CIVIL   POWER. 

THE  doctrines  of  Catholicity,  therefore,  in  reference  both  to  the  origin  and 
the  exercise  of  civil  power,  are  unobjectionable.  Let  us  now  proceed  to  another 
point — one  of  greater  delicacy  and  difficulty,  if  not  of  more  importance.  To 
state  the  question  frankly,  without  any  subterfuge  or  evasion :  "  Zs  it  allowable 
in  any  case  to  resist  the  civil  power  9"  It  is  impossible  to  speak  more  distinctly, 
or  to  employ  more  precise  and  simple  terms  in  stating  this  question,  which  is 
the  most  important,  the  most  difficult,  and  the  most  startling  of  any  that  the 
subject  we  have  in  hand  presents  for  our  investigation.  We  know  that  Pro- 
testantism from  its  commencement  proclaimed  the  right  of  insurrection  against 
civil  power  j  and  no  one  is  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  Catholicity  has  ever 
preached  up  obedience  to  this  power  j  so  that  if  the  former  has  been  from  its 
infancy  an  element  of  revolution  and  of  overthrow,  the  latter  has  been  an  ele- 
ment of  tranquillity  and  good  order.  This  distinction  might  induce  us  to  be- 
lieve that  Catholicity  favors  oppression,  since  it  leaves  the  people  without 
arms  to  defend  their  liberty.  "  You  preach  up  obedience  to  the  civil  powers," 
our  adversaries  will  say ;  "  you  pronounce,  in  all  cases,  an  anathema  upon  any 
insurrection  which  attacks  them ;  should  tyranny  prevail,  therefore,  you  be- 
come its  most  powerful  auxiliaries ;  for,  by  your  doctrine,  you  arrest  the  arm 
ready  to  be  raised  in  defence  of  liberty ;  you  stifle  with  the  cry  of  conscience 
the  indignation  awakened  in  generous  hearts/'  This  is  a  serious  charge,  which 
compels  us  to  elucidate,  as  far  as  possible,  this  important  point,  and  to  distin- 
guish in  it  truth  from  error,  certainty  from  doubt. 

Some  men  would  shrink  from  the  investigation  of  such  questions,  and  prefer 
drawing  a  veil  over  them — a  veil  which  they  venture  not  to  raise,  lest  they 
should  find  an  abyss.  And  assuredly  their  timidity  is  not  inexcusable ;  for 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  325 

there  are  abysses  unfathomable,  and  dangers  that  strike  the  mind  with  awe. 
One  false  step  may  lead  to  destruction ;  one  move  in  a  wrong  direction  may 
let  loose  tempests  that  would  lay  society  in  ruins.  Whilst,  however,  I  willingly 
admit  the  pure  intentions  of  such  persons,  I  may  be  permitted  to  observe,  that 
their  prudence  is  quite  thrown  away,  that  their  foresight  and  precaution  are 
of  ho  avail.  Whether  they  investigate  these  questions  or  not,  they  are  inves- 
tigated, agitated,  and  decided,  in  a  manner  that  we  must  deplore ;  and,  worse 
still,  the  theories  thence  arising  have  been  reduced  to  practice.  Revolutions 
are  no  longer  confined  to  books,  they  have  become  realities ;  quitting  the  quiet 
path  of  mere  speculative  philosophy,  they  are  to  be  seen  in  the  streets  and  in 
the  public  squares.  Since,  then,  things  have  come  to  such  a  pass,  why  seek 
palliatives,  make  use  of  restrictions,  or  invoke  silence  ?  Let  us  tell  the  truth, 
just  as  it  is,  without  concealment;  since  it  is  the  truth,  it  will  neither  shrink 
before  abundance  of  knowledge,  nor  the  attacks  of  error.  It  is  truth;  its 
manifestation,  its  diffusion  can  have  no  injurious  effect.  In  a  word,  God,  who 
is  the  Author  of  societies,  had  no  need  of  establishing  them  upon  falsehood. 
This  candor  is  the  more  necessary,  because  political  changes  may  have  led 
some  persons  to  disavow  the  truths  we  are  discussing,  or  no  longer  to  under- 
stand them  aright ;  whilst  others  imagine  that  obedience  to  legitimate  autho- 
rity has  been  taught  only  by  a  party  anxious  to  make  this  doctrine  the 
foundation  of  their  tyranny.  Men  of  erroneous  opinions  and  evil  intentions 
have  their  own  codes,  to  which  they  have  recourse  whenever  it  will  forward 
their  designs  :  their  fatal  errors  or  their  sordid  interests  form  the  rule  of  their 
conduct ;  this  is  the  source  of  their  knowledge  and  of  their  inspirations.  Men, 
therefore,  endowed  with  a  pure  heart  and  with  upright  intentions,  should  know 
what  to  hold  by  in  political  oscillations ;  it  is  no  longer  sufficient  for  them  to 
have  a  general  knowledge  of  the  principle  of  obedience  to  the  legitimate  autho- 
rities ;  they  must  also  be  acquainted  with  their  applications. 

It  is  true  that,  in  conflicts  arising  from  civil  discord,  many  men  throw  aside 
their  own  convictions  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  exigencies  of  their 
interests ;  but  it  is  no  less  certain,  that  there  is  still  to  be  found  a  great  num- 
ber of  conscientious  men  who  adhere  to  them.  We  may  also  add,  that  the 
generality  of  the  individuals  composing  a  nation,  not  being  usually  in  the 
urgent  necessity  of  choosing  between  the  sacrifice  of  their  convictions  and  the 
risk  of  grave  and  imminent  peril,  those  who  entertain  them  usually  find  means 
to  make  their  influence  felt  in  preventing  great  evils  or  in  remedying  them. 
According  to  certain  -pessimistes,  season  and  justice  are  for  ever  banished  from 
the  earth,  leaving  it  a  prey  to  self-interest,  and  substituting  for  the  dictates  of 
conscience  the  designs  of  egotism.  In  their  estimation,  it  is  labor  in  vain  to 
discuss  and  decide  questions  which  may  guide  us  in  practice ;  for,  according  to 
them,  whatever  a  man's  conviction  may  be  in  theory,  his  practical  decision  will 
always  be  the  same.  It  is  my  happiness,  or  misfortune,  to  take  a  different  view 
of  the  case,  and  to  believe  that  there  still  exist  in  the  world,  and  particularly 
in  Spain,  men  of  profound  convictions,  and  possessed  of  sufficient  strength  of 
mind  to  regulate  their  conduct  by  those  convictions.  The  strongest  proof  that 
the  inutility  of  doctrines  is  exaggerated,  is  the  zeal  evinced  by  all  parties  to 
lay  hold  of  them.  Whether  from  interest  or  from  delicacy,  all  appeal  to  doc- 
trines ;  and  this  interest  or  delicacy  would  not  exist,  if  doctrines  did  not  pos- 
sess a  powerful  ascendency  in  society.  Nothing,  in  discussion,  is  more 
perplexing  than  the  introduction  of  several  questions  at  the  same  time ;  and 
for  this  reason,  I  shall  proceed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  distinguish  those  which 
present  themselves  here.  I  will  resolve,  one  by  one,  those  which  relate  to  our 
object,  and  pass  over  those  which  are  foreign  to  it.  Above  all,  we  must  bear 
in  mind  the  general  principle  at  all  times  inculcated  by  Catholicity,  viz.  the 
obligation  of  obeying  legitimate  authority.  Let  us  now  see  how  this  principle 

2  C 


326  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

is  to  be  applied.  In  the  first  place,  Are  we  to  obey  the  civil  power  when  it  com- 
mands something  that  is  evil  in  itself?  No,  we  are  not ;  for  the  simple  reason 
that  what  is  evil  in  itself  is  forbidden  by  G-od ;  now,  we  must  obey  God  rather 
than  men. 

In  the  second  place,  Are  we  to  obey  the  civil  power  when  it  interferes  in  mat- 
ters not  included  in  the  circle  of  its  faculties  9  No ;  for,  with  regard  to  these 
matters,  it  is  not  a  power.  From  the  very  supposition  that  its  faculties  do  not 
extend  so  far,  we  affirm  that,  in  this  point  of  view,  it  is  not  a  real  power.  Be- 
sides, what  I  have  advanced  does  not  exactly  and  exclusively  concern  spiritual 
matters,  to  which  I  appear  to  allude.  I  apply  this  restriction  of  civil  power 
also  to  matters  purely  temporal.  It  is  necessary  to  refer  here  to  what  I  have 
said  in  another  part  of  this  work,  viz.,  that  whilst  we  grant  to  civil  power  suffi- 
cient force  and  attributes  for  the  maintenance  of  order  and  unity  in  the  social 
body,  it  is  just  nevertheless,  that  we  should  not  allow  it  to  absorb  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  family,  so  as  to  destroy  their  individuality,  to  deprive  them  of 
their  own  sphere,  and  leave  them  only  the  means  of  acting  as  an  integral  part 
of  society.  This  is  one  of  the  distinguishing  features  between  Christian  and 
pagan  civilisation :  the  latter,  in  its  zeal  for  the  preservation  of  social  unity, 
excluded  every  individual  and  family  right ;  the  former,  on  the  contrary,  has 
amalgamated  the  interests  of  the  individual  with  those  of  families  and  society, 
so  that  they  neither  destroy  nor  embarrass  each  other.  Thus,  besides  the 
sphere  within  which  the  action  of  the  civil  power  is  properly  confined,  there  are 
others  into  which  it  has  no  right  to  enter,  and  in  which  individuals  and  fami- 
lies live  without  clashing  with  the  colossal  force  of  the  government. 

It  is  just  to  observe  here,  that  Catholicity  has  done  much  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  this  principle,  which  is  a  strong  guarantee  of  the  liberty  of  the  people. 
The  separation  of  the  two  powers  temporal  and  spiritual,  the  independence  of 
the  latter  with  respect  to  the  former,  the  distinction  of  the  persons  in  whom  it 
is  vested :  such  has  been  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  this  liberty,  which, 
under  different  forms  of  government,  is  the  common  inheritance  of  European 
nations.  Ever  since  the  foundation  of  the  Church,  this  principle  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  spiritual  power  has  at  all  times  served,  by  the  mere  fact  of  its 
existence,  to  remind  men  that  the  rights  of  civil  power  are  limited,  that  there 
are  things  beyond  its  province,  cases  in  which  a  man  may  say,  and  ought  to 
say,  I  will  not  obey. 

This  is  another  of  those  cases  in  which  Protestantism  has  given  a  wrong 
direction  to  the  civilisation  of  Europe,  and  in  which,  far  from  opening  the  way 
to  liberty,  it  has  riveted  the  chains  of  slavery.  Its  first  step  was  the  abolition 
of  the  Pontifical  authority,  the  overthrow  of  the  hierarchy,  the  refusal  to  grant 
to  the  Church  any  kind  of  power  whatever,  and  the  placing  of  spiritual  supre- 
macy in  the  hands  of  princes ;  that  is  to  say,  it  has  retrograded  towards  pagan 
civilisation,  in  which  we  find  the  sceptre  united  with  the  pontificate.  The 
grand  political  problem  was  precisely  the  separation  of  these  two  powers,  in 
order  to  save  society  from  subjection  to  one  sole  unlimited  authority,  exercising 
its  faculties  without  restraint,  and  from  which  might  consequently  be  expected 
vexation  and  oppression.  This  separation  was  effected  without  any  political 
views,  any  fixed  design  on  the  part  of  men,  wherever  Catholicity  was  estab- 
lished ;  for  her  discipline  required  and  her  dogmas  inculcated  it.  Is  it  not 
strange  that  the  advocates  of  theories  of  equilibrium  and  counterpoise,  who 
have  so  loudly  extolled  the  utility  of  separating  powers,  and  of  dividing  autho- 
rity among  them  with  a  view  to  prevent  it  from  being  converted  into  tyranny, 
should  not  have  noticed  the  profound  wisdom  of  this  Catholic  doctrine,  even 
when  considered  merely  in  a  social  and  political  point  of  view  ?  But  no ;  it  is 
remarkable,  on  the  contrary,  that  all  modern  revolutions  have  manifested  a 
decided  tendency  towards  the  amalgamation  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  327 

powers — a  convincing  proof  that  these  revolutions  have  proceeded  from  an 
origin  contrary  to  the  generative  principle  of  European  civilisation,  and  that 
instead  of  guiding  it  towards  perfection,  they  have  rather  served  to  lead  it 
astray.  The  union  of  Church  and  State  in  England,  under  the  reigns  of 
Henry  VIII.  and  Elizabeth,  produced  the  most  cruel  despotism ;  and  if  that 
country  at  a  later  period  acquired  a  higher  degree  of  liberty,  it  was  not  as- 
suredly owing  to  that  religious  authority  given  by  Protestantism  to  the  head 
of  the  state,  but  in  spite  of  it.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  in  later  times, 
when  England  entered  upon  a  more  extensive  sphere  of  liberty,  it  was  owing 
to  the  diminution  of  the  civil  power  on  all  matters  appertaining  to  religion, 
and  to  a  greater  development  of  Catholicity,  opposed  in  its  very  principles  to 
this  monstrous  supremacy.  In  the  North  of  Europe,  where  the  Protestant 
system  has  also  prevailed,  civil  authority  has  been  unlimited ;  and  even  at  the 
present  time,  we  find  the  Emperor  of  Russia  indulging  in  the  most  barbarous 
persecutions  against  Catholics ;  more  distrustful  of  those  who  defend  the  inde- 
pendence of  spiritual  power,  than  of  the  revolutionary  clubs.  The  autocrat  is 
devoured  with  a  thirst  for  unlimited  authority,  and  a  decided  instinct  urges 
him  to  attack  in  particular  the  Catholic  religion,  which  forms  his  principal 
obstacle. 

It  is  remarkable  with  what  uniformity  all  power,  in  this  respect,  tends  to 
despotism,  whether  under  a  revolutionary  or  monarchical  form.  Impatient  of 
the  restraint  laid  upon  him  by  the  spiritual  power,  Louis  XIV.  attempted  to 
crush  the  power  of  Rome.  He  was  urged  to  it  by  the  same  motives  as  the 
Constituent  Assembly;  the  monarch  rested  his  cause  upon  the  rights  of 
royalty,  and  the  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church — the  Constituent  Assembly 
invoked  the  rights  of  the  nation,  and  the  principles  of  philosophy ;  but  in  the 
main  they  were  actuated  by  one  and  the  same  motive,  that  of  ascertaining 
whether  or  not  civil  power  should  be  restricted :  in  the  former  case,  it  was 
monarchy  tending  to  despotism  ;  in  the  latter,  democracy  advancing  to  the 
terrors  of  the  Convention.  When  Napoleon  wished  to  bruise  the  head  of  the 
revolutionary  hydra,  to  reorganize  society,  to  create  a  power,  he  made  use  of 
religion  as  the  most  potent  element.  Catholicity  was  the  only  predominating 
religion  in  France ;  to  this  he  had  recourse,  and  signed  the  Concordat.  But, 
observe,  that  no  sooner  did  he  imagine  his  work  of  reparation  complete,  and 
the  critical  moment  of  the  establishment  of  his  power  passed,  than  he  began 
to  think  of  extending  it,  of  freeing  himself  from  all  restraint.  He  began  to 
look  upon  that  pontiff,  whose  presence  at  his  coronation  had  so  much  gratified 
him,  with  a  more  supercilious  eye.  At  first  he  had  some  serious  disputes  with 
him,  and  ended  by  becoming  his  most  inveterate  enemy. 

These  observations,  to  which  I  invite  the  attention  of  every  reflecting  mind, 
acquire  more  importance  from  the  consideration  of  what  has  taken  place  in  our 
own  religious  and  most  Catholic  monarchy.  In  spite  of  the  preponderating 
influence  of  the  Catholic  religion  in  Spain,  the  principle  of  resistance  to  the 
court  of  Rome  has  ever  been  preserved  in  a  particular  and  remarkable  manner ; 
thus,  whilst  the  Austrian  dynasty  and  the  Bourbons  endeavoured  to  lay  aside 
our  old  laws,  so  far  as  they  were  favourable  to  political  liberty,  they  preserved 
as  a  sacred  deposit  the  traditional  resistance  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  of 
Charles  V.,  and  of  Philip  II.  The  deep  root  which  Catholicity  had  taken  in 
Spain  doubtless  prevented  matters  from  being  carried  to  extremes ;  but  it  is  no 
less  true  that  the  germ  existed,  and  was  handed  down  from  generation  to  gener- 
ation, as  if  its  complete  development  was  expected  at  some  more  favourable 
period.  This  fact  was  placed  in  peculiarly  strong  relief  at  the  time  of  the 
Bourbon  accession,  when  the  monarchy  of  Louis  XIV.  was  introduced  amongst 
us,  and  the  last  vestiges  of  the  ancient  liberties  of  Castile,  Aragon,  Valencia, 
and  Catalonia  disappeared;  the  mania  for  kingly  rights  was  at  its  height  in  the 


328  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

reigns  of  Charles  III.  and  Charles  IV.  Strange  coincidence  !  The  epoch  in 
which  the  greatest  jealousy  was  entertained  against  the  Court  of  Rome  and 
the  independence  of  Church  authority,  was  exactly  that  in  which  ministerial 
despotism  was  in  its  greatest  force,  and  in  which  there  was  seen  something 
still  worse — the  despotism  of  a  favorite,  with  all  its  pitiful  show.  True,  the 
ideas  of  the  French  schools  were  at  that  time  influencing  Spain ;  and  of  this 
neither  the  King,  nor,  probably,  some  of  his  ministers,  were  aware :  but  this 
does  not  militate  against  the  reflections  we  are  making  ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
comes  in  support  of  them,  by  showing  their  applicability  to  circumstances  quite 
dissimilar,  and  consequently  their  soundness  and  importance.  The  object  here 
aimed  at  was  the  overthrow  of  the  established  authority,  to  make  way  for 
another  equally  unlimited ;  to  effect  this,  it  was  necessary  to  urge  on  the  for- 
mer to  abuse  its  prerogatives,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  establish  precedents  to 
fall  back  upon,  so  soon  as  the  revolution  should  have  displaced  the  absolute 
monarchy.  What  important  reflections  are  here  presented  to  us !  What 
strange  analogies  rise  to  view  between  circumstances  apparently  most  antago- 
nistic !  In  our  times,  we  have  seen  bishops  brought  to  trial  from  the  same 
motives  that  were  alleged  in  a  celebrated  cause  in  the  reign  of  Charles  III.  ; 
and  the  Supreme  Tribunals  of  our  own  days  have  heard  from  the  lips  of  their 
fiscah*  the  same  doctrines  formerly  propounded  by  those  of  the  Council.  Thus 
do  doctrines  meet,  and  thus,  by  different  ways,  do  we  arrive  at  the  same  end. 
According  to  the  ancient  fiscals,  the  authority  of  the  king  was  every  thing  ; 
the  rights  of  the  crown,  like  the  ark  of  old,  were  held  so  sacred,  that  to  touch, 
or  even  to  look  upon  them,  was  accounted  a  sacrilege.  Well,  the  ancient  mo- 
narchy has  disappeared — the  throne  is  no  longer  any  thing  more  than  a  shadow 
of  what  it  once  was — the  Revolution  has  triumphed  over  it ;  and  yet,  despite  a 
change  so  profound,  it  is  not  long  since  a  fiscal  of  the  Supreme  Tribunal, 
charging  a  bishop  with  an  offence  against  the  rights  of  the  civil  power,  made 
use  of  these  words :  "  In  the  state,  a  leaf  cannot  be  plucked  without  the  per- 
mission of  government."  These  words  need  no  comment ;  the  writer  of  these 
lines  heard  them  uttered ;  and  this  plain,  unequivocal  declaration  of  arbitrary 
power  seemed  to  him  to  throw  a  new  ray  of  light  upon  history. 

The  gravity  and  importance  of  this  subject  required  this  digression;  it  was 
incumbent  on  me  to  show  how  far  the  Catholic  principle  of  the  independence 
of  spiritual  power  may  serve  the  cause  of  true  liberty.  This  principle,  in  fact, 
eminently  teaches  that  the  faculties  of  civil  power  are  limited,  and  it  is,  con- 
sequently, a  perpetual  condemnation  of  despotism.  To  revert  to  the  original 
question.  It  remains,  then,  established,  that  we  are  to  be  subject  to  the  civil 
power  so  long  as  it  does  not  go  beyond  its  proper  limits ;  but  that  the  Catholic 
doctrine  never  enjoins  obedience  when  civil  power  oversteps  the  limits  of  its 
faculties. 

It  will  not  be  uninteresting  to  the  reader  to  learn  how  the  principle  of  obe- 
dience was  understood  by  one  of  the  most  illustrious  interpreters  of  Catholic 
doctrine — by  the  holy  Doctor  so  often  cited.  According  to  him,  whenever  laws 
are  unjust  (and  observe,  that,  in  his  opinion,  they  may  be  so  in  many  ways), 
they  are  not  binding  on  conscience,  unless  for  fear  of  creating  scandal,  or 
causing  greater  evils;  that  is  to  say,  that,  in  certain  cases,  an  unjust  law  may 
become  obligatory,  not  by  virtue  of  any  duty  which  it  imposes,  but  from  mo- 
tives of  prudence.  These  are  his  words,  to  which  I  crave  the  reader's  par- 
ticular attention:  "Laws  are  unjust  in  two  ways;  either  because  they  are 
opposed  to  the  common  weal ;  or  on  account  of  their  aim,  as  is  the  case  when 
a  government  imposes  upon  its  subjects  onerous  laws,  not  for  the  good  of  the 
commonweal,  but  for  the  sake  of  self-interest  or  ambition ;  or  on  account  of 

*  Crown  attorneys,  charged  with  the  prosecution  of  criminal  and  other  causes. 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  329 

their  author,  as  when  any  one  makes  a  law  without  being  invested  with  proper 
faculties;  again,  they  may  be  unjust  in  form,  as  when  the  taxes  are  unequally 
divided  among  the  multitude,  although  in  other  respects  tending  to  the  public 
good.  Such  laws  are  rather  outrages  than  laws;  since,  as  St.  Augustin 
observes  (lib.  i.  de  Lib.  Arb.  cap.  5),  <  An  unjust  law  does  not  appear  to  be  a 
law/  Such  laws,  therefore,  are  not  binding  in  conscience,  unless,  perhaps,  for 
the  avoiding  of  scandal  and  trouble — a  motive  which  ought  to  induce  man  to 
give  up  his  right,  as  St.  Matthew  observes  :  '  And  whosoever  shall  force  thee 
to  go  one  mile,  go  with  him  other  two ;  and  if  any  man  will  go  to  law  with 
thee,  and  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  also/  Laws  may  also  be 
unjust  in  another  point  of  view,  when  they  are  contrary  to  the  will  of  God;  as 
the  laws  of  tyrants  enforcing  idolatry,  or  anything  else  contrary  to  divine  law. 
"With  respect  to  such  laws,  it  is  not  allowable,  under  any  circumstances,  to 
obey  them ;  for,  as  it  is  said  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  '  We  must  obey  God 
rather  than  man/  "  "  Injustae  autem  sunt  leges  dupliciter ;  uno  modo  per 
contrarietatem  ad  bonum  commune  e  contrario  prsedictis,  vel  ex  fine,  sicut  cum 
aliquis  praesidens  leges  irnponit  onerosas  subditis  non  pertinentes  ad  utilitatem 
communem,  sed  magis  ad  propriam  cupiditatem  vel  gloriam;  vel  etiam  ex 
auctore,  sicut  cum  aliquis  legem  fert  ultra  sibi  commissam  potestatem ;  vel 
etiam  ex  forma  cum  inaequaliter  onera  multitudinis  dispensantur,  etiamsi  ordi- 
nentur  ad  bonum  commune;  et  hujusmodi  magis  sunt  violentise  quam  leges, 
quia  sicut  Augustinus  dicit  (lib.  i.  de  Lib.  Arb.  cap.  5,  parum  a  princ.)  lex 
esse  non  videtur  quae  justa  non  fuerit,  unde  tales  leges  in  foro  conscientiae  non 
obligant,  nisi  forte  propter  vitandum  scandalum  vel  turbationem,  propter  quod 
etiam  homo  juri  suo  cedere  debet  secundum  illud  Math.  cap.  v.  <Qui  te 
angariaverit  mille  passus,  vade  cum  eo  alia  duo,  et  qui  abstulerit  tibi  tunicam 
da  ei  et  pallium/  Alio  modo  leges  possunt  esse  injustae  per  contrarietatem  ad 
bonum  divinum,  sicut  leges  tyrannorum  inducentes  ad  idololatriam,  vel  ad 
quodcumque  aliud  quod  sit  contra  legem  divinam,  et  tales  leges  nullo  modo 
licet  observare,  quia  sicut  dicitur  Act.  cap.  v. :  l  Obedire  oportet  Deo  magis 
quam  hominibus/  }  (Z>.  Th.  1,  2,  quaest.  90,  art.  1.) 
This  doctrine  furnishes  us  with  the  following  rules : 

1.  We  cannot,  under  any  circumstances,  obey  the  civil  power  when  its  com- 
mands are  opposed  to  the  divine  law. 

2.  When  laws  are  unjust,  they  are  not  binding'in  conscience. 

3.  It  may  become  necessary  to  obey  these  laws  from  motives  of  prudence; 
that  is,  in  order  to  avoid  scandal  ^and  commotions. 

4.  Laws  are  unjust  from  some  one  of  the  following  causes : 

When  they  are  opposed  to  the  common  weal — when  their  aim  is  not  the  good 
of  the  commonweal — when  the  legislator  outsteps  the  limits  of  his  faculties — 
when,  although  in  other  respects  tending  to  the  good  of  the  commonweal,  and 
proceeding  from  competent  authority,  they  do  not  observe  suitable  equity ;  for 
instance,  when  they  divide  unequally  the  public  imposts. 

We  have  quoted  and  copied  the  venerable  text  whence  these  rules  are 
derived :  their  illustrious  author  has  been  the  guide  of  all  the  theological  schools 
during  the  last  six  centuries ;  his  authority  has  never  been  called  in  question 
in  these  schools  on  points  of  dogma  or  morality;  these  rules  may,  therefore, 
be  regarded  as  the  recapitulation  of  the  doctrines  of  Catholic  theologians  with 
reference  to  the  obedience  due  to  authority.  We  may  now,  without  doubt, 
appeal  with  entire  confidence  to  every  man  of  good  sense.  Let  him  judge 
whether  these  doctrines  are  in  the  least  inclined  to  despotism,  whether  they 
have  the  least  tendency  to  tyranny,  in  fine,  whether  they  aim  the  slightest 
blow  at  liberty.  It  is  vain  to  seek  in  them  the  slightest  appearance  of  flattery 
to  the  civil  power,  whose  limits  are  marked  out  with  rigorous  severity ;  if  it 
outsteps  them,  it  is  openly  told,  "  Thy  laws  are  not  laws,  but  outrages ;  they 

42  2C2 


330  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

are  not  binding  in  conscience;  and  if,  in  some  instances,  thou  art  obeyed,  it 
is  not  owing  to  any  obligation,  but  to  prudence,  in  order  to  avoid  scandal  and 
commotion ;  it  is  thenceforth  such  a  dishonor  to  thee,  that  thy  triumph,  far 
from  entitling  thee  to  renown,  assimilates  thee  to  the  robber  who  despoils  the 
peaceable  man  of  his  garment,  and  to  whom  the  latter,  for  the  sake  of  peace, 
gives  up  his  cloak  also."  If  these  are  doctrines  of  oppression  and  despotism, 
we  also  are  advocates  for  such  oppression  and  despotism;  for  we  cannot  conceive 
doctrines  more  favorable  to  liberty. 

Upon  these  principles  the  admirable  institution  of  European  monarchy  was 
founded.  This  teaching  has  created  the  moral  defences  by  which  that  monarchy 
is  surrounded;  defences  restraining  it  within  the  limits  of  its  duties,  even  where 
political  guarantees  do  not  exist.  The  mind,  wearied  with  foolish  declamations 
against  the  tyranny  of  kings,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  not  less  tired  of  the 
boisterous  adulations  lavished  upon  power  in  modern  times,  expands  and 
rejoices  on  meeting  with  this  pure,  disinterested,  and  sincere  expression  of  the 
rights  and  duties  of  governments  and  of  people,  on  hearing  this  language, 
impressed  with  as  much  of  wisdom  as  of  upright  intention  and  generous  free- 
dom. What  books  were  consulted  by  men  making  use  of  such  language  ? 
The  Scriptures,  the  Fathers,  the  collections  of  ecclesiastical  documents. 
Could  they  have  received  their  inspirations  from  the  society  which  surrounded 
them  ?  No ;  for  in  that  same  society  disorder  and  confusion  prevailed ;  some- 
times a  turbulent  disobedience,  at  others  despotism  was  predominant.  And 
yet  they  speak  with  as  much  discretion,  tact,  and  calmness  as  if  they  were 
living  in  the  midst  of  well-regulated  society.  They  were  guided  by  divine 
revelation,  which  taught  them  truth.  How  often  did  they  see  it  forgotten 
and  trampled  under  foot !  But  uninfluenced  by  circumstances,  however 
unfavorable,  they  wrote  in  a  region  far  above  the  atmosphere  of  human  pas- 
sions. Truth  is  of  all  times;  proclaim  it  ever,  and  God  will  effect  the 
rest.  (31) 


CHAPTER  LV. 

ON  RESISTANCE   TO   DE   FACTO   GOVERNMENTS. 

THE  questions  hitherto  discussed  relating  to  the  obedience  due  to  power  are 
very  grave ;  but  those  of  resistance  to  it  are  still  more  important. 

Is  it  allowable,  under  any  circumstances,  in  any  supposition,  to  resist  the 
civil  power  by  physical  force  ?  Does  there  nowhere  exist  a  deposing  power? 
How  far  do  Catholic  doctrines  extend  on  this  subject?  Such  are  the  extreme 
points  we  purpose  to  discuss.  According  to  one  system,  obedience  is  due  to 
a  government  from  the  very  fact  of  its  existence,  even  on  the  supposition  that 
its  existence  is  illegitimate.  Now,  it  is  important  to  demonstrate,  at  the  very 
outset,  the  unsoundness  of  this  doctrine,  which  is  contrary  to  right  reason,  and 
has  never  been  taught  by  Catholicity.  In  preaching  obedience  "  to  the  powers 
that  be,"  the  Church  speaks  of  powers  that  have  a  legitimate  existence.  The 
absurdity,  that  a  simple  fact  can  create  right,  can  never  become  a  dogma  of 
Catholicity.  Were  it  true  that  resistance  would  be  unlawful,  it  would  be 
equally  true  that  an  illegitimate  government  has  a  right  to  command ;  for  the 
obligation  to  obey  is  correlative  with  the  right  to  command;  and  an  illegitimate 
government  would,  consequently,  become  legitimatised  by  the  simple  fact  of 
its  existence.  This  would  legitimatise  all  usurpations ;  the  most  heroic  resist- 
ance on  the  part  of  the  people  would  be  condemned ;  the  world  would  be 
abandoned  to  the  mere  rule  of  force.  No ;  that  degrading  doctrine  is  not  true 
which  derives  legitimacy  from  usurpation ;  which  says  to  a  people  conquered 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  331 

and  subjugated  by  any  usurper  whatever,  "Obey  your  tyrant;  his  rights  are 
founded  on  force,  and  your  obligation  to  him  on  your  weakness."  No ;  there 
cannot  be  truth  in  a  doctrine  that  would  efface  from  our  history  one  of  its 
brightest  pages,  that  would  entail  disgrace  upon  a  nation  taking  up  arms  to 
expel  an  usurper,  struggling  for  its  independence  during  a  period  of  six  years, 
and  finally  overthrowing  the  conqueror  of  Europe.  If  Napoleon  had  succeeded 
in  establishing  his  power  amongst  us,  the  Spanish  nation  would  still  have  main- 
tained the  right  on  account  of  which  it  revolted  in  1808 ;  victory  could  not 
have  rendered  usurpation  legitimate.  The  victims  of  the  second  of  May  did 
not  legalise  the  command  of  Murat;  and  had  even  every  corner  of  the  penin- 
sula been  made  a  theatre  of  horrors  similar  to  those  witnessed  on  the  Prado, 
the  blood  of  martyred  patriots,  covering  the  usurper  and  his  satellites  with 
everlasting  infamy,  would  only  have  confirmed  the  sacred  right  of  revolting  in 
defence  of  the  throne,  of  national  independence.  We  must  repeat  it :  the 
simple  fact  does  not  create  a  right,  either  in  private  or  public  affairs ;  and  so 
soon  as  such  a  principle  is  acknowledged,  every  idea  of  reason  and  justice 
disappears  from  the  world.  Those  who  may  have  wished  to  flatter  governments 
with  so  fatal  a  doctrine,  were  not  aware  that  this  was  the  very  way  to  ruin 
them,  and  to  sow  the  seeds  of  usurpation  and  insurrection.  What  will  be  safe 
here  below  if  we  admit  the  principle,  that  success  insures  justice,  and  that  the 
conqueror  is  always  the  rightful  ruler  ?  Is  not  this  throwing  open  a  wide  gate 
to  ambition,  and  to  every  crime  ?  Is  it  not  exciting  men  to  forget  every  idea 
of  right,  reason,  and  justice,  to  acknowledge  no  other  rule  than  brute  force  ? 
Governments  protected  by  so  strange  a  doctrine  would  assuredly  owe  little 
gratitude  to  their  protectors  :  this,  in  fact,  is  no  defence ;  it  is  an  insult ;  it  is 
more  of  a  cruel  sarcasm  than  an  apology.  To  what,  indeed,  does  it  amount, 
and  how  would  this  doctrine  sound  ?  Why,  as  follows  :  "  People,  obey  him 
who  commands  you;  you  say  his  authority  is  usurped;  we  do  not  deny  it;  but, 
by  the  very  fact  of  his  having  attained  his  end,  the  usurper  has  acquired  a 
right.  He  is,  indeed,  a  robber  who  has  attacked  you  on  the  highway ;  he  has 
stolen  your  money ;  but,  by  the  mere  fact  of  your  not  being  able  to  resist  him, 
and  being  forced  to  deliver  to  him  your  purse,  now  that  he  is  possessed  of  it, 
you  ought  to  respect  this  money  as  an  inviolable  property :  such  is  your  duty. 
It  is  a  robbery ;  but  this  robbery  being  a  consummated  act,  you  cannot  now 
obtain  redress  for  it." 

In  this  point  of  view  the  doctrine  of  consummated  facts  appears  so  much 
opposed  to  generally  received  ide&s,  that  no  reasonable  man  can  seriously 
accept  it.  I  do  not  deny  that  there  are  cases  in  which  obedience,  even  to  an 
illegitimate  government,  is  to  be  recommended ;  when,  for  instance,  we  foresee 
that  resistance  would  be  useless,  that  it  would  only  lead  to  new  disorders,  and 
to  a  greater  effusion  of  blood  :  but  in  recommending  prudence  to  the  people, 
let  us  not  disguise  it  under  false  doctrines — let  us  beware  of  calming  the 
exasperation  of  misfortune  by  circulating  errors  subversive  of  all  governments) 
of  all  society.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  all  powers,  even  the  most  ille- 
gitimate, have  a  truer  instinct  than  that  manifested  by  the  maintenance  of  such 
maxims.  All  powers  in  the  first  moment  of  their  existence,  before  commencing 
their  operations,  before  proceeding  to  one  single  act,  proclaim  their  legitimacy. 
They  seek  it  in  right  divine  and  human,  they  establish  it  upon  birth  or  election, 
they  derive  it  from  historical  titles,  or  the  sudden  development  of  extraordinary 
events ;  but  all  tends  to  the  same  point,  the  pretension  to  legitimacy.  They 
never  speak  of  the  mere  fact  of  their  existence ;  from  the  instinct  that  prompts 
their  own  preservation  they  learn  better  than  to  rely  upon  such  grounds,  since 
to  do  so  would  be  to  annihilate  their  authority,  to  destroy  their  prestige,  to 
encourage  revolt ;  in  a  word,  to  commit  self-destruction.  We  have  here  the 
most  explicit  condemnation  of  the  doctrine  we  are  combating,  for  the  most 


332  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

shameless  usurpers  have  more  respect  for  good  sense  and  the  public  con- 
science. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  doctrines  the  most  erroneous  assume  a  veil  of 
gentleness  and  Christian  meekness.  We  must  overthrow  the  arguments  that 
might  be  employed  against  us,  by  the  advocates  of  blind  submission  to  any 
power  that  happens  to  be  established.  "The  Scriptures,"  they  will  say, 
"  prescribe  to  us  obedience  to  the  authorities,  without  any  distinction ;  the 
Christian,  therefore,  ought  not  to  make  any  distinction,  but  submit  with  resig- 
nation to  such  as  he  finds  established."  In  reply  to  this  objection,  I  see  the 
following  very  decisive  answers.  1.  Illegitimate  authority  is  no  authority  at 
all ;  the  idea  of  power  involves  the  idea  of  right,  without  which  it  is  mere  phy- 
sical power,  that  is,  force.  When,  therefore,  the  Scriptures  prescribe  obedience 
to  the  authorities,  it  is  the  lawful  authorities  that  are  implied.  2.  The  sacred 
text,  in  enjoining  us  obedience  to  the  civil  power,  tells  us  that  it  is  ordained  by 
God  Himself,  that  it  is  the  minister  of  God  Himself;  and  it  is  evident  that 
usurpation  is  never  invested  with  so  high  a  character.  The  usurper  is  perhaps 
the  instrument  of  Providence,  the  scourge  of  Heaven,  as  Attila  designated  him- 
self, but  not  the  minister  of  God.  3.  The  sacred  Scriptures  prescribe  obedience 
to  the  subject  in  relation  to  the  civil  power,  in  the  same  way  as  they  prescribe 
it  to  the  slave  in  relation  to  his  master.  But  what  sort  of  masters  are  here 
implied  ?  Evidently  such  as  exercised  a  legitimate  dominion,  as  it  was  under- 
stood at  the  time,  conformable  to  the  prevailing  laws  and  customs;  otherwise 
the  Scriptures  would  require  obedience  from  such  slaves  as  were  reduced  to 
slavery  by  an  abuse  of  power.  Hence,  as  the  obedience  to  masters  prescribed 
by  the  Scriptures  does  not  deprive  the  slave  unjustly  retained  in  servitude  of 
his  right,  so  also  the  obedience  due  to  the  established  authorities  should  be 
restricted  to  the  lawful  authorities,  and  to  cases  in  which  prudence  would 
dictate  it  in  order  to  avoid  commotion  and  scandal. 

In  confirmation  of  the  doctrine  of  mere  de  facto  government,  the  conduct  of 
the  first  Christians  has  been  sometimes  alleged.  "  They  submitted,"  it  is  said, 
"  to  the  constituted  authorities  without  even  inquiring  whether  they  were  legi- 
timate or  not.  At  this  epoch  usurpations  were  frequent,  the  imperial  throne 
was  established  by  force,  its  occupants  one  after  another  owed  their  elevation 
to  military  insurrection,  and  to  the  assassination  of  their  predecessors.  We 
find,  nevertheless,  that  Christians  never  meddled  with  the  question  of  legi- 
timacy; they  respected  the  established  power,  and  this  power  failing,  they 
submitted  without  murmuring  to  the  new  tyrant  who  had  usurped  the  throne." 
This  argument,  it  cannot  be  denied,  is  very  plausible,  and  presents  at  first  sight 
a  serious  difficulty;  a  few  reflections,  however,  suffice  to  show  its  extreme 
futility.  In  order  that  an  insurrection  against  an  unlawful  power  may  be 
legitimate  and  prudent,  those  who  undertake  to  overturn  it  should  be  sure  of 
its  illegitimacy,  should  have  in  view  the  substitution  of  a  lawful  power,  and 
should  count  besides  on  the  probability  of  the  success  of  their  enterprise.  If 
these  conditions  are  not  fulfilled,  the  insurrection  has  no  object;  it  is  a  mere 
fruitless  attempt,  an  impotent  revenge,  which,  instead  of  being  useful  to  society, 
only  causes  bloodshed,  only  irritates  the  power  attacked,  and  can  have  in  con- 
sequence no  other  effect  than  to  increase  oppression  and  tyranny. 

None  of  the  conditions  here  mentioned  were  in  existence  at  the  time  we  are 
speaking  of;  all  that  upright  men  could  do  was  quietly  to  resign  themselves  to 
the  calamitous  circumstances  of  the  times,  and  by  fervent  prayer  to  implore  the 
Almighty  to  take  compassion  on  mankind. 

When  every  thing  was  decided  by  force  of  arms,  who  could  say  whether  such 
or  such  an  emperor  was  lawfully  established  ?  Upon  what  rules  was  the  impe- 
rial succession  established  ?  Where  was  legitimacy  to  be  substituted  for 
illegitimacy  ?  Amongst  the  Romans — those  vile,  degraded  beings,  kissing  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  333 

chains  of  the  first  tyrant  who  offered  them  food  and  games  ?  In  the  worthless 
posterity  of  those  illustrious  patricians  who  formerly  gave  laws  to  the  universe  ? 
Was  it  vested  in  the  sons  or  in  the  family  of  some  assassinated  emperor,  when 
the  laws  had  not  established  hereditary  succession,  when  the  sceptre  of  the 
empire  was  at  the  disposal  of  the  legions,  when  it  frequently  happened  that  the 
emperor,  the  victim  of  usurpation,  had  been  himself  merely  a  usurper,  who 
had  mounted  to  the  throne  over  the  corpse  of  his  rival  ?  Did  it  exist  in  the 
ancient  rights  of  those  conquered  nations  now  reduced  to  simple  dependencies 
of  the  empire,  divested  of  all  national  spirit,  having  even  lost  the  recollection 
of  their  former  condition,  without  a  thought  capable  of  conducting  them  in  the 
work  of  their  emancipation,  and  destitute  of  resources  against  the  colossal  force 
of  their  masters  ?  What  object  could  any  one  have,  under  such  circumstances, 
in  making  attempts  against  the  established  government  ?  When  the  legions 
decided  the  fate  of  the  world,  alternately  elevating  and  assassinating  their 
masters,  what  could  or  what  ought  the  Christian  to  do  ?  The  disciple  of  a  God 
of  peace  and  love,  he  could  not  take  part  in  criminal  scenes  of  bloodshed  and 
tumult ;  authority  was  tottering  and  uncertain ;  it  was  not  for  him  to  decide 
whether  it  was  legitimate  or  not ;  it  only  remained  for  him  to  submit  to  the 
power  generally  acknowledged,  and  at  the  arrival  of  one  of  those  changes,  at 
that  time  of  so  frequent  occurrence,  to  yield  the  same  obedience  to  the  newly- 
established  government. 

The  interference  of  Christians  in  political  disputes  would  only  have  served 
to  bring  into  disrepute  the  holy  religion  they  professed;  it  would  have  given  to 
philosophers  and  idolaters  a  pretext  for  increasing  the  catalogue  of  black 
calumnies  which  they  everywhere  brought  against  the  faith.  Public  report 
accused  Catholicity  of  being  subversive  of  governments ;  Christians  would  have 
furnished  a  pretext  for  extending  and  accrediting  this  unfounded  report,  the 
hatred  of  governments  would  have  been  redoubled,  and  the  rigors  of  persecution 
so  cruelly  exercised  against  the  disciples  of  the  cross  would  have  been  increased. 
Has  this  state  of  things  ever  existed  but  once,  either  in  ancient  or  modern 
times  ?  And  could  the  conduct  of  the  first  Christians  in  this  respect  be  made 
a  rule  for  the  Spaniards,  for  instance,  at  the  time  they  resisted  the  usurpation 
of  Bonaparte  ?  Or  could  it  be  imitated  by  any  other  people  in  similar  circum- 
stances ?  Or  will  it  be  received  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  every  kind  of 
usurpation  ?  No;  man,  in  becoming  a  Christian,  does  not  cease  to  be  a  citizen, 
to  be  a  man,  to  have  his  rights,  and  he  acts  in  a  praiseworthy  manner  when- 
ever, within  the  bounds  of  reason,  and  justice,  he  attempts  to  maintain  these 
rights  with  fearless  intrepidity. 

Don  Felix  Amat,  Archbishop  of  Palmyra,  in  his  posthumous  work  entitled 
Idea  of  the  Church  Militant,  makes  use  of  these  words  :  "Jesus  Christ,  by  his 
plain  and  expressive  answer,  Render  to  Cwsar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  has 
sufficiently  established,  that  the  mere  fact  of  a  government's  existence  is  suffi- 
cient for  enforcing  the  obedience  of  subjects  to  it."  What  I  have  already 
advanced  is  enough,  in  my  opinion,  to  show  the  fallacy  of  such  an  assertion ; 
and,  as  I  intend  to  revert  to  this  subject,  and  investigate  more  attentively  this 
author's  opinion,  and  the  reasons  upon  which  he  supports  it,  I  shall  not  now 
attempt  to  enter  upon  its  refutation.  I  will,  nevertheless,  make  one  observa- 
tion, which  occurred  to  me  on  reading  the  passages  in  which  the  Archbishop 
of  Palmyra  developes  it.  His  work  was  forbidden  at  Rome;  and  whatever 
may  have  been  the  motives  for  such  a  prohibition,  we  may  rest  assured  that, 
in  the  case  of  a  book  advocating  such  doctrines,  every  man  who  is  jealous  of 
his  rights  might  acquiesce  in  the  decree  of  the  Sacred  Congregation. 

As  the  opportunity  is  favorable,  we  may  make  a  few  remarks  upon  consum- 
mated facts,  which  are  so  closely  connected  with  the  doctrine  under  discussion. 
Consummated  implies  something  perfect  in  its  kind ;  hence  an  act  is  consum- 


334  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

mated  when  it  has  attained  its  completion.  This  word,  applied  to  crimes,  is 
opposed  to  mere  attempt.  We  say  an  attempt  at  robbery,  murder,  or  arson, 
when  the  undertaking  to  commit  these  crimes  has  been  manifested  by  some  act; 
for  instance,  the  lock  of  a  door  has  been  broken,  an  attack  has  been  made  with 
a  murderous  weapon,  combustible  matter  has  been  ignited — but  the  crime  is 
not  said  to  be  consummated  till  the  robbery,  murder,  or  arson  has  actually  been 
committed.  Hence,  in  a  political  and  social  sense,  we  designate  consummated 
facts  an  usurpation,  completely  overthrowing  the  legitimate  power,  and  by 
means  of  which  the  usurper  is  already  substituted  in  its  place ;  a  measure  exe- 
cuted in  all  its  points ;  such  as  the  suppression  of  the  regular  clergy  in  Spain, 
and  the  confiscation  of  their  property  to  the  treasury  ;  a  revolution  which  has 
been  triumphant,  and  which  has  entirely  disposed  of  a  country,  as  was  the 
case  with  our  American  possessions. 

From  this  explanation,  we  see  clearly  that  a  fact  does  not,  by  being  consum- 
mated, change  its  nature;  it  still  remains  a  simple  fact — just  or  unjust,  legal 
or  illegal — as  it  was  before.  The  most  horrible  outrages  may  also  be  •  termed 
consummated  facts ;  yet,  for  all  that,  they  do  not  cease  to  deserve  disgrace  and 
punishment. 

What,  then,  is  the  meaning  of  certain  phrases  continually  uttered  by  some 
men  ?  "  We  must  respect  consummated  facts ;  we  must  always  accept  con- 
summated facts  ;  it  is  folly  to  resist  consummated  facts ;  it  is  a  wise  policy  that 
yields  to  consummated  facts."  Far  be  it  from  me  to  assert  that  all  those  who 
establish  these  maxims,  profess  the  fatal  doctrines  to  which  they  give  rise. 
We  often  admit  principles,  the  consequences  of  which  we  reject;  and  point  out 
a  certain  line  of  conduct  as  right,  without  attending  to  the  abominable  maxims 
in  which  it  originates.  In  human  affairs,  good  and  evil,  error  and  truth  are 
so  narrowly  separated,  and  prudence  so  closely  borders  on  culpable  timidity, 
that  in  theory,  as  well  as  in  practice,  it  is  not  always  easy  to  remain  within 
the  bounds  prescribed  by  reason  and  the  eternal  principles  of  sound  morality. 
If  respect  for  consummated  facts  is  mentioned,  perverse  men  immediately 
include  in  it  the  sanctioning  of  crime,  the  spoils  of  plunder  secured  to  the 
robber,  no  hope  of  restitution  left  to  the  victims,  and  a  gag  put  upon  their 
mouths,  to  stifle  their  complaints.  Others,  I  am  aware,  have  no  such  design 
in  making  use  of  these  words,  but  are  the  dupes  of  a  confusion  of  ideas,  arising 
from  their  not  having  distinguished  between  moral  principles  and  public  expe- 
diency. On  this  point,  therefore,  we  must  distinguish  and  define,  which  I  will 
do  in  a  few  words. 

The  simple  consummation  of  a  fact  does  not  render  it  legitimate ;  and,  con- 
sequently, it  is  not  on  this  account  alone  worthy  of  respect.  The  robber  who 
has  stolen  does  not  acquire  a  right  to  the  thing  stolen ;  the  incendiary  who 
reduces  a  house  to  ashes  is  no  less  deserving  of  punishment,  of  being  forced  to 
make  reparation,  than  if  he  had  been  arrested  in  the  attempt.  This  is  so 
evident  and  clear,  that  it  cannot  be  called  in  question.  To  assert  the  contrary, 
is  to  become  the  enemy  of  all  morality,  of  all  justice,  of  all  right ;  and  to  pro- 
claim the  exclusive  rule  of  force  and  cunning.  Consummated  facts,  apper- 
taining to  social  and  political  order,  do  not  change  their  nature ;  the  usurper, 
who  seizes  upon  the  crown  of  Jiis  lawful  predecessor ;  the  conqueror,  who,  by 
mere  force  of  arms,  has  subdued  a  nation,  does  not  thereby  acquire  a  right  to 
its  possession ;  the  government,  which  by  gross  iniquities  has  despoiled  entire 
classes  of  citizens,  exacted  undue  contributions,  abolished  legitimate  rights, 
cannot  justify  its  acts  by  the  simple  fact  of  its  having  sufficient  strength  to 
execute  these  iniquities.  That  is  equally  evident;  and  if  there  is  here  any 
difference  at  all,  the  crime  is  only  the  greater,  from  the  greater  gravity  and 
extent  of  the  wrongs  committed,  and  of  the  scandal  given  to  the  public.  Such 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  335 

are  the  principles  of  sound  morality — individual  morality,  social  morality; 
morality  of  the  whole  human  race ;  immutable,  eternal  morality. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  question  of  public  expediency.  In  some  instances, 
a  consummated  fact,  in  spite  of  all  its  injustice,  all  its  immorality  and  atrocity, 
acquires  such  an  ascendency,  that  by  not  accepting  it,  or  by  being  determined 
to  destroy  it,  we  should  let  loose  a  train  of  troubles  and  commotions,  and  per- 
haps without  effect.  Every  government  is  bound  to  respect  justice,  and  to  act 
in  such  a  manner  that  its  subjects  may  also  respect  it;  but  it  should  not  com- 
mand what  will  not  be  obeyed,  when  it  is  deprived  of  the  means  of  enforcing 
obedience.  In  such  a  case,  we  should  not  commit  an  injustice  by  not  attacking 
the  illegal  interests,  or  by  not  endeavoring  to  obtain  redress  for  the  victims ; 
the  government,  in  such  a  case,  may  be  compared  to  a  man  who,  beholding 
robbers  loaded  with  the  fruit  of  their  theft,  is  without  the  means  of  forcing 
them  to  make  restitution.  If  you  suppose  an  impossibility,  what  does  it  avail 
to  say  that  the  government  is  not  a  single  individual,  but  a  defender  of  all 
legitimate  interests  ?  No  one  is  bound  to  impossibilities. 

Observe,  also,  that  this  remark  applies  not  only  to  a  physical  impossibility, 
but  also  to  a  moral  one.  Whenever,  therefore,  the  government  possesses  the 
material  means  of  obtaining  reparation,  a  moral  impossibility  will  be  consti- 
tuted, when  the  employing  of  those  means  would  cause  serious  difficulties  to 
the  state,  endanger  the  public  peace,  or  sow  the  seeds  of  future  insurrection. 
Order  and  public  interest  require  the  preference,  for  these  are  the  primary 
objects  of  all  government  ;  consequently,  that  which  cannot  be  accomplished 
without  endangering  them,  ought  to  be  considered  as  impossible.  The  appli- 
cation of  these  doctrines  will  always  be  a  question  of  prudence,  that  cannot  be 
subjected  to  any  general  rule.  Depending  as  it  does  upon  a  thousand  circum- 
stances, it  cannot  be  decided  upon  abstract  principles ;  but  by  the  consideration 
of  existing  facts,  duly  appreciated  and  considered  by  political  tact.  Such  is 
the  case  of  the  respect  due  to  consummated  facts;  the  injustice  of  these  facts 
is  apparent ;  but  we  must  not  overlook  their  force.  Not  to  attack  them  is  not, 
necessarily,  to  sanction  them.  The  legislator  is  bound  to  diminish  the  evil  as 
far  as  possible ;  but  not  to  risk  an  aggravation  of  it  by  attempting  an  imprac- 
ticable reparation.  As  it  is  particularly  injurious  to  society  for  great  interests 
to  remain  insecure,  and  uncertain  for  the  future,  just  means  must  be  adopted, 
which,  without  occasioning  complicity  in  the  evil,  may  prevent  the  dangers  of 
a  doubtful  situation,  resulting  from  injustice  itself.  A  just  policy  does  not 
sanction  injustice ;  but  a  wise  policy  never  despises  the  importance  of  estab- 
lished facts.  If  such  facts  exist,  and  appear  indestructible,  it  tolerates  them ; 
but  without  affording  them  the  sanction  of  its  participation  or  approval. 
Acting  with  dignity,  it  makes  the  best  of  difficulties ;  and  in  some  sort  allies 
the  principles  of  eternal  justice  with  the  views  of  public  expediency.  We  have 
a  very  striking  case  in  point,  which  will  place  this  matter  in  the  clearest  pos- 
sible light.  After  the  great  evils,  and  the  enormous  acts  of  injustice  perpe- 
trated during  the  French  Revolution,  what  possibility  was  there  of  making  a 
complete  reparation  ?  In  1814,  could  every  thing  be  restored  to  the  position 
in  which  it  stood  in  1789  ?  The  throne  overturned,  all  social  distinctions 
levelled,  and  property  broken  up ;  who  could  reconstruct  the  ancient  social 
edifice  ?  No  one. 

Such  is  the  respect  to  be  entertained  for  consummated  facts,  which  might 
be  more  properly  termed  indestructible  ones.  To  illustrate  my  idea  still  further, 
I  will  give  it  a  very  simple  exemplification.  A  proprietor,  driven  from  his 
possessions  by  a  powerful  neighbor,  has  not  the  means  of  repossessing  himself 
of  them.  He  has  neither  wealth  nor  influence ;  and  his  spoliator  abounds  in 
both.  If  he  have  recourse  to  force,  he  will  be  vanquished ;  if  to  the  tribunal, 
he  will  lose  his  cause ;  what,  therefore,  is  he  to  do  ?  To  negotiate  for  an 


336  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

accommodation,  to  obtain  what  he  can,  and  be  resigned  to  his  fate.  This  is 
all  that  can  be  said ;  and  it  is  remarkable,  that  such  are  the  principles  adopted 
by  governments.  History  and  experience  teach  us,  that  consummated  facts 
are  respected  when  they  are  indestructible ;  that  is,  when  they  possess  in  them- 
selves suflicient  force  to  make  them  respected ;  in  any  other  case,  they  are  not 
so.  And  nothing  is  more  natural.  Whatever  is  not  founded  upon  right,  can 
only  be  maintained  by  force.  (32) 


CHAPTER  LVI. 

HOW  THE   CIVIL  POWER   MAY  BE   LAWFULLY  RESISTED. 

FROM  what  has  been  said  in  the  foregoing  chapters  it  follows,  that  it  is 
allowable  to  resist  illegitimate  power  by  force.  The  Catholic  religion  does  not 
enjoin  obedience  to  governments  existing  merely  de  facto  ;  for  morality  does  not 
admit  a  mere  fact,  unsupported  by  right  and  justice.  However,  when  power 
is  in  itself  lawful,  but  in  its  exercise  tyrannical,  does  our  religion  prohibit,  in 
every  instance,  resistance  by  physical  force ;  so  that  not  to  resist  at  all,  forms 
a  part  of  her  dogmas  ?  Is  insurrection  never  allowable,  in  any  supposition,  for 
any  motive  ?  Although  I  have  already  eliminated  many  questions,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  draw  here  a  fresh  distinction,  in  order  to  fix  exactly  the  point  at  which 
dogma  ends,  and  opinions  begin.  It  is  evident,  in  the  first  place,  that  an  indi- 
vidual has  no  right  to  kill  a  tyrant  on  his  own  authority.  The  Council  of 
Constance,  in  its  15th  session,  condemned  the  following  proposition  as  heretical : 
"  Any  vassal  or  subject  may  and  should,  lawfully  and  meritoriously,  kill  any 
tyrant.  He  may  even,  for  this  purpose,  avail  himself  of  ambushes,  and  wily 
expressions  of  affection  or  adulation ;  notwithstanding  any  oath  or  pact  imposed 
upon  him  by  the  tyrant ;  and  without  waiting  for  the  sentence  or  order  of  any 
judge."  "Quilibet  tyrannus  potest  et  debet  licite  et  meritorie  occidi  per 
quemcumque  vassallum  suum  vel  subditum,  etiam  per  clanculares  insidias,  et 
sub  tiles  blanditias  vel  adulationes,  non  obstante  quocumque  prsestito  juramento, 
seu  confcederatione  factis  cum  eo,  non  expectata  sententia  vel  mandate  judicis 
cujuscumque." 

But  does  this  decision  of  the  Council  of  Constance  constitute  a  prohibition 
of  every  kind  of '  insurrection  ?  No ;  it  speaks  of  the  murder  of  a  tyrant  by 
any  particular  individual ;  but  every  case  of  resistance  is  not  maintained  by  a 
single  individual ;  neither  is  it  the  aim  of  every  insurrection  to  destroy  a  tyrant. 
This  doctrine  only  serves  to  prevent  murder,  and  a  train  of  evils  which  would 
overwhelm  society  if  it  were  established  that  any  individual  had  a  right  of  his 
own  authority  to  kill  the  supreme  ruler.  Who  will  venture  to  accuse  this 
doctrine  of  being  favorable  to  tyranny  ?  The  liberty  of  the  people  should  not 
be  based  upon  the  horrid  right  of  assassination ;  the  defence  of  the  rights  of 
society  should  not  be  confided  to  the  dagger  of  a  fanatic.  The  attributes  of 
public  power  are  so  extensive  and  various^  that  their  exercise  must  necessarily 
and  frequently  inconvenience  some  individuals.  Man,  inclined  to  extremes 
and  revenge,  easily  enlarges  upon  the  grievances  which  he  suffers ;  passing 
from  a  particular  to  a  general,  he  is  inclined  to  look  upon  those  who  injure  or 
oppose  him  as  villains.  At  the  slightest  shock  which  he  receives  from  govern- 
ment, he  cries  out  that  tyranny  is  insupportable ;  the  act  of  arbitrary  power, 
real  or  imaginary,  committed  against  him,  becomes,  in  his  mouth,  one  of  the 
many  iniquities  perpetrated,  or  the  commencement  of  those  that  are  to  be. 
Grant,  therefore,  to  the  individual  the  right  of  killing  a  tyrant ;  proclaim  to  the 
people  that,  to  render  such  an  act  lawful  and  meritorious,  there  is  no  need  of 
a  sentence,  or  any  judicial  condemnation;  and  from  that  time  this  horrible 


PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  337 

crime  will  become  frequent.  The  wisest,  the  jjistest  kings  will  fall  victims  to 
the  parricidal  dagger,  or  the  poisoned  cup.  You  will  have  furnished  no  gua- 
rantee to  the  liberty  of  the  people,  and  you  will  have  exposed  the  dearest 
interests  of  society  to  dreadful  hazards. 

The  Catholic  Church,  by  this  solemn  declaration,  has  conferred  an  immense 
service  on  humanity.  The  violent  death  of  him  who  holds  the  supreme  power 
seldom  happens  without  causing  bloodshed  and  great  commotion.  It  provokes 
measures  of  suspicious  precaution,  easily  converted  into  tyranny.  It  follows, 
then,  that  any  crime  instigated  by  excessive  hatred  of  tyranny  contributes  to 
establish  it  in  a  form  still  more  absolute  and  cruel.  Modern  nations  should 
feel  grateful  to  the  Catholic  Church  for  having  established  this  sacred  and 
saving  principle.  A  person  must  be  possessed  of  very  mean  sentiments,  or  very 
ferocious  instincts,  not  to  appreciate  it,  or  to  regret  the  bloody  scenes  of  the 
Roman  Empire  and  the  barbarian  monarchy.  We  have  seen,  and  we  still  see, 
powerful  nations  delivered  up  to  dreadful  troubles,  by  the  neglect  of  this 
Catholic  maxim.  The  history  of  the  last  three  centuries,  and  the  experience 
of  this,  prove  that  this  august  precept  of  the  Church  was  given  to  the  people 
in  anticipation  of  the  dangers  which  were  threatening  them.  In  it  we  find  no 
flattery  for  kings ;  for  they  are  not  the  only  ones  benefited  by  it ;  it  is  a  general 
proposition,  including  all  others,  whatever  be  their  titles,  who  exercise  supreme 
authority,  whatever  be  the  form  of  government,  from  the  Russian  autocrat  to 
the  most  democratical  republic. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  modern  constitutions,  proceeding  from  the 
bosom  of  revolutions,  have  universally  rendered  a  solemn  homage  to  this 
Catholic  maxim ;  they  have  declared  the  person  of  the  monarch  sacred  and 
inviolable.  What  does  this  mean,  but  that  this  person  should  be  placed  under 
an  impenetrable  safeguard  ?  You  reproach  the  Catholic  -Church  with  placing 
a  sort  of  shield  before  the  person  of  kings,  and  yet  you  yourselves  declare  that 
person  inviolable.  The  anointing  of  kings  you  ridicule,  and  yet  you  yourself 
declare  that  the  king  is  sacred.  Since  you  are  forced  to  imitate  the  Church, 
her  dogmas  and  her  discipline  must  have  contained  an  eternal  truth,  and  high 
political  principles ;  with  this  difference,  however,  that  you  represent  as  the 
work  of  the  will  of  man  what  she  esteems  the  work  of  the  will  of  God.  But 
if  supreme  power  makes  a  scandalous  abuse  of  its  faculties,  if  it  outsteps  its 
just  bounds,  if  it  tramples  under  foot  fundamental  laws,  if  it  persecutes  reli- 
gion, corrupts  morality,  outrages  public  dignity,  attacks  the  honor  of  citizens, 
exacts  illegal  and  disproportionate  contributions,  alienates  national  property, 
dismembers  provinces,  inflicts  death  and  ignominy  upon  the  people :  in  such 
cases,  does  Catholicity  also  prescribe  obedience  ?  does  it  forbid  resistance  ? 
does  it  command  subjects  to  remain  tranquil,  like  a  lamb  in  the  claws  of  a  wild 
beast  ?  May  there  not  exist,  either  in  an  individual,  or  in  the  principal  bodies, 
or  in  the  most  distinguished  classes  of  society,  or  in  the  entire  mass  of  the 
nation,  somewhere,  in  fine,  the  right  of  opposing,  of  resisting,  after  all  means 
of  mildness,  representation,  counsel,  and  entreaty  have  failed  ?  In  such  dis- 
astrous circumstances,  does  the  Church  leave  the  people  without  hope,  and 
tyrants  without  restraint  ? 

In  such  extremities,  certain  very  renowned  theologians  think  that  resistance 
is  allowable ;  but  the  dogmas  of  the  Church  do  not  descend  to  these  details. 
The  Church  abstains  from  condemning  the  opposite  doctrines.  In  such  extreme 
circumstances,  non-resistance  is  not  a  dogmatical  prescription.  The  Church 
has  never  taught  such  a  doctrine ;  if  any  one  will  maintain  that  she  has,  let  him 
bring  forward  a  decision  of  a  Council  or  of  a  Sovereign  Pontiff  to  that  effect. 
St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  Cardinal  Bellarmin,  Suarez,  and  other  eminent  theo- 
logians, were  well  versed  in  the  dogmas  of  the  Church ;  and  yet,  if  you  consult 
their  works,  so  far  from  finding  this  doctrine  in  them,  you  will  find  the  opposite 
43  2D 


338  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

one.  Now  the  Church  has  not  condemned  them,  she  has  not  confounded  them 
with  those  seditious  writers  in  whom  Protestantism  abounds,  nor  with  modern 
revolutionists,  who  are  continually  disturbing  social  order.  Bossuet  and  other 
authors  of  repute  differ  from  St.  Thomas,  Bellarmin,  Suarez ;  and  this  gives 
credit  to  the  opposite  opinion,  but  does  not  convert  it  into  a  dogma.  Upon 
certain  points  of  the  highest  import,  the  opinions  of  the  illustrious  Bishop  of 
Meaux  suffered  contradiction ;  and  we  know  that  upon  this  case  of  an  excess 
of  tyranny,  the  Pope  at  another  period  was  acknowledged  to  possess  faculties 
which  Bossuet  refuses  him. 

The  Abbe  de  Lamennais,  in  his  impotent  and  obstinate  resistance  to  the 
Holy  see,  adduced  the  doctrines  of  St.  Thomas,  and  those  of  some  other  theo- 
logians, pretending  that  to  condemn  his  own  works  was  to  condemn  schools 
hitherto  held  irreproachable.  (Affaires  de  Rome.}  The  Abbe  Gerbet,  in  his 
excellent  refutation  of  M.  de  Lamennais,  after  having  very  judiciously  remarked, 
that  the  Sovereign  Pontiff's  object  in  reproving  modern  doctrines  was,  to  pre- 
vent a  renewal  of  the  errors  of  Wickliffe,  observes,  at  the  epoch  of  this  here- 
siarch's  condemnation,  the  doctrines  of  St.  Thomas  and  of  other  theologians 
were  well  known,  and  that,  nevertheless,  no  one  believed  that  they  were 
included  in  the  condemnation.  The  excellent  author  of  this  refutation  deemed 
this  sufficient  to  deprive  M.  de  Lamennais  of  the  shield  under  which  he  sought 
to  defend  and  cover  his  apostacy ;  and  for  this  reason,  he  abstains  from  draw- 
ing a  parallel  between  the  two  doctrines.  In  fact,  this  reflection  alone  is 
sufficient  to  convince  any  judicious  man  that  the  doctrines  of  St.  Thomas  bear 
no  resemblance  to  those  of  M.  de  Lamennais.  It  may,  however,  be  useful  to 
give  in  few  words  a  comparison  of  the  two  doctrines.  At  the  present  time,  and 
in  these  matters,  it  is  very  proper  to  know,  not  only  that  these  doctrines  differ, 
but  likewise  wherein  they  differ.  M.  de  Lamennais'  theory  may  be  stated  in 
the  following  terms :  A  natural  equality  among  men,  and,  as  necessary  conse- 
quences, 1.  Equality  of  rights,  political  rights  included;  2.  The  injustice  of 
every  social  and  political  organization  not  establishing  this  equality  completely, 
as  is  the  case  in  Europe  and  in  the  whole  universe;  3.  Expediency  and  legi- 
timacy of  insurrection,  to  destroy  governments,  and  change  social  organization ; 
4.  Abolition  of  all  government,  as  the  object  of  the  progress  of  the  human 
race. 

The  doctrines  of  St.  Thomas  on  the  same  points  may  be  thus  expressed :  A 
natural  equality  among  men  ;  that  is  to  say,  an  essential  equality,  but  exclusive 
of  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  gifts — an  equality  among  men  in  the  eyes 
of  God — an  equality  in  their  destination,  inasmuch  as  they  are  all  created  to 
enjoy  God — an  equality  of  means,  inasmuch  as  they  are  all  redeemed  by  Christ, 
and  may  all  receive  His  grace ;  but  exclusive  of  the  inequalities  which  it  may 
please  God  to  establish  by  gifts  of  grace  and  glory.  1.  An  equality  of  social 
and  political  rights.  According  to  the  holy  doctor,  such  an  equality  is  impos- 
sible. He  rather  supports  the  utility  and  legitimacy  of  certain  hierarchies ; 
the  respect  due  to  those  established  by  law ;  the  necessity  of  there  being  some 
to  command  and  others  to  obey;  the  obligation  of  being  subject  to  the  estab- 
lished laws  of  the  country,  whatever  be  the  form  of  government ;  the  preference 
for  monarchical  governments.  2.  The  injustice  of  every  social  and  political 
organization  not  establishing  a  complete  equality.  St.  Thomas  looks  upon  this 
as  an  error  opposed  to  reason  and  to  faith.  Nay,  more ;  not  only  is  it  true  that 
the  inequality  founded  upon  the  very  nature  of  man  and  of  society  is  an  effect 
and  punishment  of  original  sin,  in  as  far  as  it  entails  upon  man  injury  or  incon- 
venience ;  but,  according  to  the  holy  Doctor,  this  inequality  would  have  existed 
among  men  even  in  a  state  of  innocence.  3.  Expediency  and  legitimacy  of 
insurrection,  to  destroy  governments,  and  to  change  the  social  organization.  An 
erroneous  and  fatal  opinion.  We  ought  to  submit  to  legitimate  governments ; 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  339 

it  is  expedient  even  to  tolerate  such  as  make  an  improper  use  of  their  power ; 
we  must  exhaust  every  means  of  entreaty,  of  counsel  and  representation,  before 
we  have  recourse  to  others.  We  can  only  appeal  to  force  in  the  greatest 
extremities,  on  rare  occasions,  and  then  only  under  many  restrictions,  as  will 
be  seen  elsewhere.  4.  Abolition  of  all  government,  as  the  object  of  the  progress 
of  the  human  race.  An  absurd  proposition — a  dream  that  cannot  be  realized. 
The  necessity  of  government  in  every  society ;  arguments  founded  upon  the 
nature  of  man ;  analogies  from  the  human  body,  from  the  very  order  of  the 
universe  ;  the  existence  of  government  even  in  a  state  of  innocence.  Such  are 
the  doctrines  of  De  Lamennais  and  St.  Thomas  respectively.  Let  the  reader 
compare  them,  and  judge  for  himself. 

It  is  impossible  to  adduce  the  words  of  the  holy  Doctor — they  would  fill  the 
volume.  Should  any  reader  wish  to  consult  them  himself,  let  him  read,  in 
addition  to  the  passages  inserted  in  this  work,  the  whole  treatise,  De  Reyimine 
Principum,  the  commentaries  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  those  passages 
of  the  Summa  in  which  the  holy  Doctor  treats  of  the  soul,  of  the  creation  of 
man,  of  the  state  of  innocence,  of  the  angels  and  of  their  hierarchy,  of  original 
sin  and  its  effects,  and,  above  all,  his  valuable  Treatise  on  Laws  and  that  on 
Justice,  in  which  he  discusses  the  origin  of  the  right  of  property  and  of 
inflicting  punishments.  After  that  he  will  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  what 
I  have  just  advanced;  he  will  then  see  the  injustice  of  M.  de  Lamennais  in 
attempting  to  make  the  illustrious  writers  and  saints  venerated  on  our  altars 
the  accomplices  of  his  apostacy.  In  grave  and  delicate  matters  confusion  pro- 
duces error,  the  enemies  of  truth  are  interested  in  spreading  darkness,  in 
establishing  general  and  vague  propositions  susceptible  of  various  interpreta- 
tions. They  seek  with  anxiety  a  text  favorable  to  some  one  of  the  numerous 
interpretations  that  are  possible,  and  proudly  exclaim,  "  How  unjust  it  is  in 
you  to  condemn  us ;  what  we  maintain  was  asserted  centuries  ago,  by  the  most 
respected  and  celebrated  writers."  The  Abbe  de  Lamennais  must  have  reck- 
oned in  a  singular  manner  upon  the  credulity  of  his  readers,  to  think  of  making 
them  believe  that  there  was  no  honest  man  to  be  found  at  Rome  capable  of 
informing  the  Pope,  that  in  condemning  the  doctrines  of  the  apostle  of  revo- 
lution, he  was  condemning  also  those  of  the  angel  of  the  schools,  and  other 
distinguished  theologians.  It  is  possible  that  M.  de  Lamennais  never  read 
the  authors  except  in  haste  and  in  fragments,  but  many  persons  at  Rome  have 
spent  their  lives  in  studying  them. 

We  are  not  ignorant  of  the  violent  declamations  of  Luther,  Zwinglius,  Knox, 
Jurieu,  and  other  leaders  of  Protestantism,  to  stir  up  the  people  to  revolt 
against  princes ;  we  are  not  ignorant  of  the  gross  and  violent  invectives  made 
use  of  by  these  sectaries  to  excite  the  multitude.  Catholics  look  upon  such 
extravagances  with  horror.  In  like  manner,  they  look  with  dread  upon  the 
anarchical  doctrine  of  Rousseau,  establishing  that  "  the  clauses  of  the  social 
contract  are  so  determined  by  the  very  nature  of  the  act,  that  the  least  modi- 
fication of  them  would  render  them  vain  and  null;  so  that  every  one  then 
resumes  his  former  rights  and  regains  his  natural  liberty.  (  Contrat  Social,  1. 
i.  c.  6.)  The  doctrine  of  the  theologians  above  cited  does  not  contain  this 
fruitful  germ  of  insurrection  and  disaster ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are 
not  found  timid  and  pusillanimous  in  the  last  extremities.  They  preach  up 
resignation,  patience,  and  longanimity ;  but  there  is  a  point  at  which  they  stop 
and  exclaim,  Enough.  If  they  do  not  advocate  insurrection,  they  do  not  pro- 
hibit it  j  it  would  be  in  vain  to  require  them  to  teach  as  a  dogmatical  truth  the 
obligation  of  not  resisting  in  extreme  cases.  They  cannot  teach  the  people  to 
consider  as  a  dogma  what  they  do  not  acknowledge  as  such.  It  is  not  their 
fault  if  the  tempest  bursts,  if  the  roaring  waves  arise;  no  other  hand  can 


340  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

control  them  than  that  of  God,  who  rides  upon  the  north  wind  and  sports  with 
the  tempest. 

For  many  centuries  there  has  been  inculcated  in  Europe  a  doctrine  much 
criticised  by  those  who  do  not  understand  it,  the  intervention  of  the  Pontifical 
authority  between  the  people  and  their  sovereigns.  This  doctrine  was  nothing 
less  than  Heaven  descending  as  an  arbiter  and  judge,  to  put  an  end  to  the 
disputes  of  the  earth. 

The  temporal  power  of  the  Popes  has  served  as  a  wonderful  theme  to  the 
enemies  of  the  Church  to  create  alarm,  and  declaim  against  Rome ;  but  this 
power  is  no  less  an  historical  fact  and  a  social  phenomenon,  which  has  filled 
with  admiration  the  most  renowned  men  of  modern  times,  including  some  Pro- 
testants. The  Scriptures  make  it  a  duty  for  slaves  to  obey  their  masters,  even 
when  they  are  oppressive  and  unjust.  All  that  can  be  inferred  from  this  is, 
that  a  prince,  by  the  simple  fact  of  his  being  wicked,  does  not  lose  his  authority 
over  his  subjects,  which  condemns  beforehand  the  errors  of 'those  who  make 
the  right  of  commanding  dependent  upon  the  sanctity  of  its  possessor.  Such 
a  principle  is  anarchical,  and  incompatible  with  the  existence  of  every  society. 
When  it  is  once  established,  power  remains  unsafe  and  tottering;  every  dis- 
turber declares  all  those  divested  of  authority  whom  he  may  deem  culpable. 
But  our  question  is  of  a  different  nature,  and  the  opinion  of  theologians  cited 
by  us  has  nothing  to  do  with  this  error.  These  theologians  also  on  their  part 
advocate  obedience  to  rulers,  even  though  they  be  oppressive  and  unjust  ;  they 
also  condemn  insurrection,  when  founded  on  no  other  pretext  than  the  vices 
of  persons  exercising  supreme  power;  they  do  not  admit  that  any  abuse  of 
power  justifies  resistance ;  but  they  do  not  consider  that  they  impugn  the  sacred 
text  by  admitting  that  in  extreme  cases  it  is  allowable  to  place  a  barrier 
against  the  excesses  of  a  tyrant.  "  If  governments  do  not  lose  their  power  by 
the  simple  fact  of  their  being  wicked,  how,"  it  will  be  said,  "  can  we  conceive 
resistance  to  them  lawful  ?"  This  is  certainly  not  allowable,  so  long  as  they 
do  not  outstep  the  bounds  of  their  faculties ;  but  when  they  do  so,  their  com- 
mands, as  St.  Thomas  says,  are  rather  acts  of  violence  than  laws.  "  No  one 
has  the  right  of  judging  the  supreme  power."  This  is  true;  but  above  this 
power  exist  the  principles  of  reason,  morality,  religion.  Power,  although 
supreme,  is  bound  to  the  execution  of  its  promises,  to  keep  its  oaths.  Society 
is  not  formed  upon  the  model  of  Rousseau's  ideal  contract ;  but  there  exist,  in 
certain  cases,  real  pacts  between  the  rulers  and  the  people,  to  which  both  are 
bound  to  adhere. 

In  the  celebrated  Catholic  Proclamation  to  his  pious  Majesty  Philip  the  Great, 
King  of  Spain  and  Emperor  of  the  Indies  by  the  Counsellors  and  the  Council 
of  One  Hundred  of  the  city  of  Barcelona,  in  1640,  an  epoch  so  profoundly  reli- 
gious that  the  Counsellors  quote,  as  a  high  title  of  glory,  the  zeal  of  the  Cata- 
loniansfor  the  Catholic  faith,  the  devotion  of  the  Catalonians  to  our  lady  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  the  most  holy  Sacrament ; — at  that  time,  which  pride  and 
ignorance  have  so  often  taxed  with  fanaticism,  these  counsellors  said  to  the 
king,  "  Besides  civil  obligation,  the  customs,  constitutions,  and  acts  of  the 
court  of  Catalonia  are  binding  on  conscience,  and  to  violate  them  would  be  a 
mortal  sin ;  for  the  prince  has  no  right  to  annul  a  contract ;  it  is  made  freely, 
but  cannot  be  revoked  without  injustice.  If  a  contract  is  not  subject  to  the 
civil  law,  it  is  subject  to  the  law  of  reason ;  and  although  the  prince  may  be 
the  master  of  the  laws,  the  contracts  he  makes  with  his  vassals  are  inviolable, 
for  in  making  them  he  is  a  mere  individual,  and  the  vassal  acquires  a  right 
equal  to  his.  A  contract,  in  fine,  should  be  made  between  equals.  Hence,  as 
the  vassal  cannot  be  unfaithful  to  his  lord,  the  latter,  in  like  manner,  is  bound 
to  keep  the  promise  he  has  made  by  solemn  engagement ;  and  indeed,  the 
rupture  of  a  pact  ought  least  of  all  to  be  expected  on  the  part  of  a  prince.  If 


PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY.  341 

the  word  of  a  king  is  law,  that  word  given  in  a  solemn  contract  is  still  more 
binding.  (Catholic  Proclamation,  sect.  27.)  The  courtiers  urged  the  monarch 
to  measures  of  coercion  to  reduce  the  Catalonians  to  submission ;  the  Castilian 
army  was  preparing  to  enter  the  principality.  In  this  extremity,  after 
exhausting  all  means  of  representation  and  entreaty,  the  counsellors  thus 
expressed  themselves  :  "  Finally,  men  who  have  vowed  an  inveterate  hatred 
against  the  Catalonians  have  been  so  successful  in  their  continual  persuasions, 
that  the  uprightness  and  equity  of  your  majesty  have  been  turned  from  the 
means  of  peace  and  tranquillity  proposed  by  us,  and  which  should  have  been 
admitted,  were  it  only  on  the  grounds  of  experience ;  and  to  fill  up  the  cup  of 
their  malice,  they  now  lay  your  majesty  under  an  obligation  of  oppressing  the 
principality  still  further,  by  sending  an  army  to  sack  and  pillage  wherever  the 
caprice  of  the  soldier  may  lead  him ;  which  would  place  this  country  in  a  posi- 
tion to  say  (were  it  not  for  the  love  it  has  borne,  still  bears,  and  ever  will  bear 
to  your  majesty)  that  such  a  breach  of  sworn  faith  would  leave  it  free,  a  thing 
of  which  the  province  is  unwilling  to  think,  and  prays  God  to  avert.  Never- 
theless, the  principality  knows  from  experience  that  these  soldiers  have  neither 
respect  nor  pity  for  any  thing  or  person,  married  women  and  innocent  virgins, 
temples,  or  God  Himself,  images  of  the  Saints  or  the  sacred  vessels  of  our 
churches,  nay,  even  the  blessed  Sacrament  has  twice  this  year  been  committed 
to  the  flames  by  these  soldiers.  The  principality  is,  therefore,  every  wliere  in 
arms  to  defend,  in  such  an  urgent  and  irremediable  extremity,  fortune,  life, 
honor,  liberty,  home,  laws,  and  above  all  the  sacred  temples,  the  sacred  images, 
and  the  holy  Sacrament  of  the  altar  (be  the  same  for  ever  praised).  In  such  a 
case,  the  holy  theologians  do  not  merely  affirm  that  resistance  is  lawful,  but  still 
further,  that  all  persons,  whether  lay  or  clerical,  may  take  up  arms  to  avert  the 
evil ;  that  both  secular  and  ecclesiastical  property  may  and  ought  to  contribute 
to  the  defence ;  that  the  nations  invaded  may,  as  the  cause  is  universal,  unite, 
confederate,  and  form  juntas  with  a  view  to  prevent  such  evils."  (§  36) 

Such  was  the  language  addressed  to  kings,  at  a  time  when  religion  predomi- 
nated over  all  things.  The  counsellors,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  time, 
took  care  to  make  marginal  notes  of  the  sources  of  their  information ;  and  we 
are  not  aware  that  their  doctrines  have  ever  been  condemned  as  heretical. 
These  doctrines  cannot,  without  manifest  dishonesty,  be  confounded  with  those 
of  many  Protestants  and  modern  revolutionists.  A  cursory  perusal  of  these 
writings  will  enable  any  one  to  discover  how  widely  they  differ.  By  maintain- 
ing that  it  is  not  allowable  in  any  case,  in  the  greatest  extremities,  not  even 
when  the  most  precious  and  sacred  interests  are  at  stake,  to  offer  resistance  to 
the  civil  power,  the  thrones  of  kings  are  thought  to  be  strengthened ',  for  it  is 
generally  kings  that  are  spoken  of.  But  it  should  be  remembered,  that  this 
doctrine  affects  every  other  supreme  power,  under  every  form  of  government. 
Since  the  texts  of  Scripture  recommending  obedience  "  to  the  powers  that  be," 
do  not  allude  to  kings  only,  but  to  all  supreme  powers,  without  exception  or 
distinction,  it  follows  that  resistance  cannot  in  any  case  be  offered  to  the  pre- 
sident of  a  republic.  Will  it  be  said  that  the  faculties  of  a  president  are 
determined  ?  ^  Are  not  the  faculties  of  a  king  also  determined  ?  Are  there 
not,  in  absolute  governments,  laws  fixing  the  limits  of  these  faculties  ?  And 
is  not  this  the  distinction  constantly  employed  by  the  supporters  of  monarchy 
to  repel  the  errors  of  their  adversaries,  who  confound  monarchy  with  despotism  ? 
"  But,"  it  will  be  said,  "  the  president  of  a  republic  is  only  temporary."  And 
what  if  he  were  perpetual  ?  Besides,  the  faculties  are  neither  increased  nor 
diminished  by  the  simple  fact  of  their  having  to  last  a  long  or  short  period. 
If  a  council,  a  man,  a  family,  is  invested  with  a  certain  right,  by  virtue  of  a 
certain  law ;  with  certain  restrictions,  but  with  certain  contracts  and  oaths ; 
such  a  council,  such  a  man  or  such  a  family  is  bound  to  adhere  to  the  oath 

2D2 


342  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

taken,  whatever  be  the  extent  of  its  duration,  temporary  or  perpetual.  Such 
are  the  principles  of  natural  right ;  so  certain  and  simple,  that  they  cannot 
present  any  difficulty. 

Theologians,  even  those  most  attached  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  teach  a  doc- 
trine which  we  must  notice  here,  on  account  of  the  analogy  it  bears  to  the  point 
under  discussion.  It  is  known  that  the  Pope,  when  speaking  ex  cathedra,  is 
acknowledged  to  be  infallible,  but  not  as  a  simple  individual ;  and  that,  in  this 
latter  capacity,  he  might  fall  into  heresy.  In  this  case,  theologians  are  of 
opinion  that  he  would  forfeit  his  dignity ;  some  maintaining  that  he  ought  to 
be  deposed,  others  that  his  deposition  is  the  consequence  of  his  having  fallen 
from  the  faith.  Whichever  of  these  opinions  be  admitted,  in  this  case  resist- 
ance would  become  allowable,  for  this  reason,  that  the  Pope  would  have 
shamefully  departed  from  the  object  of  his  institution,  would  have  trampled  on 
the  basis  of  the  laws  of  the  Church,  which  is  her  dogmas,  and  would  conse- 
quently have  nullified  the  promises  and  oaths  of  obedience  made  to  him.  Spe- 
dalieri,  in  adducing  this  argument,  observes,  that  kings  are  certainly  not  of 
higher  rank  than  Popes, — that  power  has  been  granted  to  both  in  cedificationem 
non  in  destructionem  ;  adding,  that  if  Sovereign  Pontiffs  authorize  this  doctrine 
with  relation  to  themselves,  temporal  sovereigns  cannot  object  to  its  application 
to  them. 

It  is  strange  that  the  monarchical  zeal  of  Protestants  and  incredulous  philo- 
sophers imputes  to  the  Catholic  religion  as  a  crime,  that  she  has  allowed  it  to 
be  maintained  within  her  bosom,  that,  in  certain  cases,  the  subject  may  be 
released  from  his  oath  of  allegiance ;  whilst  other  philosophers  of  the  same 
school  reproach  it  with  having  sanctioned  despotism  by  its  detestable  doctrine 
of  non-resistance,  as  Dr.  Beatty  expresses  it.  The  direct,  indirect,  and  decla- 
ratory powers  of  the  Popes  have  served  as  an  admirable  bugbear  to  intimidate 
kings ;  the  dangerous  principles  of  theological  works  formed  an  excellent  pre- 
text for  raising  the  cry  of  alarm,  for  representing  Catholicity  as  a  nest  of 
seditious  maxims.  The  hour  of  revolutions  was  struck, — circumstances  were 
changed, — fresh  necessities  arose,  and  men  adapted  their  language  to  the 
times.  The  Catholics,  a  short  time  before  seditious  and  regicidal,  were  then 
declared  abettors  of  despotism,  fulsome  adulators  of  civil  power.  Recently, 
the  Jesuits,  leagued  with  the  infernal  policy  of  Home,  were  everywhere  under- 
mining thrones,  to  establish  on  their  ruins  the  universal  monarchy  of  the  Pope ; 
but  the  secret  of  this  horrid  plot  was  discovered,  and  fortunately  so,  for  the 
world  was  otherwise  about  to  experience  a  frightful  catastrophe.  But  now  that 
the  Jesuits  are  expelled,  and  are  expiating  their  crimes  in  exile,  the  French 
Revolution,  the  prelude  to  so  many  others,  breaks  out,  and  the  aspect  of  affairs 
changes  immediately.  Protestants  and  unbelievers,  the  supporters  of  ancient 
discipline,  the  zealous  adversaries  of  the  abuses  of  the  Court  of  Rome,  fully  com- 
prehending the  new  situation  of  affairs,  hasten  to  conform  to  it.  From  that 
moment,  the  Jesuits,  the  Catholics,  the  Pope,  are  no  longer  seditious  or  tyran- 
nicides, but  Machiavelian  supporters  of  tyranny,  enemies  of  the  liberty  of  the 
people ',  and  just  as  a  league  had  been  supposed  to  exist  between  the  Jesuits 
and  the  Pope  for  the  foundation  of  a  universal  theocracy,  there  is  now  discov- 
ered, thanks  to  the  investigations  of  these  eminent  philosophers  and  strict, 
incorruptible  Christians,  an  infamous  pact  between  the  Pope  and  kings  to  oppress, 
enslave,  and  degrade  the  unfortunate  human  race. 

The  answer  to  this  enigma  may  be  thus  briefly  expressed.  So  long  as  kings 
maintain  their  power  and  the  peaceable  possession  of  their  thrones,  so  long  as 
Providence  restrains  the  tempest,  and  the  monarch,  raising  his  proud  head 
towards  heaven,  commands  the  people  with  a  lofty  air,  the  Catholic  Church 
does  not  flatter  him.  "  Thou  art  dust,"  she  says  to  him,  "  and  into  dust  thou 
shalt  return ;  power  was  given  thee  not  unto  destruction,  but  unto  edification ; 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  343 

thy  faculties  are  great,  but  not  boundless.  God  is  thy  judge,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  lowest  of  thy  subjects."  The  Church  is  then  accused  of  insolence;  and 
if  any  theologian  should  venture  to  investigate  the  origin  of  civil  power,  to 
point  out,  with  generous  freedom,  the  duties  to  which  this  power  is  subject;  to 
write,  in  a  word,  with  prudence  upon  public  right,  but  without  servility,  the 
Catholics  are  then  declared  seditious.  But  the  tempest  bursts,  thrones  are 
overturned,  revolution  prevails,  spills  the  blood  of  the  people  in  torrents,  cuts 
off  royal  heads,  and  all  in  the  name  of  liberty.  The  Church  says  :  "  This  is 
no  liberty,  but  a  succession  of  crimes ;  the  fraternity  and  equality  which  I  have 
taught,  were  never  your  orgies  and  guillotines."  The  Church  then  becomes  a 
vile  flatterer;  her  words,  her  actions,  have  indubitably  revealed  that  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff  is  the  surest  anchor  of  despotism ;  it  has  been  proved  that 
the  Court  of  Home  has  been  polluted  by  an  infamous  pact.  (33) 


CHAPTER  LVIL 

POLITICAL   SOCIETY  IN   THE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY. 

WE  have  already  seen  what  has  been  the  conduct  of  the  Christian  religion 
with  respect  to  society ;  that  is  to  say,  that  not  caring  whether  such  or  such 
political  forms  were  established  in  a  country,  she  has  ever  addressed  herself  to 
man,  seeking  to  enlighten  his  understanding  and  to  purify  his  heart,  fully  con- 
Jfident  that  when  these  objects  were  attained,  society  would  naturally  pursue  a 
safe  course.  This  is  sufficient  to  obliterate  the  reproach  imputed  to  her  of 
being  an  enemy  to  the  liberty  of  the  people. 

Protestantism  has  certainly  never  revealed  to  the  world  a  single  dogma 
which  exalts  the  dignity  of  man,  nor  created  fresh  motives  of  consideration 
and  respect,  or  closer  bonds  of  fraternity.  The  Reformation  cannot,  therefore, 
boast  of  having  given  the  least  impetus  to  the  progress  of  modern  nations ;  it 
cannot,  consequently,  lay  the  least  claim  to  the  gratitude  of  the  people  in  this 
respect.  But  as  it  frequently  happens  that  people  lay  aside  main  points  and 
set  a  great  value  on  appearances ;  and  as  Protestantism  has  been  supposed  to 
accord  much  better  than  Catholicity  with  those  institutions  in  which  it  is  usual 
to  find  guarantees  for  a  high  degree  of  liberty;  we  must  draw  a  parallel. 
Besides,  we  cannot  omit  it  without  betraying  an  ignorance  of  the  genius  of 
this  age,  and  authorizing  the  suspicion  that  Catholicity  cannot  derive  any 
advantage  from  such  a  comparison.  In  the  first  place,  I  will  observe,  that 
those  who  look  upon  Protestantism  as  inseparable  from  public  liberty  do  not 
in  this  respect  agree  with  M.  Guizot,  who  cannot  certainly  be  accused  of  any 
want  of  sympathy  for  the  Reformation.  "  In  Germany,"  says  this  celebrated 
publicist,  "  far  from  demanding  political  liberty,  it  has  accepted,  I  should  not 
like  to  say  political  servitude,  but  the  absence  of  liberty."  (Hist.  Gen.  de  la 
Civil,  en  Eur.  le§.  12.) 

I  quote  M.  Guizot,  because  in  Spain  we  are  so  accustomed  to  translations, 
because  we  Spaniards  have  been  led  to  suppose,  that  the  best  thing  for  us  is  to 
believe  foreigners  on  their  bare  word ;  because  amongst  us,  in  questions  of 
importance,  it  is  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  foreign  authorities ;  and  hence, 
a  writer  who  appears  to  slight  such  authorities,  exposes  himself  to  the  risk  of 
being  treated  as  an  ignoramus,  as  one  behind  the  age.  Besides,  with  a  certain 
class  of  writers,  the  authority  of  M.  Guizot  is  decisive.  In  fact,  a  multitude 
of  publications  have  appeared  amongst  us  bearing  the  title  of  "  Philosophy  of 
History,"  whose  authors,  it  is  quite  clear,  have  used  the  works  of  that  French 
writer  as  their  text-books.  Is  this  assertion,  that  Protestantism  is  the  natural 
bulwark  of  liberty,  true  or  false,  accurate  or  inaccurate  ?  What  do  history  and 


844  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

philosophy  teach  us  on  this  point  ?  Has  Protestantism  advanced  the  popular 
cause,  by  contributing  to  the  establishment  and  development  of  liberal  forms 
of  government  ?  To  place  the  question  in  its  true  light,  and  discuss  it  tho- 
iOughly,  we  must  take  a  view  of  the  state  of  Europe  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century t  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth.  It  is  incontestable  that  indi- 
viduals and  society  were  then  making  rapid  progress  towards  perfection.  We 
have  sufficient  evidence  of  this  fact  in  the  wonderful  march  of  intellect  at  this 
period,  in  the  numerous  measures  of  improvement  effected  at  that  epoch,  and 
in  the  better  organization  everywhere  introduced.  This  organization  is  doubt- 
less still  imperfect ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  such  as  cannot  be  likened  to  that  of 
former  times.  If  we  carefully  examine  into  the  state  of  society  at  that  epoch, 
as  represented  either  in  the  writings  or  in  the  events  of  the  time,  we  shall 
observe  a  certain  restlessness,  anxiety,  and  fermentation,  which,  while  they 
indicated  the  existence  of  vast  wants  not  yet  satisfied,  were  evidence  also  of  a 
tolerably  distinct  knowledge  of  those  wants.  Far  from  discovering  in  the  men 
of  that  period  a  contempt  or  forgetfulness  of  their  rights  and  dignity,  or  any 
discouragement  and  pusillanimity  at  the  sight  of  obstacles,  we  find  them 
abounding  in  foresight  and  ingenuity,  swayed  by  lofty  and  sublime  thoughts, 
fired  with  noble  sentiments,  and  animated  with  intrepid  and  ardent  courage. 
The  progress  of  European  society  at  that  epoch  was  very  rapid ;  three  very 
remarkable  circumstances  contributed  to  render  it  so  :  1.  The  introduction  of 
the  whole  body  of  men  to  the  rank  of  citizens,  as  a  necessary  consequence  of 
the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  decline  of  feudality ;  2.  The  very  nature  of  civi- 
lization, in  which  every  thing  advances  together  and  abreast;  3.  In  fine,  the 
existence  of  a  means  for  increasing  its  development  and  rapidity — this  means 
was  the  art  of  printing.  To  make  use  of  a  physico-mathematical  expression, 
we  may  say,  that  the  amount  of  motion  must  have  been  very  considerable,  since 
it  was  the  product  of  the  mass  by  the  rapidity,  and  that  the  mass,  as  well  as 
the  rapidity,  were  then  very  considerable. 

This  powerful  movement,  which  proceeds  from  good,  is  in  itself  good,  and 
is  productive  of  good,  is,  however,  accompanied  by  inconveniences  and  perils ; 
it  raises  flattering  hopes,  but  it  also  inspires  apprehensions  and  fears.  The 
people  of  Europe  are  an  ancient  people,  but  they  may  be  said  to  have  become 
young  again  ;  their  inclinations,  their  wants,  urge  them  to  great  enterprises ; 
and  they  enter  upon  them  with  the  ardor  of  an  impetuous  and  inexperienced 
young  man,  feeling  in  his  breast  a  great  heart,  and  in  his  head  the  lively  spark 
of  genius.  In  this  situation,  a  great  problem  presents  itself  for  solution,  viz., 
to  find  the  most  proper  means  for  directing  society  without  impeding  its  pro- 
gress; and  for  conducting  it  by  a  way  free  from  precipices  to  the  objects  of  its 
aim,  intelligence,  morality,  felicity.  A  slight  glance  at  this  problem  startles  us 
at  its  immense  extent ;  so  numerous  are  the  objects  it  embraces,  the  relations 
it  bears,  the  obstacles  and  difficulties  with  which  it  is  beset.  Considering  this 
question  attentively,  and  comparing  it  with  man's  weakness,  the  mind  is  ready 
to  lose  courage  and  despond.  The  problem,  however,  exists,  not  as  a  scientific 
speculation,  but  as  a  real  and  urgent  necessity.  In  such  a  case,  society  is  like 
individuals ;  it  attempts,  essays,  and  makes  efforts  to  get  clear  of  the  difficulty 
as  well  as  possible. 

Man's  civil  state  improves  daily;  but  to  maintain  this  improvement,  and  to 
perfect  it,  requires  a  means  :  and  this  is  the  problem  of  political  forms.  What 
ought  these  forms  to  be  ?  And,  above  all,  what  elements  can  we  make  use 
of?  What  is  the  respective  force  of  these  elements  ?  What  are  their  tenden- 
cies, their  relations,  their  affinities  ?  How  shall  they  be  combined  ?  Monarchy, 
Aristocracy,  Democracy — these  three  powers  present  themselves  at  the  same 
time  to  dispute  for  the  direction  and  government  of  society.  They  are  certainly 
not  equal,  either  in  force,  means  of  action,  or  in  practical  intelligence ;  but 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY.  345 

they  all  command  our  respect,  they  have  all  pretensions  to  a  preponderance 
more  or  less  decisive,  and  none  of  them  are  without  the  probability  of  obtaining 
it.  This  simultaneous  concurrrence  of  pretensions,  this  rivalship  of  three 
powers  so  different  in  their  nature  and  aim,  forms  one  of  the  leading  features 
of  this  epoch.  It  is,  as  it  were,  in  a  great  measure  the  key  to  the  principal 
events ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  various  aspects  presented  by  this  feature,  it  may 
be  signalized  as  a  general  fact  among  all  the  civilized  portion  of  the  nations 
of  Europe. 

Before  proceeding  further  in  our  examination  of  this  subject,  the  mere  indi- 
cation of  such  a  fact  suggests  the  reflection,  that  it  must  be  very  incorrect  to 
say  that  Catholicity  has  tendencies  opposed  to  the  true  liberty  of  the  people ; 
for  we  see  that  European  civilization,  which,  during  so  many  ages,  was  under 
the  influence  and  guardianship  of  this  religion,  did  not  then  present  one  single 
principle  of  government  exclusively  predominating.  Survey  the  whole  of 
Europe  at  this  period,  and  you  will  not  find  one  country  in  which  the  same 
fact  did  not  exist.  In  Spain,  France,  England,  Germany,  under  the  names 
of  Cortes,  States-General,  Parliaments,  or  Diets ;  the  same  thing  everywhere, 
with  the  simple  modifications  which  necessarily  result  from  circumstances 
adapted  to  each  people.  What  is  very  remarkable  in  this  case  is,  that  if  there 
be  a  single  exception,  it  is  in  favor  of  liberty ;  and,  strange  to  say,  it  exists 
precisely  in  Italy,  where  the  influence  of  the  Popes  is  immediately  felt.  The 
names  of  the  Republics  of  Genoa,  Pisa,  Sienna,  Florence,  Venice,  are  familiar  to 
all.  It  is  well  known  that  Italy  is  the  country  in  which  popular  forms  at  that 
period  gained  most  ground,  and  in  which  they  were  put  in  practice,  whilst  in 
other  countries  they  had  already  abandoned  the  field.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  the  Italian  Republics  were  a  model  worthy  of  being  imitated  by  the 
other  nations  of  Europe.  I  am  well  aware  that  these  forms  of  government 
were  attended  with  grave  inconveniences ;  but  since  so  much  is  said  of  spirit 
and  tendencies,  since  the  Catholic  Church  is  reproached  with  her  affinity  to 
despotism,  and  the  Popes  with  a  taste  for  oppression,  it  is  well  to  adduce  those 
facts  which  may  serve  to  throw  some  doubt  upon  certain  authoritative  asser- 
tions, adduced  as  so  many  philosophico-historical  dogmas.  If  Italy  preserved 
her  independence  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  Emperors  of  Germany  to  wrest 
it  from  her,  ~she  owed  it  in  a  great  part  to  the  firmness  and  energy  of  the  Popes. 

In  order  to  comprehend  fully  the  relations  which  Catholicity  bears  to  political 
institutions,  in  order  to  ascertain  what  degree  of  affinity  it  bears  to  such  and 
such  forms,  and  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  influence  of  Protestantism  in  this 
respect  over  European  civilization,  we  must  examine  carefully  and  in  detail 
each  of  the  elements  claiming  preponderance.  When  we  examine  them  after- 
wards in  their  relations  with  each  other,  we  will  ascertain,  as  far  as  possible, 
where  the  truth  lies  in  this  shapeless  mass.  Every  one  of  these  three  may  be 
considered  in  two  ways  :  1.  According  to  the  ideas  formed  of  them  at  the  period 
we  are  speaking  of;  2.  According  to  the  interests  these  elements  represent,  and 
the  part  they  play  in  society.  We  must  lay  particular  stress  upon  this  dis- 
tinction, without  which  we  should  expose  ourselves  to  the  commission  of  serious 
errors.  In  fact,  the  ideas  which  were  entertained  upon  such  or  such  principles 
of  government  did  not  coincide  with  the  interest  represented  by  this  same 
element,  and  with  the  part  it  acted  in  society ;  and  although  it  is  clear  that 
these  two  things  must  have  had  very  close  relations  with  each  other,  and  could 
not  be  disengaged  from  a  real  and  reciprocal  influence,  yet  it  is  most  certain 
that  they  differ  considerably,  and  that  this  difference,  the  source  of  very  various 
considerations,  shows  the  subject  in  points  of  view  quite  dissimilar. 
44 


346 


CHAPTER    LVIII. 

MONARCHY  IN   THE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY. 

THE  idea  of  monarchy  has  ever  existed  in  the  bosom  of  European  society, 
even  at  the  time  when  the  least  use  was  made  of  it ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark, 
that  at  the  time  when  its  energy  was  taken  away,  and  it  was  destroyed  in 
practice,  it  still  retained  its  force  in  theory.  We  cannot  s#y  that  our  ancestors 
had  any  very  fixed  notions  upon  the  nature  of  the  object  represented  by  this 
idea ;  nor  can  we  wonder  at  it,  since  the  continual  variations  and  modifications 
which  they  witnessed  must  have  prevented  them  from  forming  any  very  correct 
knowledge  of  it.  Nevertheless,  if  we  peruse  the  codes  in  places  where  monarchy 
is  treated  of,  and  if  we  consult  the  writings  which  have  been  preserved  upon 
this  matter,  we  shall  find  that  their  ideas  on  this  point  were  more  fixed  than 
might  have  been  imagined.  By  studying  the  manner  of  thinking  of  this  period, 
we  find  that  men  in  general  were  almost  destitute  of  analytical  knowledge, 
being  more  erudite  than  philosophical ;  so  much  so,  that  they  scarcely  ventured 
to  express  an  idea  without  supporting  it  by  a  multitude  of  authorities.  This 
taste  for  erudition,  which  is  visible  at  the  first  glance  into  their  writings — a 
mere  tissue  of  quotations — and  which  must  have  been  very  natural,  since  it 
was  so  general  and  lasting,  had  very  advantageous  results ;  not  the  least  of 
which  was  the  uniting  of  ancient  with  modern  society,  by  the  preservation  of 
a  great  number  of  records  and  memorials,  which,  had  it  not  been  for  this  public 
taste,  must  have  been  destroyed,  and  by  exhuming  from  the  dust  the  remains 
of  antiquity  about  to  perish.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  produced  many  evils ; 
amongst  others,  a  sort  of  stifling  of  thought,  which  could  no  longer  indulge  in 
its  own  inspirations,  although  they  may  have  been  more  happy  than  the  ancient 
ones  on  some  points. 

However  it  may  be,  such  is  the  fact :  on  examining  it  in  relation  to  the 
matter  under  discussion,  we  find  that  monarchy  was  represented  at  that  time 
as  one  single  picture,  in  which  there  appeared  at,  the  same  time  the  kings  of 
the  Jews  and  the  Roman  emperors,  whose  features  had  been  corrected  by  the 
hand  of  Christianity.  That  is  to  say,  the  principles  of  monarchy  were  com- 
posed of  the  teachings  of  Scripture  and  the  Roman  codes.  Seek  every  where 
the  idea  of  emperor,  king,  or  prince,  you  will  always  find  the  same  thing, 
whether  you  look  for  the  origin  of  power,  its  extent,  its  exercise,  or  its  object. 
But  what  ideas  were  entertained  of  monarchy  ?  What  was  the  acceptation  of 
this  word  ?  Taken  in  a  general  sense,  abstractedly  from  the  various  modifica- 
tions which  a  variety  of  circumstances  gave  to  its  signification,  it  meant,  the 
supreme  command  over  society,  vested  in  the  hands  of  one  man,  who  was  to  exercise 
it  according  to  reason  and  justice.  This  was  the  leading  idea,  the  only  one 
fixed,  as  a  sort  of  pole,  round  which  all  other  questions  revolved.  Did  the 
monarch  possess  in  himself  the  faculty  of  making  laws  without  consulting 
general  assemblies,  which,  under  different  names,  represented  the  different 
classes  of  the  kingdom  ?  From  the  moment  that  we  propose  this  question  we 
come  upon  new  ground.  We  have  descended  from  theory  to  practice ;  we  have 
brought  our  ideas  into  contact  with  the  object  to  which  they  are  to  be  applied. 
From  that  moment,  we  must  allow,  every  thing  vacillates  and  becomes  obscure ; 
a  thousand  incoherent,  strange,  and  contradictory  facts  pass  before  our  eyes ', 
the  parchments  upon  which  are  inscribed  the  rights,  liberties,  and  laws  of  the 
people  give  rise  to  a  variety  of  interpretations,  which  multiply  doubts  and 
increase  difficulties.  We  see,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  relations  of  the 
monarch  with  the  subject,  or,  more  properly  speaking,  the  mode  in  which 
government  should  be  exercised,  was  not  very  well  defined.  The  confusion 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY.  347 

from  which  society  was  emerging  was  still  felt,  and  was  inevitable  in  an  aggre- 
gation of  heterogeneous  bodies,  in  a  combination  of  rival  and  hostile  elements ; 
that  is,  we  discover  an  embryo,  and  consequently  it  is  impossible  as  yet  to  find 
regular  and  well-defined  forms. 

Did  this  idea  of  monarchy  contain  any  thing  of  despotism,  any  thing  that 
subjected  one  man  to  the  dominion  of  another  by  setting  aside  the  eternal  laws 
of  reason  and  justice  ?  No ;  from  the  moment  that  we  touch  upon  this  point 
we  discover  a  new  horizon,  clear  and  transparent,  upon  which  objects  present 
themselves  distinctly,  without  a  shade  of  dimness  or  obscurity.  The  answer 
of  all  writers  is  decisive :  Rule  ought  to  be  conformable  to  reason  and  justice ; 
if  it  is  not,  it  is  mere  tyranny.  So  that  the  principle  maintained  by  M.  Guizot, 
in  his  Discours  sur  la  Democratic  moderne,  and  in  his  History  of  Civilisation  in 
Europe,  viz.  that  the  will  alone  does  not  constitute  a  right ;  that  laws,  to  be 
laws,  should  accord  with  those  of  eternal  reason,  the  only  source  of  all  legiti- 
mate power ; — that  this  principle,  I  say,  which  we  might  imagine  to  be  newly 
applied  to  society,  is  as  ancient  as  the  world.  Acknowledged  by  ancient 
philosophers,  developed,  inculcated,  and  applied  by  Christianity,  we  find  it  in 
every  page  of  jurists  and  theologians. 

But  we  know  what  this  principle  was  worth  in  the  monarchies  of  antiquity, 
and  also  in  our  own  days  in  countries  where  Christianity  has  not  yet  been 
established.  Who,  in  such  countries,  presumes  continually  to  remind  kings 
of  their  obligation  to  be  just  ?  Observe,  on  the  contrary,  what  is  the  case 
among  Christians:  the  words  ' reason'  and  i justice'  are  constantly  in  the 
mouth  of  the  subject,  because  he  knows  that  no  one  has  a  right  to  treat  him 
unreasonably  or  unjustly ;  and  this  he  knows,  because  Christianity  has  impressed 
him  with  a  profound  idea  of  his  own  dignity,  because  it  has  accustomed  him  to 
look  upon  reason  and  justice,  not  as  vain  words,  but  as  eternal  characters 
engraven  on  the  heart  of  man  by  the  hand  of  God,  perpetually  reminding  man 
that,  although  he  is  a  frail  creature,  subject  to  error  and  to  weakness,  he  is, 
nevertheless,  stamped  with  the  image  of  eternal  truth  and  of  immutable  justice. 
If  any  one  should  question  the  truth  of  what  I  have  advanced,  it  will  suffice, 
to  convince  him,  to  remind  him  of  the  numerous  texts  previously  cited  in  this 
work,  and  in  which  the  most  eminent  Catholic  writers  bear  testimony  to  their 
manner  of  thinking  on  the  origin  and  faculties  of  civil  power. 

So  much  for  ideas ;  as  for  facts,  they  vary  according  to  times  and  countries. 
During  the  incursions  of  the  barbarians,  and  so  long  as  the  feudal  system 
prevailed,  monarchy  remained  mucfy  beneath  its  typical  idea ;  but  during  the 
course  of  the  sixteenth  century,  matters  assumed  a  different  aspect.  In  Germany, 
France,  England,  and  Spain,  powerful  monarchs  were  reigning,  who  filled  the 
world  with  the  fame  of  their  names ;  in  their  presence  aristocracy  and  democracy 
bowed  with  humility;  or  if  by  chance  they  ventured  to  raise  their  heads,  it 
was  only  to  suffer  still  greater  degradation.  The  throne,  it  is  true,  had  not  yet 
attained  that  ascendency  of  power  and  importance  which  it  acquired  in  the 
following  century;  but  its  destiny  was  irrevocably  fixed — power  and  glory 
awaited  it.  Aristocracy  and  democracy  might  have  labored  to  take  part  in 
future  events ;  but  it  would  have  been  labor  in  vain  for  them  to  attempt  to 
appropriate  them.  A  fixed  and  powerful  centre  was  essential  to  European 
society,  and  monarchy  completely  satisfied  this  imperative  necessity.  The 
people  understood  and  felt  it ;  hence  we  find  them  eagerly  grasping  at  this 
saving  principle,  and  placing  themselves  under  the  safeguard  of  the  throne. 

The  question  is  not,  therefore,  whether  or  not  the  throne  ought  to  exist,  or 
whether  it  ought  to  preponderate  over  aristocracy  and  democracy :  these  two 
questions  have  been  already  resolved.  At  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  its  existence  and  preponderance  were  already  necessary.  The  question 
to  be  resolved  is,  whether  the  throne  ought  so  decisively  to  have  prevailed, 


848  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

that  the  two  elements,  aristocracy  and  democracy,  should  be  erased  from  the 
political  world ;  whether  the  combination  which  had  hitherto  existed  was  still 
to  exist :  or,  whether  these  two  elements  should  disappear ;  whether  monarchical 
power  should  be  absolute.  The  Church  resisted  royal  power  when  it  attempted 
to  lay  hands  upon  sacred  things ;  but  her  zeal  never  carried  her  so  far  as  to 
depreciate,  in  the  eys  of  the  people,  an  authority  which  was  so  essential  to  them. 
On  the  contrary,  besides  continually  giving  to  the  power  of  kings  a  more 
solid  basis,  by  her  doctrines  favorable  to  all  legitimate  authority,  she  en- 
deavored to  give  them  a  still  more  sacred  character  by  the  august  ceremonies 
displayed  at  their  coronations.  The  Church  has  been  sometimes  accused  of 
anarchical  tendencies,  for  having  energetically  struggled  against  the  pretensions 
of  sovereigns ;  by  some,  on  the  contrary,  she  has  been  reproached  with  fa- 
voring despotism,  because  she  preached  up  to  the  people  the  duty  of  obedi- 
ence to  the  lawful  authorities.  If  I  mistake  not,  these  accusations,  so  opposite 
to  each  other,  prove  that  the  Church  has  neither  been  adulatory  nor  anarchical ; 
she  has  maintained  the  balance  even,  by  telling  the  truth  both  to  kings  and 
their  subjects. 

Let  the  spirit  of  sectarianism  seek,  on  all  sides,  historical  facts,  to  prove 
that  the  Popes  have  attempted  to  destroy  civil  monarchy  by  confiscating  it  to 
their  own  profit.  But  let  us  bear  in  mind  what  the  Protestant  Miiller  says, 
that  the  Father  of  the  faithful  was,  during  the  barbarous  ages,  a  tutor  sent  by 
G-od  to  the  European  nations ;  and  let  us  not  be  astonished  to  find  that  dif- 
ferences have  sometimes  occurred  between  him  and  his  pupils.  To  discover 
the  intention  which  dictated  these  reproaches  against  the  Court  of  Rome, 
relative  to  monarchy,  we  need  only  reflect  upon  the  following  question.  All 
writers  consider  as  a  great  benefit  the  creation  of  a  strong  central  authority, 
and  yet  circumscribed  within  just  limits  that  it  may  not  abuse  its  power; 
they  laud  to  the  skies  every  thing  tending,  directly  or  indirectly,  among  all 
the  nations  of  Europe,  to  establish  such  an  authority.  Why,  then,  when 
speaking  of  the  conduct  of  Popes,  do  they  attribute  to  a  pretended  taste  for 
despotism  the  support  which  they  give  to  royal  authority,  whilst  they  qualify 
with  anarchical  usurpation  their  efforts  to  restrain,  upon  certain  points,  the 
faculties  of  sovereigns  ?  The  answer  is  not  difficult.  (34) 


CHAPTER  LIX. 

THE  ARISTOCRACY  OF  THE     SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 

THE  aristocracy,  as  including  the  privileged  portion  of  society,  comprehended 
two  classes  very  distinct  in  their  origin  and  nature,  the  nobility  and  the  clergy. 
Both  abounded  in  power  and  riches  ;  both  were  placed  far  above  the  people, 
and  were  important  wheels  in  the  political  machine.  There  was,  however,  this 
remarkable  difference  between  them,  that  the  principal  basis  of  the  power  and 
grandeur  of  the  Clergy  was  religious  ideas — ideas  which  circulated  throughout 
society,  which  animated  it,  gave  it  life,  and  consequently  insured  for  a  long 
time  the  preponderance  of  the  ecclesiastical  power ;  whilst  the  grandeur  and 
influence  of  the  nobles  rested  solely  upon  a  fact  necessarily  transient,  viz.  the 
social  organization  of  the  epoch — an  organization  which  was  becoming  rapidly 
modified,  since  the  people  were  then  struggling  to  liberate  themselves  from  the 
bonds  of  feudalism.  I  do  not  mean,  that  the  nobles  did  not  possess  legitimate 
rights  to  the  power  and  influence  which  they  exercised  ]  but  merely  th^t  the 
principal  portion  of  these  rights,  even  supposing  them  founded  upon  the  most 
just  laws  and  titles,  was  not  necessarily  connected  with  any  of  the  great  con- 
servative principles  of  society — those  principles  which  invest  with  an  immense 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  349 

force  and  ascendency  the  person  or  class  which  in  any  way  represents  them. 
But  we  touch  here  upon  a  subject  little  investigated,  and  upon  the  explanation 
of  which  depends  the  comprehension  of  great  social  facts.  It  is  well,  therefore, 
to  develope  it  fully,  and  to  examine  it  attentively. 

Of  what  was  monarchy  the  representative  ?  Of  a  principle  eminently  con- 
servative of  society — a  principle  which  has  withstood  all  the  attacks  of  theories 
and  revolutions,  and  to  which  have  been  attached,  as  the  only  anchor  of  safety, 
those  very  nations  in  the  bosom  of  which  democratical  ideas  were  diffused,  and 
in  which  liberal  institutions  originated.  This  is  one  of  the  causes  why 
monarchy,  even  in  its  most  calamitous  times,  triumphed  over  its  disasters. 
Feudal  pride,  and  the  unsettled  state  of  the  times,  with  the  agitation  of  rising 
democracy,  united  to  oppress  it ;  scarcely  was  its  power  distinguishable  amid 
the  troubled  waves  of  society,  like  the  broken  mast  of  a  shipwrecked  vessel. 
But,  even  at  this  time,  we  find  the  ideas  of  force  and  power  bound  to  those  of 
monarchy.  Regal  dignity  was  trampled  under  foot  and  outraged  in  various 
ways,  but  still  held  sacred  and  recognised  as  inviolable.  Theory  was  not  in 
accordance  with  practice ;  the  idea  was  more  forcible  than  the  fact  which  it 
expressed :  but  we  need  not  be  astonished  at  this  phenomenon,  since  such  is 
always  the  character  of  ideas  producing  great  changes.  They  are,  at  first, 
merely  visible  in  society ;  they  spread,  take  root,  and  penetrate  into  all  insti- 
tutions; time  continues  to  prepare  the  way;  and  if  the  idea  is  just  and  moral, 
if  it  point  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  want,  the  moment  at  length  comes  in  which 
facts  give  way,  the  idea  triumphs,  and  bends  and  humbles  all  before  it.  This 
was  the  case,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  with  regard  to  monarchy ;  under  one 
form  or  another,  with  greater  or  less  modifications,  it  was  actually  essential  to 
the  people,  as  it  is  still;  and  for  this  reason  it  naturally  prevailed  over  all  its 
adversaries,  and  survived  all  accidents. 

With  respect  to  the  clergy,  we  need  not  attempt  to  show  that  they  were  the 
representatives  of  the  religious  principle — a  real  social  necessity  for  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  when  taken  in  its  general  sense ;  and  a  real  social  neces- 
sity for  the  nations  of  Europe,  when  taken  in  its  Christian  sense. 

We  have  already  seen  thai  the  nobility  could  not  be  compared  either  to 
monarchy  or  to  the  clergy,  since  they  were  destitute  of  the  high  principles 
represented  by  each  of  these  bodies.  Extensive  privileges,  and  the  ancient 
possession  of  great  estates,  with  the  guarantee  of  the  laws  and  customs  of  the 
time ;  glorious  traditions  of  military  feats,  pompous  names,  titles,  and  escutch- 
eons of  illustrious  ancestors;  suchxwere  the  insignia  of  the  lay  aristocracy.  But 
nothing  of  all  this  had  any  direct  and  essential  relation  with  the  great  wants 
of  society.  The  nobility  depended  upon  a  particular  organization,  necessarily 
transient ;  they  were  too  nearly  allied  to  a  law  purely  positive  and  human,  to 
be  able  to  reckon  upon  a  long  duration,  or  to  flatter  themselves  with  success  in 
all  their  pretensions  and  exigencies.  It  will  be  objected,  perhaps,  that  the 
existence  of  an  intermediate  class  between  the  monarch  and  the  people  is  an 
essential  necessity,  acknowledged  by  all  publicists,  and  founded  upon  the  very 
nature  of  things.  In  fact,  we  have  seen  that  in  nations  from  which  the  ancient 
aristocracy  has  disappeared,  ,#  new  one  has  been  formed,  either  by  the  course 
of  events  or  by  the  action  of  governments.  But  this  objection  is  not  appli- 
cable to  the  question  in  the  point  of  view  under  which  I  consider  it.  I  do  not 
deny  the  necessity  of  an  intermediate  class ;  I  merely  affirm  that  the  ancient 
nobility,  such  as  it  was,  did  not  contain  elements  to  ensure  its  duration,  since 
it  was  liable  to  be  replaced  by  another,  as  it  has  been  in  effect.  The  classes 
of  the  laity  acquire  their  political  and  social  importance  from  a  superiority  of 
intellect  and  force ;  this  superiority  no  longer  existing  in  the  nobility,  its  fall 
was  inevitable.  At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  throne  and  the 
people  daily  acquired  a  greater  ascendency ;  the  former  became  the  centre  of 

2E 


350  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

all  social  forces,  and  the  people  were  constantly  enriching  themselves  by 
industry  and  commerce.  With  regard  to  learning,  the  discovery  of  printing, 
as  it  became  general,  prevented  it  from  being  henceforth  the  exclusive  patri- 
mony of  any  particular  class. 

It  was  evident,  therefore,  that  the  nobility  perceived,  at  this  epoch,  their 
ancient  power  escaping,  and  possessed  no  other  means  of  preserving  a  part  of 
it  than  to  struggle  to  preserve  the  titles  which  it  had  given  them.  Unfor- 
tunately for  them,  their  wealth  was  daily  decreasing,  not  only  from  the  dilapi- 
dations occasioned  by  luxury,  but  also  from  the  extraordinary  increase  of 
non-territorial  riches ;  the  profound  changes  wrought  in  the  value  of  every 
thing  by  means  of  the  re-organization  of  society  and  the  discovery  of  America 
caused  immovable  property  to  lose  much  of  its  importance.  If  the  force  of 
landed  property  was  gradually  diminishing,  the  rights  of  jurisdiction  were 
marching  still  more  rapidly  towards  their  ruin.  On  one  hand,  these  rights 
were  opposed  by  the  power  of  kings ;  and,  on  the  other,  by  municipalities  and 
other  centres  of  action  possessed  by  the  popular  element ;  so  that,  in  spite  of 
the  most  profound  respect  for  acquired  rights,  and  merely  by  allowing  things 
to  take  their  ordinary  course,  the  ancient  nobility  was  inevitably  sunk  to  that 
point  of  depression  in  which  it  now  exists.  This  could  not  happen  to  the 
clergy.  Despoiled  of  their  wealth,  entirely  or  partially  deprived  of  their  pri- 
vileges, there  still  remained  for  them  the  ministry  of  religion.  No  one  could 
exercise  this  ministry  without  them ;  which  was  sufficient  to  insure  them  great 
influence  in  spite  of  all  commotions  and  changes. 


CHAPTER  LX. 

ON   DEMOCRACY. 

SUCH  was  the  situation  of  Europe  during  the  centuries  preceding  the  six- 
teenth, that  it  appears  difficult  to  find  for  democracy  a  well-defined  place  in 
political  theories.  Stifled  by  the  established  powers,  deprived  as  yet  of  the 
resources  which,  in  time,  gave  it  the  ascendency,  it  was  natural  it  should  be 
almost  unobserved  by  politicians.  It  was  in  reality  very  feeble  ',  and  it  was 
not,  therefore,  surprising  that,  owing  to  the  influence  of  reality  over  ideas, 
theorists  should  regard  the  people  merely  as  an  abject  portion  of  society, 
unworthy  of  honors  or  happiness,  and  fit  only  to  labor  and  to  serve.  It  is, 
however,  worthy  of  remark,  that  ideas  from  that  time  took  a  new  direction ;  it 
may  even  be  affirmed  that  they  were  infinitely  more  elevated  and  more  gener- 
ous than  facts.  This  is  one  of  the  most  convincing  proofs  of  the  intellectual 
development  that  Christianity  had  operated  amongst  men — one  of  the  most 
unexceptionable  testimonies  in  favor  of  that  profound  sentiment  of  reason  and 
justice  which  it  had  deposited  in  the  heart  of  society.  Now  these  elements 
were  not  to  be  stifled  by  events  the  most  unfavorable,  nor  by  the  rudest  shocks ; 
for  they  were  supported  upon  the  very  dogmas  of  religion,  which  still  remain 
firm,  in  spite  of  all  commotion,  as  an  immovable  axis  remains  fixed  in  the  midst 
of  broken  machinery. 

In  perusing  the  writings  of  this  epoch,  we  find  established,  as  an  indubitable 
fact,  the  right  of  the  people  to  the  administration  of  justice ;  they  were  not  to 
be  irritated  by  any  vexatious  regulations  ,J  the  public  imposts  were  to  be  equally 
divided ;  no  one  was  to  be  forced  to  do  any  thing  contrary  to  reason  or  the 
well-being  of  society  :  that  is  to  say,  these  writers  acknowledged  and  established 
all  those  principles  upon  which  were  to  be  based  the  laws  and  customs  destined 
one  day  to  produce  civil  liberty.  This  is  so  true,  that,  in  proportion  as  cir- 
cumstances permitted,  these  principles  were  rapidly  and  extensively  developed ; 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  351 

vast  and  numerous  applications  were  immediately  made  of  them ;  and  civil 
liberty  took  such  deep  root  among  the  people  of  modern  Europe,  that  it  has 
never  been  erased  from  their  bosoms ;  and  we  see  it  preserved  in  forms  of  abso- 
lute government  as  well  as  in  the  mixed  forms. 

To  complete  my  demonstration,  that  the  ideas  in  favor  of  the  people  pro- 
ceeded from  Christianity,  I  will  adduce  a  reason  which  appears  to  me  decisive. 
The  philosophy  adopted  by  the  schools  of  that  period  was  that  of  Aristotle. 
Aristotle's  authority  was  of  great  weight ;  he  was  called  by  an  autonomasia, 
the  Philosopher ;  a  good  commentary  of  his  works  was  considered  the  highest 
point  to  be  attained  in  these  matters.  And  yet,  so  far  as  the  relations  of 
society  were  concerned,  the  doctrines  of  the  Stagyrite  were  not  adopted; 
Christian  writers  took  a  higher  and  more  generous  view  of  mankind.  Aris- 
totle's degrading  doctrines  upon  man  born  to  servitude,  destined  to  this  end 
even  by  nature,  anterior  to  all  legislation ;  his  horrible  doctrines  upon  infanti- 
cide ;  his  theories,  which  at  one  blow  deprived  all  those  who  professed  the 
mechanical  arts  of  the  title  of  citizen;  in  a  word,  those  monstrous  systems, 
which  the  ancient  philosophers  unconsciously  learned  from  the  society  which 
surrounded  them,  were  utterly  rejected  by  Christian  philosophers.  The  man 
who  had  just  perused  Aristotle's  work  on  Politics  took  up  his  Bible,  or  the 
works  of  the  Fathers :  the  authority  of  Aristotle  was  great,  but  that  of  the 
Church  was  still  greater;  the  works  of  the  pagan  philosopher  must  be  inter- 
preted piously,  or  abandoned;  in  either  case  the  rights  of  humanity  were  saved, 
and  this  was  an  effect  of  the  preponderating  force  of  the  Catholic  faith. 

The  system  of  castes  most  forcibly  contributes  to  arrest  the  development  of 
the  popular  element,  by  condemning  the  majority  of  the  people  of  a  country 
to  a  state  of  perpetual  abjection  and  slavery.  In  this  system,  honors,  riches, 
and  command  are  confined  and  transferred  from  father  to  son ;  a  barrier  sepa- 
rates men  from  each  other,  and  ends  in  causing  the  most  powerful  to  be  con- 
sidered as  belonging  to  a  superior  class  of  beings.  The  Church  has  ever 
opposed  the  introduction  of  so  fatal  a  system,  and  to  apply  the  word  caste  to 
the  clergy  would  betray  an  ignorance  of  its  meaning.  On  this  subject  M. 
Guizot  has  done  ample  justice  to  the  cause  of  truth.  He  expresses  himself  in 
the  following  manner  in  the  fifth  lecture  of  his  Histoire  yen&rale  de  la  Civilisa- 
tion en  Europe :  "  With  regard  to  the  mode  of  formation  and  transmission  of 
power  in  the  Church,  there  is  a  word,"  says  he,  "  much  used  in  speaking  of 
the  Christian  clergy,  and  which  I  am  under  the  obligation  of  discarding ;  it  is 
the  word  caste.  The  body  of  ecclesiastical  magistrates  has  often  been,  called  a 
caste.  This  expression  is  not  correct;  the  idea  of  heirship  is  inherent  in  that 
of  caste.  Travel  over  the  world;  take  all  those  countries  in  which  the  system 
of  castes  exists,  in  India,  in  Egypt,  you  will  find  everywhere  the  caste  essentially 
hereditary ;  it  is  the  transmission  of  the  same  situation,  of  the  same  power, 
from  father  to  son.  Where  heirship  does  not  exist,  there  is  no  caste,  there  is 
a  corporation ;  the  spirit  of  corporate  bodies  has  its  inconveniences,  but  it  is 
very  different  from  that  of  castes.  The  word  caste  cannot  be  applied  to  the 
Christian  Church.  The  celibacy  of  the  clergy  has  prevented  them  from 
becoming  a  caste.  You  perceive  already  the  consequences  of  this  difference.  A 
system  of  caste,  and  the  existence  of  hereditary  succession,  inevitably  involve 
the  idea  of  privileges.  The  very  definition  of  a  caste  implies  privileges.  When 
the  same  functions,  the  same  powers,  become  hereditary  in  the  same  families, 
it  is  evident  that  privileges  follow,  and  that  no  one  can  acquire  such  functions 
and  powers  unless  he  is  born  to  them.  This,  in  fact,  is  what  has  taken  place : 
wherever  religious  government  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a  caste,  it  has 
become  a  privilege ;  no  one  has  been  permitted  to  enter  it  but  the  members  of 
families  belonging  to  the  caste.  Nothing  of  this  has  ever  occurred  in  the 
Christian  Church ;  on  the  contrary,  she  has  ever  maintained  the  equal  admissi- 


352  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

bility  of  all  men,  whatever  their  origin,  to  all  her  functions,  to  all  her  dignities 
The  ecclesiastical  state,  particularly  from  the  fifth  to  the  twelfth  century,  was 
open  to  all.  The  Church  was  recruited  from  all  ranks,  from  the  inferior  as 
well  as  from  the  superior, — more  commonly  even  from  the  inferior.  She  alone 
resisted  the  system  of  castes ;  she  alone  maintained  the  principle  of  equality 
of  competition ;  she  alone  called  all  legitimate  superiors  to  the  possession  of 
power.  This  is  the  first  grand  result  naturally  produced  by  the  fact  that  she 
was  a  corporation,  and  not  a  caste." 

This  splendid  passage  of  the  French  writer  completely  vindicates  the  Catholic 
Church  from  the  reproach  of  exclusiveness  with  which  it  had  been  attempted 
to  stain  her ;  it  presents  to  me  also  the  opportunity  of  making  some  reflections 
upon  the  beneficial  effects  of  Catholicity  upon  the  development  of  civilization 
in  favor  of  the  plebeian  classes.  We  are  not  ignorant  of  the  numerous  decla- 
mations against  religious  celibacy  which  have  proceeded  from  the  mouths  of  the 
pretended  defenders  of  the  rights  of  humanity ;  but  is  it  not  strange  that  they 
forget,  as  M.  Guizot  justly  observes,  that  celibacy  is  exactly  what  has  prevented 
the  Christian  clergy  from  becoming  a  caste  ?  Let  us  examine,  in  fact,  what 
would  have  been  the  case  on  the  contrary  supposition.  At  the  time  to  which 
we  refer,  the  ascendency  of  religious  power  was  unlimited,  and  the  wealth  of 
the  Church  considerable ;  that  is  to  say,  she  possessed  every  thing  necessary 
for  enabling  a  caste  to  establish  its  preponderance  and  stability.  What  further 
was  needful,  therefore  ?  Hereditary  succession,  nothing  more ;  and  this  would 
have  been  established  by  the  marriage  of  the  clergy.  What  I  here  affirm  is 
no  vain  conjecture,  it  is  a  positive  fact,  which  I  can  render  evident  by  bringing 
forward  historical  proof.  From  certain  remarkable  regulations  in  ecclesiastical 
legislation,  we  learn  that  it  required  all  the  energy  of  pontifical  authority  to 
prevent  this  succession  from  being  introduced.  Every  thing,  in  fine,  tended  to 
such  an  end ;  and  if  the  Church  preserved  itself  from  such  a  calamity,  it  was 
owing  to  the  horror  which  she  always  entertained  of  this  fatal  custom.  Read 
the  17th  chapter  of  the  first  book  of  the  Decretals  of  Gregory  IX. ;  the.  ponti- 
fical regulations  therein  contained  prove  that  the  evil  here  spoken  of  presented 
alarming  symptoms.  The  pope  makes  use  of  the  strongest  terms  possible  to  be 
found  :  "  Ad  enormitatem  istam  eradicandam,"  "  observato  Apostolici  rescript! 
decreto  quod  successionem  in  Ecclesia  Dei  hcreditariam  detestatur."  "  Ad  ex- 
tirpandas  successiones  a  sanctis  Dei  Ecclesiis  studio  totius  sollicitudinis  dcbemus 
intendere."  "  Quia  igitur  in  Ecclesia  successiones,  et  in  prselaturis  et  dignita- 
tibus  ecclesiasticis  statutis  canonicis  damnantur."  These  expressions,  and  others 
of  a  like  nature,  clearly  show  that  the  danger  was  already  considered  serious, 
and  justify  the  prudence  of  the  Holy  See  in  reserving  to  itself  the  exclusive 
right  of  granting  dispensations  on  this  point. 

It  required  the  continual  vigilance  of  the  pontifical  authority  to  prevent  this 
abuse  from  making  daily  progress,  for  it  was  urged  on  by  the  most  powerful 
feelings  of  nature.  Four  centuries  had  elapsed  since  these  measures  had  been 
taken,  and  yet  we  find  that,  in  1533,  Pope  Clement  VII.  was  obliged  to  restrict 
a  canon  of  Alexander  III.  in  order  to  prevent  grave  scandals,  grievously 
lamented  by  the  pious  Pontiff.  Suppose  that  the  Church  had  not  opposed  such 
an  abuse  with  all  her  force,  and  that  the  custom  had  become  general;  bear  in 
mind  also,  that  in  those  ages  of  the  grossest  ignorance,  the  privileged  classes 
were  every  thing,  and  the  people  had  scarcely  a  civil  existence;  and  see 
whether  there  would  not  have  been  formed  an  ecclesiastical  caste  along  with 
that  of  the  nobility,  and  whether  both,  united  by  the  bonds  of  family  and 
common  interest,  would  not  have  opposed  an  invincible  obstacle  to  the  ulterior 
development  of  the  plebeian  class,  plunging  European  society  into  that  degrada- 
tion in  which  Asiatic  society  now  exists.  Such  would  have  been  the  consequence 
of  the  marriage  of  the  clergy,  if  the  pretended  reform  had  been  realized  a  few 


PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  353 

centuries  sooner.  When  it  came,  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
it  found  European  society  in  a  great  measure  formed  ;  it  had  to  contend  against 
an  adult,  who  could  not  easily  be  made  to  forget  his  ideas  and  change  his 
habits.  What  has  actually  taken  place  may  lead  us  to  infer  what  would  have 
taken  place.  In  England,  a  close  alliance  was  formed  between  the  lay  aristo- 
cracy and  the  Protestant  clergy ;  and  what  is  very  remarkable,  we  have  seen, 
and  we  still  see,  in  that  country,  something  resembling  castes,  with  the  modifica- 
tions which  mi*et  necessarily  ensue  from  the  great  development  of  a  certain 
kind  of  civilization  and  liberty  at  which  Great  Britain  has  arrived. 

If  the  clergy  in  the  middle  age,  establishing  their  perpetuity  by  hereditary 
succession,  had  constituted  themselves  an  exclusive  class,  would  not  the  aristo- 
cratic alliance  of  which  we  are  speaking  have  been  a  natural  consequence  ? 
And  who  would  thenceforth  have  been  able  to  break  this  alliance  ?  The  enemies 
of  the  Church  interpret  all  her  discipline,  and  even  some  of  her  dogmas,  by 
imputing  to  her  ulterior  designs ;  and  hence  they  consider  the  law  of  celibacy 
as  the  result  of  an  interested  design.  It  was  easy  to  see,  however,  that  if  the 
Church  had  entertained  worldly  views,  she  might  have  selected  as  a  model 
those  priests  of  other  religions  who  have  formed  a  separate,  preponderating, 
and  exclusive  class,  for  which  the  severity  of  duty  did  not  form  a  brazen  wall 
against  the  enjoyments  of  nature.  Europe,  it  will  be  objected,  is  not  Asia. 
This  is  true;  but  the  Europe  of  our  days,  and  even  that  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  is  no  longer  the  Europe  of  the  middle  ages.  In  those  centuries,  in 
which  none  but  the  clergy  could  read  and  write,  and  in  which  knowledge  was 
exclusively  in  their  possession,  had  they  wished  to  plunge  the  world  into  dark- 
ness, they  had  only  to  extinguish  the  torch  with  which  they  were  enlightening 
it.  It  is  also  very  certain,  that  celibacy  has  given  to  the  clergy  a  moral  force 
and  ascendency  which  they  could  not  have  attained  by  any  other  means.  But 
this  only  proves  that  the  Church  has  preferred  moral  to  physical  power,  and 
that  the  spirit  of  her  institutions  is  to  act  by  exercising  a  direct  influence  upon 
the  intelligence  and  heart  of  man.  Now,  is  it  not  eminently  praiseworthy  to 
use  all  possible  moral  means  for  the  direction  of  mankind  ?  Is  it  not  an  honor 
to  the  Catholic  clergy  to  have  accomplished,  by  institutions  severe  against 
themselves,  what  they  might  have  realized  in  part  by  systems  indulgent  to 
their  own  passions  and  degrading  to  others  ?  Oh,  we  see  here  the  work  of  Him 
who  will  remain  with  His  Church  till  the  end  of  the  world. 

Whatever  may  be  the  value  of  these  reflections,  it  cannot  be  contested,  that 
where  Christianity  has  not  existed,  the  people  have  been  the  victims  of  a  small 
number,  whose  contempt  and  insults  have  been  the  only  recompense  of  their 
labors.  Consult  history  and  experience ;  the  fact  is  general  and  constant  ] 
there  is  not  an  exception  even  in  those  ancient  republics  so  vaunted  for  their 
liberty.  Under  liberal  forms,  slavery  existed;  a  slavery  properly  so  called 
for  some  men ;  a  slavery  glossed  over  with  fine  appearances  for  that  turbulent 
multitude  who  served  the  caprice  of  the  Tribunes,  and  believed  they  were  exer- 
cising their  sublime  rights  by  condemning  to  ostracism  or  to  death  the  most 
virtuous  citizens.  It  has  sometimes  happened-  that,  among  the  Christians, 
appearances  were  not  in  favor  of  liberty,  but  things  were  so  in  reality,  if  we 
understand  by  the  word  liberty  the  empire  of  just  laws,  aiming  at  the  well- 
being  of  the  multitude,  and  founded  upon  the  consideration  and  profound 
respect  due  to  the  rights  of  mankind.  Observe  the  grand  phases  of  European 
society  at  the  time  when  Catholicity  exclusively  predominated.  With  various 
forms,  distinct  origins,  different  inclinations,  they  all  follow  the  same  course ; 
all  tend  to  favor  the  cause  of  the  multitude ;  whatever  has  this  for  its  aim.  en- 
dures ;  whatever  has  not,  perishes.  Whence  comes  it  that  this  was  not  the  case 
in  other  countries  ?  If  evident  reasons  and  palpable  facts,  moreover,  did  not 
manifest  the  salutary  influence  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  so  remarkable 
45  2E2 


354  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

a  coincidence  would  suffice  to  suggest  grave  reflections  to  those,  who  medi- 
tate upon  the  cause  and  character  of  the  events  which  change  or  modify  the 
destiny  of  mankind.  Let  those  who  represent  Catholicity  as  the  enemy  of 
the  people,  point  out  to  us  a  single  doctrine  of  the  Church  sanctioning  the 
abuses  under  which  the  people  were  suffering,  or  the  injustice  which  oppressed 
them.  Let  them  show  us  whether,  at  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  when  Europe  was  under  the  exclusive  domination  of  the  Catholic 
religion,  the  people  were  not  as  far  advanced  as  they  could  be, -considering  the 
ordinary  course  of  things.  They  certainly  did  not  possess  so  much  wealth  as 
they  have  since  acquired,  and  their  knowledge  was  not  so  extensive  as  in  modern 
times ;  but  is  the  progress  which  has  been  made  in  this  respect  attributable  to 
Protestantism  ?  Was  not  the  sixteenth  century  commenced  under  more  favor- 
able auspices  than  the  fifteenth,  and  the  latter  under  better  auspices  than 
the  fourteenth  ?  This  proves  that  Europe,  under  the  shield  of  Catholicity,  con- 
tinued in  a  progressive  march  ;  that  the  cause  of  the  multitude  suffered  no 
prejudice  from  the  influence  of  Catholicity;  and  that  if  great  ameliorations 
have  since  been  effected,  they  have  not  been  a  consequence  of  what  is  called 
the  Reformation. 

It  is  the  development  of  industry  and  commerce  that  has  most  powerfully 
contributed  to  elevate  modern  democracy,  by  diminishing  the  preponderance 
of  the  aristocratic  classes.  I  do  not  touch  upon  the  events  which  took  place 
in  Europe  before  the  appearance  of  Protestantism ;  but  I  see  at  a  glance  that, 
far  from  impeding  such  a  movement,  Catholic  doctrines  and  institutions  must 
have  favored  it,  since,  under  their  shield  and  protection,  the  manufacturing 
and  mercantile  interests  were  surprisingly  developed.  No  one  is  ignorant  of 
their  astonishing  success  in  Spain :  and  we  cannot  attribute  this  progress  to 
the  Moors;  for  Catalonia,  subject  exclusively  to  the  Catholic  influence,  evinced 
such  activity,  prosperity,  and  intelligence  in  industry  and  commerce,  that  we 
could  scarcely  believe  to  what  a  state  of  perfection  they  had  arrived,  did  not 
unexceptionable  documents  bear  ample  testimony  to  the  fact.  Read  the  Ilittori,- 
>cal  Memoirs  of  the  Marine,  Commerce,  and  Arts  of  the  ancient  City  of  Barcelona, 
Iby  our  celebrated  Capmany.  May  we  not  account  it  an  honor  to  belong  to 
this  Catalonian  nation,  whose  ancestors  displayed  such  zeal  in  all  things,  never 
allowing  other  nations  to  surpass  them  in  the  march  of  civilization  and  im- 
provement ?  Whilst  this  phenomenon  was  advancing  in  the  south  of  Europe, 
.the  association  of  the  Hanseatic  towns,  the  origin  of  which  is  lost  in  the  centu- 
ries of  the  middle  ages,  was  created  in  the  north.  It  obtained  in  time  such  an 
.amount  of  power  as  to  measure  its  force  with  that  of  kings.  Its  rich  factories, 
established  all  over  Europe,  and  favored  with  many  advantageous  privileges, 
elevated  it  to  the  rank  of  a  real  power.  Not  satisfied  with  the  power  which  it 
enjoyed  in  its  own  country,  and  in  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Denmark,  it  extended 
it  to  England  and  Russia.  London  and  Novogorod  admired  the  splendid 
establishments  of  those  intrepid  merchants,  who,  by  means  of  their  wealth, 
obtained  exorbitant  privileges ;  who  had  their  own  magistrates,  and  formed  an 
independent  state  in  the  centre  of  foreign  countries. 

It  is  very  remarkable  that  the  Hanseatic  league  selected  religious  commu- 
nities as  their  model,  in  all  that  concerned  the  system  of  life  of  the  clerks  in 
their  counting-houses.  Their  clerks  ate  in  common,  had  common  dormitories, 
and  none  of  them  were  allowed  to  marry.  Any  one  of  them  transgressing  this 
law,  forfeited  his  rights  to  remain  a  member  or  a  citizen  of  the  Hanseatic 
Confederation.  In  France,  the  manufacturing  classes  were  also  organized,  the 
better  to  resist  the  elements  of  dissolution  existing  in  their  bosom;  and  this 
change,  so  fruitful  in  results,  is  entirely  due  to  a  king  venerated  upon  the 
altars  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  Establishment  for  the  Trades  of  Paris  gave 
a  powerful  impetus  to  the  industrial  classes,  by  augmenting  their  intelligence 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  355 

and  improving  their  morals;  and  whatever  were  the  abuses  that  crept  into 
that  organization,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  St.  Louis  satisfactorily  supplied  a 
great  want,  by  organizing  the  trades  in  the  best  manner  possible,  considering 
how  little  progress  had  at  that  time  been  made.  What  shall  we  say  of  Italy, 
containing  within  its  bosom  the  powerful  republics  of  Venice,  Florence,  Genoa, 
and  Pisa  ?  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  what  progress  industry  had  made  in  this 
peninsula,  and,  as  a  natural  consequence,  what  a  development  the  democratical 
element  received.  Had  the  influence  in  itself  been  so  oppressive,  had  the 
breath  of  the  Roman  court  been  fatal  to  the  progress  of  the  people,  is  it  not 
evident  that  its  effects  would  have  been  particularly  felt  in  those  countries 
which  were  the  scene  of  its  actions  ?  Whence  conies  it,  then,  that  whilst  a 
great  part  of  Europe  was  groaning  under  feudal  oppression,  the  middle  class, 
whose  only  title  to  nobility  was  the  fruit  of  their  intelligence  and  labor, 
appeared  in  Italy  so  powerful,  so  brilliant  and  flourishing  ?  I  will  not  contend 
that  this  development  was  attributable  to  the  Popes ;  but,  at  least,  we  must 
grant  that  they  never  opposed  it. 

Now,  if  we  observe  a  similar  phenomenon  in  Spain,  and  particularly  in 
Aragon,  where  the  Pontifical  influence  was  great;  if  the  same  thing  is  observ- 
able in  the  north  of  Europe,  inhabited  by  people  whom  Catholicity  alone  has 
civilized ;  if,  in  fine,  the  same  phenomenon  is  realized,  with  greater  or  less 
rapidity,  in  all  countries  exclusively  subject  to  the  belief  and  authority  of  the 
Church,  we  may  conclude  that  Catholicity  contains  nothing  opposed  to  the 
movement  of  civilization,  and  that  it  is  not  opposed  to  a  just  and  legitimate 
development  of  the  popular  element. 

I  cannot  think  how  it  is  possible  for  any  one  who  has  read  history  to  accord 
to  Protestantism  the  honor  of  being  favorable  to  the  interests  of  the  multitude. 
Its  origin  was  essentially  aristocratic ;  and  in  those  countries  in  which  it  has 
succeeded  in  taking  root,  it  has  established  aristocracy  upon  such  firm  founda- 
tions, that  the  revolutions  of  three  centuries  have  not  been  able  to  overturn  it. 
Witness,  for  a  proof  of  this,  what  has  taken  place  in  Germany,  England,  and 
all  the  north  of  Europe.  It  has  been  said  that  Calvinism  is  more  favorable  to 
the  democratical  element ;  and  that  if  it  had  prevailed  in  France  it  would  have 
established  a  system  of  federative  republic  in  place  of  monarchy.  Whatever 
may  be  the  value  of  this  conjecture-  upon  a  change  which  would  certainly  not 
have  been  very  beneficial  to  the  future  prospects  of  that  nation,  it  is  perfectly 
certain  that  no  other  system  than  that  of  aristocracy  would  have  been  found 
practicable  in  France  ;  for  circumstances  at  that  period  would  admit  of  nothing 
else ;  and  the  aristocrats  who  were  at  the  head  of  religious  innovation,  would 
admit  of  no  other  organization.  Had  Protestantism  triumphed  in  France,  it  is 
probable  that  the  poor  of  that  country,  in  imitation  of  their  brethren  in 
Germany,  would  have  claimed  a  share  in  the  rich  booty ;  but  they  certainly 
would  riot  have  found  Calvin's  proverbial  harshness  more  advantageous  to 
them  than  the  furious  rashness  of  Luther  was  to  the  Germans.  It  is  probable 
that  these  wretched  villagers,  who,  according  to  contemporary  writers,  had 
nothing  to  eat  but  rye-bread,  with  no  animal  food,  and  slept  upon  a  bundle  of 
straw,  with  a  board  for  their  pillow,  would  not  have  felt  themselves  more  com- 
fortable than  their  brethren  in  Germany,  had  they  thought  proper  to  partici- 
pate in  the  effects  of  the  new  doctrines.  In  this  case,  they  would  not  have 
been  punished,  but  exterminated,  like  their  brethren  beyond  the  Rhine.  In 
England,  the  sudden  disappearance  of  the  monasteries  produced  pauperism. 
Their  property  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  laymen,  the  religious  being 
driven  from  their  abodes,  the  poor  who  subsisted  upon  the  alms  of  these  holy 
establishments  were  left  without  the  means  of  subsistence.  And  observe,  that 
the  evil  was  not  temporary ;  it  has  continued  to  our  own  days,  and  is  now  one 
of  the  greatest  evils  afflicting  Great  Britain.  I  am  aware  that  almsgiving  is 


356  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

said  to  encourage  indolence ;  but  it  is  very  certain  that  England,  with  her 
poor-laws  and  her  legal  charity,  contains  a  far  greater  number  of  destitute 
poor  than  Catholic  countries.  It  will  be  difficult  to  convince  me,  that  to  let 
people  die  of  hunger  is  a  good  means  of  developing  the  popular  element. 
Protestantism  must  have  contained  something  very  repulsive  to  the  democrats 
of  that  period,  since  we  find  it  rejected  in  Spain  and  Italy,  the  two  countries 
in  which  the  people  enjoyed  the  greatest  share  of  prosperity  and  rights.  And 
this  becomes  still  more  worthy  of  attention,  when  we  remark  that  religious  inno- 
vation took  root  wherever  the  feudal  aristocracy  predominated.  Look,  it  will 
be  said,  at  the  United  Provinces ;  but  this  example  only  proves  that  Protest- 
antism, determined  to  find  supporters,  willingly  took  part  with  the  mal-con- 
tents.  If  Philip  II.  had  been  a  zealous  Protestant,  the  United  Provinces 
would  probably  have  alleged  that  they  were  unwilling  to  remain  any  longer 
subject  to  an  heretical  prince.  These  provinces  were  for  a  long  time  under 
the  exclusive  influence  of  Catholicity,  and  yet  they  were  prosperous;  the 
popular  element  was  developed  in  their  bosom,  without  meeting  any  obstacle 
on  the  part  of  religion.  Exactly  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century 
they  made  the  discovery,  that  they  could  no  longer  prosper  without  abjuring 
the  faith  of  their  ancestors.  Observe  the  geographical  position  of  the  United 
Provinces ;  see  them  surrounded  by  reformists  offering  to  assist  them ;  and 
you  will  find  in  political  considerations  the  reason  which  you  may  seek  in  vain 
in  imaginary  affinity  between  the  Protestant  system  and  the  interests  of  the 
people.  (35) 


CHAPTER  LXI. 

ON  THE  VALUE  OP   THE   DIFFERENT   POLITICAL   FORMS — CHARACTER  OF 
MONARCHY  IN   EUROPE. 

THE  enthusiasm  enkindled  in  Europe  in  latter  times,  has  cooled  down  by 
degrees ;  experience  has  shown  that  a  political  organization  not  in  accordance 
with  the  social  organization  is  of  no  advantage  to  a  nation,  but  rather  over- 
whelms it  with  evil.  Men  also  understand,  and  not  without  difficulty,  simple 
as  the  matter  is,  that  political  systems  should  be  regarded  solely  as  a  means  of 
ameliorating  the  condition  of  the  people,  and  that  political  liberty,  to  be  at  all 
rational,  must  be  made  a  medium  for  the  acquisition  of  civil  liberty.  Amongst 
enlightened  men,  these  are  ordinary  ideas ;  fanaticism  for  such  or  such  political 
forms,  considered  abstractly  from  their  civil  results,  is  now  abandoned  as  a 
thing  denoting  ignorance,  or  as  a  discreditable  means  hypocritically  made  use 
of  by  the  ambitious,  devoid  of  real  merit,  whose  only  way  to  fortune  is  disturb- 
ance and  revolution.  It  cannot,  however,  be  denied  that,  considered  as  simple 
instruments,  certain  political  forms,  such  as  mixed,  moderate,  constitutional, 
or  representative  governments,  or  whatever  they  be  designated,  have  acquired 
in  some  countries  consideration  and  solidity ;  and  that,  in  many  countries,  any 
principle  which  might  be  considered  opposed  to  representative  forms,  and  only 
favorable  to  absolute  ones,  would  be  repudiated  beforehand.  Civil  liberty  has 
become  necessary  to  the  people  of  Europe ;  and  in  some  nations  the  idea  of  this 
liberty  is  so  identified  with  that  of  political  liberty,  that  it  is  difficult  to  explain 
how  civil  liberty  can  exist  under  an  absolute  monarchy.  We  must  therefore 
examine  what  are  the  tendencies  of  the  Catholic  and  those  of  the  Protestant 
religions.  I  will  proceed  so  as  to  discover  these  tendencies  by  an  impartial 
analysis  of  historical  facts.  Never,  perhaps,  as  M.  G-uizot  felicitously  observes, 
were  the  natural  course  of  things,  and  the  hidden  ways  of  Providence,  less 
understood.  Wheresoever  we  meet  not  with  assemblies,  elections,  urns,  and 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  357 

votes,  we  imagine  power  must  be  absolute,  and  liberty  unprotected.  I  have 
an  express  design  in  making  use  of  the  word  tendencies,  because  it  is  clear  that 
Catholicity  has  no  dogma  on  this  point — it  does  not  pronounce  upon  the 
advantages  of  any  particular  form  of  government.  The  Roman  Pontiff 
acknowledges  equally  as  his  son  the  Catholic  seated  upon  the  bench  of  an 
American  Assembly,  and  the  most  humble  subject  of  the  most  powerful 
monarch.  The  Catholic  religion  is  too  prudent  to  descend  upon  any  such 
ground.  Emanating  from  heaven  itself,  she  diffuses  herself,  like  the  light  of 
the  sun,  over  all  things,  enlightens  and  strengthens  all,  and  is  never  obscured 
or  tarnished.  Her  object  is  to  conduct  man  to  heaven,  by  furnishing  him  on 
his  passage  with  great  assistance  and  consolation  upon  earth ;  she  ceases  not 
to  point  out  to  him  eternal  truths ;  she  gives  him  in  all  his  affairs,  salutary 
counsels;  but  the  moment  we  come  to  mere  details,  she  has  no  obligation  to 
impose,  no  duty  to  enjoin.  She  impresses  upon  his  mind  her  sacred  maxims 
of  morality,  admonishing  him  never  to  depart  from  them ;  like  a  tender  mother 
speaking  to  her  son,  she  says  to  him,  "  Provided  you  depart  not  from  my 
instructions,  do  what  you  consider  most  expedient." 

But  is  it  true  that  there  is  in  Catholicity  at  least  a  tendency  to  obstruct 
liberty  ?  What  has  been  the  result  of  Protestantism  in  Europe  with  regard 
to  political  forms  ?  In  what  has  it  corrected  or  ameliorated  the  work  of  Catho- 
licity ?  In  the  centuries  preceding  the  sixteenth,  the  organization  of -European 
society  was  so  complicated,  the  development  of  all  the  intellectual  faculties  had 
arrived  at  such  a  point,  the  contention  of  interests  was  so  lively,  in  fine,  every 
nation  was  so  enlarged  by  the  successive  agglomeration  of  provinces,  that  a 
central,  forcible,  energetic  power,  predominating  over  all  individual  preten- 
sions and  those  of  classes,  was  indispensable  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the 
people.  Europe  had  no  other  hope  for  peace ;  for  wherever  there  exists  a 
great  number  of  various,  opposite,  and  all  powerful  elements,  a  regulating 
action  is  necessary  to  prevent  violent  shocks,  to  calm  excessive  ardor,  to  moder- 
ate the  rapidity  of  motion,  to  prevent  a  continual  war,  which  would  necessa- 
rily lead  to  destruction  and  chaos.  This  immediately  gave  to  the  monarchical 
principle  a  fresh  and  irresistible  impulse ;  and  as  this  impulse  was  felt  in  every 
European  country,  even  in  those  possessing  republican  institutions,  it  evidently 
resulted  from  causes  that  lay  deep  in  the  social  condition  of  the  times.  At  the 
present  day  there  is  not  a  publicist  of  any  note  who  would  question  these  truths. 
During  the  last  half  century,  in  fact,  events  have  occurred  well  calculated  to 
demonstrate  that  in  Europe  monarchy  is  something  more  than  usurpation  and 
tyranny.  In  the  very  countries  in  which  democratical  ideas  have  taken  root, 
it  has  been  found  necessary  to  modify  them,  and  in  some  degree  to  depart  from 
them,  in  order  to  preserve  the  throne,  which  is  regarded  as  the  best  safeguard 
of  the  great  interests  of  society. 

It  is  the  infirmity  of  all  things  human,  however  good  and  salutary  they  may 
be,  always  to  bring  with  them  an  accompaniment  of  inconveniences  and  evils. 
Monarchy  could  not  evidently  be  exempt  from  this  general  rule ;  in  other  words, 
the  great  extension  of  force  and  power  was  sure  to  produce  abuse  and  excess. 
The  European  nations  are  not  of  a  sufficiently  patient  character,  nor  of  a  suffi- 
ciently moderate  temperament,  to  endure  with  resignation  all  sorts  of  disorders. 
The  European  entertains  so  profound  an  idea  of  his  dignity,  that  he  cannot 
comprehend  the  quietism  of  the  Oriental  nations,  living  in  the  midst  of  degra- 
dation, bowing  their  slavish  heads  before  the  despot  who  despises  and  oppresses 
them.  Hence,  whilst  we  in  Europe  acknowledge  and  feel  the  necessity  of  a 
very  strong  power,  we  have  always  endeavored  to  take  measures  for  restraining 
and  preventing  the  abuse  of  this  power.  Nothing  exalts  so  much  the  grandeur 
and  dignity  of  the  European  nations  as  the  comparison  of  them  with  those  of 
Asia.  The  latter  have  no  better  means  of  delivering  themselves  from  oppres- 


358  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

sion  than  the  assassination  of  their  sovereigns.  Whilst  the  blood  of  one 
monarch  is  still  warm,  another  ascends  his  throne,  trampling  with  a  disdainful 
foot  on  the  heads  of  nations  as  cruel  as  they  are  degraded.  Not  so  in  Europe ; 
we  have  always  recourse  to  intellectual  means ;  we  have  established  institu- 
tions which  lastingly  protect  the  people  from  oppression  and  excesses.  We 
cannot  deny  that  our  efforts  have  cost  torrents  of  blood,  or  affirm  that  we  have 
always  adopted  the  most  expedient  means ;  but  on  this  point  Europe,  guided 
by  the  same  spirit  as  in  all  other  matters,  has  become  anxious  to  substitute 
right  in  the  place  of  mere  might.  This  is  no  recent  problem ;  it  existed  when 
European  society  was  in  its  infancy,  and  in  these  latter  tim'es  has  been  over- 
looked. Great  efforts  were  made  many  centuries  ago  to  resolve  it.  Observe 
how  Count  de  Maistre  states  his  opinions  on  this  difficult  problem : 

"  Although  the  greatest  and  most  general  interest  of  sovereignty  consists  in 
its  being  just,  and  although  the  cases  in  which  it  transgresses  this  condition 
are  incomparably  fewer  than  the  others,  unfortunately  it  does,  however,  fre- 
quently transgress  it ;  and  the  particular  character  of  certain  sovereigns  may  so 
far  augment  these  inconveniences,  that  in  order  to  render  them  supportable, 
it  is  necessary  to  compare  them  with  those  which  would  exist  if  there  were  no 
sovereign.  It  was  therefore  impossible  that  men  should  not,  from  time  to 
time,  make  efforts  to  secure  themselves  against  the  excess  of  this  enormous 
prerogative;  but  on  this  point  the  world  has  adopted  two  widely  different 
systems.  The  daring  tribe  of  Japheth  has  at  all  times  been  gravitating  (if  we 
may  use  the  expression)  towards  what  is  termed  liberty  ;  that  is,  towards  that 
social  condition  in  which  the  influence  of  the  governing  powers  is  least  sensibly 
felt.  Ever  jealous  of  his  rights  and  liberties,  the  European  has  sought  to  pre- 
serve them,  sometimes  by  expelling  his  rulers,  and  at  other  times  by  opposing 
to  them  the  barrier  of  law.  He  has  tried  every  thing,  every  imaginable  form  of 
government,  to  set  himself  free  from  his  rulers,  or  to  restrain  their  power. 

"  The  immense  posterity  of  Shem  and  Cham  have  pursued  another  course. 
From  the  earliest  ages  down  to  our  own  time  they  have  always  said  to  their  fellow- 
men,  Do  whatever  you  please,  and  when  we  are  tired  we  will  put  you  to  death. 
Besides,  they  have  never  been  able  or  willing  to  comprehend  the  nature  of  a 
republic;  the  balance  of  power,  all  those  privileges,  all  those  fundamental  laws 
of  which  we  are  so  proud,  are  totally  unknown  to  them.  Among  them,  the 
richest  and  most  independent  man,  the  possessor  of  immense  movable  wealth, 
absolutely  at  liberty  to  transport  it  whither  he  pleases,  sure,  moreover,  of 
entire  protection  upon  European  ground,  and  threatened  at  home  with  the 
rope  or  the  dagger,  prefers  them,  nevertheless,  to  the  misery  of  dying  of  ennui 
among  us.  But  no  one  will  ever  think  of  recommending  to  Europe  the  public 
law  of  Asia  and  Africa,  so  short  and  clear;  but  as  power  in  Europe  is  always 
so  much  feared,  discussed,  attacked,  or  transferred,  since  nothing  so  much 
wounds  our  pride  as  despotic  government,  the  most  general  European  problem 
is  to  know  how  Sovereign  power  may  be  restrained  without  being  destroyed"  (Du 
Pape,  liv.  ii.  chap.  2.) 

This  spirit  of  political  liberty,  this  desire  of  limiting  power  by  means  of  in- 
stitutions, did  not  originate  with  the  French  philosophers ;  before  their  time, 
and  long  before  the  appearance  of  Protestantism,  it  was  circulating  in  the  veins 
of  the  European  people.  History  has  left  us  irrefragable  testimonies  of  this 
truth.  What  institutions  were  deemed  suitable  for  the  accomplishment  of  this 
object?  Certain  assemblies,  in  which  the  voice  of  the  nation's  interests  and 
opinions  might  be  heard — assemblies  formed  in  various  ways,  and  meeting  from 
time  to  time  around  the  throne  to  make  their  complaints  and  assert  their 
claims.  As  it  was  impossible  for  these  assemblies  to  constitute  the  government 
without  destroying  the  monarchy,  it  was  necessary,  in  one  way  or  another,  to 
secure  their  influence  in  state  affairs ;  and  I  do  not  see  that  anything  better 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY.  359 

has  hitherto  been  devised  for  attaining  this  object  than  the  right  of  interven- 
tion in  the  enactment  of  laws,  a  right  guaranteed  to  them  by  another,  that 
may  be  justly  termed  the  right  arm  of  national  representation, — the  right  of 
voting  the  supplies.  Much  has  been  written  respecting  constitutions  and 
representative  governments,  but  this  is  the  essential  point.  Many  and  various 
modifications  may  be  introduced,  but  in  reality  all  consists  in  the  establishment 
of  the  throne  as  the  centre  of  power  and  of  action,  surrounded  by  assemblies 
that  shall  deliberate  u-pon  the  laws  and  the  taxes. 

Does  political  liberty  in  this  point  of  view  originate  in  Protestant  ideas  ?  Is 
it  under  any  obligation  to  them?  Has  it,  in  fine,  any  reproach  against 
Catholicity  ?  I  open  the  works  of  Catholic  writers  anterior  to  Protestantism, 
in  order  to  ascertain  their  sentiments  on  this  subject,  and  I  find  that  they  take 
a  clear  view  of  the  problem  to  be  solved.  I  examine  rigidly  whether  they 
teach  anything  opposed  to  the  progress  of  the  world,  to  the  dignity  or  the 
rights  of  man ;  I  examine,  again,  whether  they  bear  any  affinity  to  despotism 
or  to  tyranny,  and  I  find  them  full  of  sympathy  for  the  progress  of  enlight- 
enment and  of  mankind,  inflamed  with  noble  and  generous  sentiments,  and 
zealous  for  the  happiness  of  the  multitude.  I  remark,  indeed,  that  their  hearts 
swell  with  indignation  at  the  mere  names  of  tyranny  and.  despotism.  I  open 
the  records  of  history ;  I  study  the  opinions  and  customs  of  the  nations,  and 
the  predominating  institutions }  I  behold  on  all  sides  nothing  but  fueros, 
privileges,  liberty,  cortes,  states-general,  municipalities,  and  juries.  All  this 
appears  in  the  greatest  confusion,  but  I  see  it;  and  I  am  not  astonished  to 
discover  an  absence  of  order,  for  it  is  a  new  world  just  arisen  from  chaos.  I 
ask  myself  if  the  monarch  possesses  in  himself  the  faculty  of  making  laws ;  and 
upon  this  question  I  very  naturally  find  variety,  uncertainty,  and  confusion ; 
but  I  observe  that  the  assemblies  representing  the  different  classes  of  the  nation 
take  part  in  the  enactment  of  the  laws.  I  ask  whether  they  have  any  inter- 
ference in  the  great  affairs  of  the  state ;  and  I  find  it  stated  in  the  codes  that 
they  are  to  be  consulted  on  all  grave  and  important  affairs  :  I  see  monarchs 
frequently  observing  this  precept.  I  ask  whether  these  assemblies  possess  any 
guarantees  for  their  existence  and  their  influence ;  and  the  codes  inform  me  by 
the  most  decisive  texts,  and  a  thousand  facts  are  at  hand  to  convince  me,  that 
these  institutions  were  deeply  rooted  in  the  customs  and  manners  of  the  people. 

Now  what  was  then  the  predominating  religion  ?  Catholicity.  Were  the 
people  much  attached  to  religion  ?  So  much  so  that  the  spirit  of  religion 
predominated  over  all.  Did  the  clergy  possess  great  influence  ?  Very  great. 
What  was  the  power  of  the  Popes  ?  It  was  immense.  Where  do  you  find  the 
clergy  attempting  to  extend  the  power  of  kings  to  the  prejudice  of  the  people? 
Where  are  the  pontifical  decrees  against  such  or  such  forms?  Where  are 
the  measures  and  plans  of  the  Popes  for  the  restriction  of  one  single  legitimate 
right  ?  No  reply.  Then  I  say  indignantly,  Europe,  under  the  influence  of 
Catholicity,  arose  from  chaos  to  order,  civilization  advanced  at  a  firm  and 
steady  pace,  the  grand  problem  of  political  forms  engaged  the  attention  of  men 
of  wisdom,  questions  of  morality  and  laws  were  receiving  a  solution  favorable 
to  liberty,  and  yet  the  influence  of  the  clergy  was  never  greater  even  in  tem- 
poral matters,  and  the  power  of  the  Popes  was  in  every  sense  quite  colossal. 

What !  one  word  from  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  would  have  smitten  unto  death 
every  form  of  popular  government ;  and  yet  such  forms  were  receiving  a  rapid 
development.  Where,  then,  is  the  tendency  of  the  Catholic  religion  to  enslave 
the  people  ?  Where  the  infamous  alliance  between  kings  and  Popes  to  oppress 
and  harass  the  people,  to  establish  on  the  throne  a  ferocious  despotism,  and  to 
rejoice  under  its  gloomy  shades  over  the  misfortune  and  tears  of  mankind  ? 
When  the  Popes  had  a  quarrel  with  any  kingdom,  was  it  usually  with  the 
king  or  the  people  ?  When  it  was  necessary  to  oppose  a  firm  front  against 


360  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED  WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

tyranny  and  oppression,  who  stood  forward  more  promptly  or  more  firmly  than 
the  Sovereign  Pontiff?  Does  not  Voltaire  himself  admit  that  the  Popes 
restrained  princes,  protected  the  people,  put  an  end  to  the  quarrels  of  the  time 
by  a  wise  intervention,  reminded  both  kings  and  people  of  their  duties,  and 
hurled  anathemas  against  those  enormities  which  they  could  not  prevent  ? 
(Quoted  by  M.  de  Maistre,  Du  Pape.) 

It  is  very  remarkable  that  the  Bull  In  Coena  Domini,  which  created  so  much 
alarm,  contains  in  its  fifth  article  an  excommunication  against  "  those  who  should 
levy  new  taxes  upon  their  estates,  or  should  increase  those  already  existing  beyond 
the  bounds  marked  out  by  right."  The  spirit  of  deliberation,  so  common  even 
at  this  period,  and  which  formed  so  singular  a  contrast  with  the  tendency  to 
violent  measures,  arose  in  a  great  measure  from  the  example  given  by  the 
Catholic  Church  during  so  many  centuries.  In  fact,  it  is  impossible  to  point 
out  a  society  in  which  more  assemblies  have  been  held,  combining  in  them 
every  thing  distinguished  by  science  and  virtue.  General,  national,  provincial 
Councils  and  diocesan  synods  are  to  be  met  with  in  every  page  of  the  Church's 
history.  Such  an  example,  exposed  during  centuries  to  the  view  of  the  people, 
could  not  fail  to  influence  and  affect  customs  and  laws.  In  Spain  the  greatest 
part  of  the  Councils  of  Toledo  were  also  national  congresses;  whilst  the  epis- 
copal authority  performed  its  functions  in  them,  watching  over  the  purity  of 
dogmas,  and  providing  for  the  wants  of  discipline,  the  great  affairs  of  the  state 
were  also  discussed  in  them  in  harmony  with  the  secular  power.  In  them  were 
enacted  those  laws  which  are  still  an  object  of  admiration  to  modern  observers. 
The  Utopias  of  Rousseau  are  now  fallen  into  complete  disrepute  among  the  best 
publicists.  Representative  governments  are  no  longer  to  be  defended  as  a 
means  of  bringing  the  general  will  into  action,  but  as  an  instrument,  through 
the  medium  of  which  reason  and  good  sense  may  be  consulted,  which  would 
otherwise  remain  dispersed  throughout  the  nation.  Legislative  assemblies  are 
now  represented  to  us,  .in  works  upon  constitutional  law,  as  the  foci  in  which 
all  knowledge  serving  to  throw  light  on  the  difficulties  of  public  affairs  may  be 
concentrated;  they  are  held  up  to  us  as  the  representatives  of  all  legitimate 
interests,  as  the  organ  of  all  reasonable  opinions,  the  voice  of  all  just  com- 
plaints, a  channel  of  perpetual  communication  between  governors  and  their 
subjects,  a  measure  of  justice  in  the  laws,  a  means  of  rendering  the  laws 
respectable  and  venerable  in  the  eyes  of  the  people ;  in  short,  as  a  permanent 
guarantee  that  a  government,  never  consulting  its  own  interests,  should  study 
only  public  utility  and  expediency.  At  a  time  when  we  are  informed  in  such 
fine  terms  what  these  assemblies  ought  to  be,  not  what  they  are,  it  will  not  be 
uninteresting  to  refer  to  the  Councils ;  for  we  see  at  a  glance  that  the  Councils 
must  in  a  certain  manner  explain  the  nature  and  spirit,  and  point  out  the 
motives  and  aim,  of  political  assemblies. 

I  am  aware  of  the  fundamental  differences  existing  between  these  two  assem- 
blies ;  men  who  receive  their  powers  from  popular  election  cannot,  in  fact,  be 
placed  in  the  same  rank  as  those  who  have  been  appointed  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  govern  the  jChurch  of  God ;  neither  can  the  monarch,  who  derives  his  right 
to  the  throne  from  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  nation,  be  confounded  with  that 
rock  upon  which  the  Church  of  Christ  is  built.  I  grant  also  that,  whether 
with  regard  to  the  subjects  discussed  in  the  Councils,  or  with  regard  to  the 
persons  engaged  in  these  discussions,  and  to  the  extension  of  the  Church  over 
the  whole  earth,  there  must  necessarily  be  a  great  dissimilarity  between  the 
Councils  and  political  assemblies,  with  respect  to  the  epoch  of  their  being 
assembled,  and  the  mode  of  their  organization  and  of  their  proceedings.  But 
we  are  not  here  about  to  imagine  an  ingenious  parallel,  and  to  seek  with  sub- 
tilty  resemblances  which  do  not  exist;  my  only  aim  is  to  show  the  influence 
which  the  lessons  of  prudence  and  maturity  given  for  so  long  a  time  by  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  361 

Church  must  have  exercised  upon  political  laws  and  customs.  If  we  consult 
the  annals  of  the  nations  of  antiquity,  or  those  of  modern  times,  we  shall  dis- 
cover that  all  deliberative  assemblies  are  composed  of  persons  who  have  a  right 
to  sit  in  them  by  a  regulation  stated  in  the  laws.  But  to  admit  into  them  a 
man  of  knowledge,  simply  because  he  is  so,  is  to  pay  a  noble  tribute  to  merit — 
to  proclaim  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  that  the  care  of  ruling  the  world 
belongs  properly  to  intelligence.  This  the  Church  alone  has  done. 

I  make  this  observation  to  prove  that  society  is  indebted  mainly  to  the 
Church  for  the  progress  it  has  made  in  this  respect.  I  will  adduce  on  this 
point  a  fact  that  has  not  perhaps  been  sufficiently  attended  to,  but  which  clearly 
shows  that  the  Catholic  Church  was  the  first  to  seek  out  men  of  talent  wherever 
they  were  to  be  found,  and  unhesitatingly  to  allow  them  influence  in  public 
affairs.  I  will  not  speak  of  that  spirit  which  forms  one  of  her  distinctive  char- 
acteristics among  all  other  societies,  which  has  ever  led  her  to  seek  merit,  and 
nothing  but  merit,  and  to  raise  it  to  the  highest  functions — a  spirit  which  no 
one  can  deny  her,  and  which  has  eminently  contributed  to  her  splendor  and 
preponderance.  But  it  is  very  remarkable  that  the  influence  of  this  spirit  has 
been  felt  where,  at  first  sight,  it  might  have  been  least  expected.  In  fact,  it 
is  well  known  that,  according  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  no  private  indi- 
vidual has  any  right  to  interfere  in  the  decisions  and  deliberations  of  the  Coun- 
cils ;  hence,  however  learned  a  theologian  or  jurist  may  be,  his  knowledge  gives 
him  no  right  whatever  to  take  part  in  those  august  assemblies.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  well  known  that  the  Church  has  ever  taken  care  to  call  to  them  men  who, 
whatever  might  be  their  titles,  excelled  most  by  their  talents  or  their  learning. 
Who  does  not  read  with  pleasure  the  list  of  learned  men  who,  although  not 
Bishops,  were  present  at  the  Council  of  Trent  ? 

In  modern  society,  do  not  talent,  wisdom,  and  genius  carry  the  highest  head, 
command  the  greatest  consideration  and  respect,  and  present  the  best  claims 
to  the  direction  of  public  affairs,  and  to  the  exercise  of  a  preponderating 
influence  ?  These  should  know  that  nowhere  have  their  claims  been  respected 
or  their  dignity  acknowledged  so  well  as  in  the  Church.  What  society,  in 
fact,  has  ever  sought,  as  the  "Church  has,  to  elevate  them,  to  consult  them  in 
the  most  important  affairs,  and  to  afford  them  an  opportunity  of  shining  in 
grand  assemblies  ?  In  the  Church,  birth  and  riches  are  of  no  importance.  If 
you  are  a  man  of  high  merit,  untarnished  by  misconduct,  and  at  the  same  time 
conspicuous  by  your  abilities  and  your  knowledge,  that  is  enough — she  will  look 
upon  you  as  a  great  man,  will  always  show  you  extreme  consideration,  treat 
you  with  respect,  and  listen  to  you  with  deference.  And  since  your  brow, 
though  sprung  from  obscurity,  is  radiant  with  fame,  it  will  be  held  worthy  to 
bear  the  mitre,  the  Cardinal's  hat,  or  the  tiara.  To  speak  in  the  language  of 
the  day,  I  may  remark,  that  the  aristocracy  of  knowledge  owes  much  of  its 
importance  to  the  ideas  and  discipline  of  the  Church.  (36) 


CHAPTER  LXIL 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF   MONARCHY  IN   EUROPE. 

A  SINGLE  glance  at  the  state  of  Europe  in  the  fifteenth  century  enables  us 
to  discover  that  such  a  state  of  things  could  not  long  exist,  and  that  of  the  three 
elements  claiming  preference,  the  monarchical  must  necessarily  prevail.  And 
it  could  not  be  otherwise ;  for  we  have  always  seen  that  societies,  after  a  long 
period  of  trouble  and  agitation,  place  themselves  at  last  under  the  protection 
of  that  power  which  offers  them  the  greatest  security  and  well-being.  Behold- 
ing, on  the  one  hand,  those  great  feudatories,  so  proud,  so  exacting,  so  turbulent, 
46  2F 


362  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

enemies  to  each  other,  and  rivals  of  the  king  as  well  as  of  the  people ;  on  the 
other  hand,  the  commons,  whose  existence  appears  under  so  many  different 
forms — whose  rights,  privileges,  fueros  and  liberties  present  so  various  and 
complex  an  aspect — whose  ideas  have  no  constant  and  well  defined  direction ; — 
we  conclude  at  once,  that  neither  were  possessed  of  sufficient  force  to  struggle 
against  the  royal  power,  already  acting  by  a  fixed  plan  and  a  determinate  sys- 
tem, seizing  every  opportunity  which  might  serve  to  forward  its  views.  Who 
is  not  aware  of  the  sagacity  displayed  by  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  in  developing 
and  implanting  his  prominent  idea — that  of  centralizing  power,  giving  it  vigor, 
and  rendering  its  action  forcible  and  universal ;  that  is,  the  idea  of  founding  a 
true  monarchy  ?  And  why  not  acknowledge  in  the  immortal  Ximenes  a  worthy 
and  more  eminent  continuator  of  this  policy  ?  It  would  be  erroneous  to  con- 
sider this  as  an  evil  to  nations.  All  publicists  agree  that  it  was  necessary  to 
give  strength  and  stability  to  power,  and  prevent  its  action  from  becoming  weak 
or  intermittent ;  but  the  only  representative  of  real  power  at  that  time  was  the 
throne.  Hence,  to  fortify  and  aggrandize  royal  power  was  of  real  necessity ; 
all  plans  and  efforts  of  man  would  have  failed  to  place  an  obstacle  in  its  way. 
But  it  remains,  nevertheless,  to  be  seen,  whether  this  aggrandizement  of  royal 
power  outstepped  its  due  bounds ;  and  this  is  the  place  for  contrasting  Pro- 
testantism with  Catholicity,  that  we  may  ascertain  which  of  them  was  culpable, 
if  either,  and  to  what  extent.  This  is  a  very  important  and  curious  subject, 
but  at  the  same  time  one  of  difficulty  and  delicacy.  In  fact,  such  a  change 
has  taken  place  of  late  in  the  meaning  of  words,  the  aversion  which  parties 
profess  for  each  other  is  so  profound,  each  one  repels  with  such  impetuosity 
every  thing  which  bears  the  most  remote  resemblance  to  what  is  esteemed  by 
his  adversaries,  that  it  is  an  arduous  undertaking  to  render  the  state  of  the 
question  and  the  meaning  of  words  comprehensible.  I  ask  one  thing  of  my 
readers  of  all  opinions ;  that  is,  that  they  will  suspend  their  judgment  until 
they  have  read  the  whole  of  what  I  have  to  adduce  on  this  point.  If  they  con- 
sent to  this,  and  do  not  quarrel  with  the  first  word  that  shocks  them — in  a 
word,  if  they  have  sufficient  patience  to  hear  before  they  judge,  I  am  confident 
that,  if  we  do  not  altogether  agree,  which  is  impossible  amid  such  a  variety  of 
opinions,  they  will  at  least  grant  that  I  have  taken  an  apparently  reasonable 
view  of  the  subject,  and  that  my  conjectures  are  not  altogether  unfounded. 
I  shall  commence,  in  the  first  place,  by  completely  laying  aside  the  question 
whether  it  was  advantageous  or  not  to  society  that,  in  the  greatest  part  of  Eu- 
ropean monarchies,  royal  power  should  have  any  other  limits  than  those  natu- 
rally imposed  upon  it  by  the  state  of  ideas  and  customs.  This  question  some 
will  answer  in  the  affirmative,  others  in  the  negative  \  and  I  need  not  observe 
to  what  party  they  respectively  belong.  To  many  people  the  word  liberty  is  a 
scandal,  just  as  the  term  absolute  power  is  with  others  synonymous  with  des- 
potism. But  what  is  that  liberty  which  the  former  repel  with  so  much  force  ? 
what  meaning  is  attached  to  this  word  in  their  dictionaries  ?  They  have  wit- 
nessed the  French  Revolution,  with  its  iniquities  and  frightful  crimes,  and 
they  have  heard  it  continually  crying  out  for  liberty  :  they  have  witnessed 
the  Spanish  Revolution,  with  its  vociferations  of  death,  and  its  sanguinary 
excesses — its  injustice,  its  disdain  for  every  thing  that  Spaniards  had  been 
accustomed  to  esteem  the  most  valuable  and  sacred;  and  yet  they  have  hoard 
the  cries  of  this  Revolution  also  for  liberty.  What  was  to  be  expected  ?  Why, 
what  we  now  witness.  They  confounded  the  name  of  liberty  with  all  sorts  of 
impieties  and  crimes ;  and,  in  consequence,  they  hated  it,  they  repelled  it,  they 
fought  against  it  sword  in  hand.  In  vain  were  they  informed  that  the  cortes 
was  an  ancient  institution ;  they  replied,  that  the  ancient  cortes  was  not  like 
that  of  their  times.  In  vain  were  they  reminded  that  our  laws  ordained  the 
nation's  right  of  interference  by  its  vote  on  the  levying  of  taxes.  They 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  363 

replied :  "  We  are  well  aware  of  it ;  but  the  nation  is  not  now  represented 
by  those  who  interfere  in  its  affairs ;  they  only  avail  themselves  of  this  pre- 
tended title  to  enslave  both  the  king  and  the  people."  They  were  told  that 
the  representatives  of  the  different  classes  had  formerly  the  right  of  interven- 
tion in  the  important  affairs  of  the  state.  "  What  class  do  you  represent," 
they  replied  ;  "you  who  degrade  the  monarch,  insult  and  persecute  the  nobility, 
abuse  and  plunder  the  clergy,  despising  the  people,  and  making  their  customs 
and  their  religious  belief  a  subject  for  your  sneers?  What,  then,  do  you 
represent  ?  Is  it  the  Spanish  nation,  when  you  trample  on  her  religion  and 
laws,  when  you  excite  social  dissolution  on  all  sides,  and  make  blood  flow  in 
torrents  ?  How  can  you  call  yourselves  the  restorers  of  our  fundamental  laws, 
when  we  find  nothing  either  in  you  or  in  your  acts  which  marks  the  true 
Spaniard;  when  all  your  theories,  plans,  and  projects  are  only  miserable 
copies  of  foreign  books  but  too  well  known,  while  you  have  forgotten  your  own 
language  ?" 

I  pray  the  reader  will  cast  his  eyes  over  the  files  of  the  journals,  the  bul- 
letins of  the  cortes,  and  other  documents  that  remain  of  the  two  epochs  of  1812 
and  1820;  let  him  also  call  to  mind  the  events  we  have  recently  witnessed; 
let  him  afterwards  peruse  the  records  and  memorials  of  anterior  epochs, — our 
codes,  our  books,  every  thing,  in  fine,  capable  of  throwing  light  upon  the  cha- 
racter, the  ideas,  and  the  customs  of  the  Spanish  people ;  then  let  him  lay  his 
hand  upon  his  heart,  and,  whatever  be  his  political  opinions,  let  him  tell  us, 
upon  his  honor,  if  he  finds  the  least  resemblance  between  the  past  and  the 
present ;  if  he  does  not,  at  the  very  first  glance,  perceive  a  striking  and  violent 
contrast  between  the  two  epochs — a  chasm,  in  fact,  to  fill  up  which,  I  say  it 
with  grief,  would  require  heaps  of  fresh  ruins,  ashes,  dead  bodies,  and  torrents 
of  blood.  Were  we  to  place  the  question  beyond  the  influence  of  the  empoi- 
soned atmosphere  of  human  passions  and  of  bitter  recollections,  we  might,  it  is 
true,  very  well  examine  the  expediency  of  allowing  the  royal  authority  to  attain 
to  a  growth  that  set  it  free  from  every  kind  of  check  or  restraint,  even  in 
affairs  of  the  most  essential  importance  and  in  the  voting  of  the  government 
supplies.  The  question  would  then  have  merely  a  historico-political  aspect, 
could  not  be  confounded  with  actual  practice,  and,  consequently,  would  not 
affect  either  the  interests  or  the  opinions  of  our  time.  However  that  might 
be,  I  will  not  stop  to  consider  or  to  notice  what  has  been  thought  and  said  upon 
the  subject,  but  will  take  up  the  hypothesis,  that  the  disappearance  from  the 
body  politic,  at  that  time,  of  every  element  save  the  monarchical,  was  a  mis- 
fortune to  the  people,  and  an  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  true  civilization.  And 
whose  was  the  fault  ?  let  me  ask. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  greatest  increase  of  royal  power  in  Europe  dates 
precisely  from  the  commencement  of  Protestantism.  In  England,  from  the 
time  of  Henry  VIII. ,  not  only  did  monarchy  prevail,  but  a  despotism  so  cruel 
that  no  vain  appearances  of  impotent  forms  have  availed  to  disguise  its  excesses. 
In  France,  after  the  Huguenot  war,  royal  power  became  more  absolute  than 
ever;  in  Sweden,  G-ustavus  ascended  the  throne,  and  from  that  time  kings 
began  to  exercise  an  almost  unlimited  power;  in  Denmark,  monarchy  con- 
tinued, and  became  stronger ;  in  Germany,  the  kingdom  of  Prussia  was  formed, 
and  absolute  forms  generally  prevailed ;  in  Austria,  the  empire  of  Charles  V. 
arose  in  all  its  power  and  splendor ;  in  Italy,  the  small  republics  were  fast 
disappearing,  and  the  people,  under  some  title  or  another,  became  subject  to 
princes ;  in  Spain,  in  fine,  the  ancient  cortes  of  Castile,  Aragon,  Valencia,  and 
Catalonia  fell  into  disuse :  that  is  to  say,  instead  of  seeing,  by  the  accession 
of  Protestantism,  the  people  take  one  step  towards  representative  forms,  we 
find,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  rapidly  advanced  towards  absolute  government. 
This  is  a  certain,  incontestable  fact.  Sufficient  attention  has  not  perhaps  been 


364  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

paid  to  so  singular  a  coincidence ;  but  it  is  not  the  less  real,  and  is  certainly 
of  a  nature  to  suggest  numerous  and  interesting  reflections.  Was  this  coin- 
cidence purely  accidental  ?  Was  there  any  hidden  connection  between  Pro- 
testantism and  the  development  and  definitive  establishment  of  absolutism  ?  I 
think  there  was;  and  I  will  even  add,  that,  had  Catholicism  retained  an 
exclusive  sway  in  Europe,  the  power  of  the  throne  would  have  been  gradually 
diminished — that  representative  forms  would  probably  not  have  disappeared 
altogether — that  the  people  would  have  continued  to  take  part  in  national 
affairs — that  we  should  have  been  much  farther  advanced  in  civilization,  much 
better  fitted  for  the  enjoyment  of  true  liberty — and  that  this  liberty  would  not 
be  associated  in  our  minds  with  scenes  of  horror.  Yes,  the  fatal  Reformation 
has  given  a  wrong  direction  to  European  society,  injured  civilization,  created 
necessities  that  previously  had  no  existence,  and  opened  chasms  which  it  can- 
not close.  It  destroyed  many  elements  of  good,  and  consequently  produced  a 
radical  change  in  the  conditions  of  the  political  problem.  This  I  think  I  can 
demonstrate. 


CHAPTER    LXIII. 

TWO   KINDS   OF  DEMOCRACY. 

THERE  is  in  the  history  of  Europe  one  leading  fact  contained  in  all  its  pages, 
and  still  visible  in  our  days,  viz.  the  parallel  march  of  two  democracies,  which, 
although  sometimes  apparently  alike,  are,  in  reality,  very  different  in  their 
nature,  origin,  and  aim.  The  one  is  based  upon  the  knowledge  and  dignity 
of  man,  and  on  the  right  which  he  possesses  of  enjoying  a  certain  amount  of 
liberty  conformable  to  reason  and  justice.  With  ideas  more  or  less  clear,  more 
or  less  uniform,  upon  the  real  origin  of  society  and  of  power,  it  entertains  at 
least  very  clear,  precise,  and  fixed  ones  upon  the  real  object  and  aim  of  both. 
Whether  the  right  of  commanding  proceeds  directly  and  immediately  from 
God,  or  whether  we  suppose  it  communicated  previously  to  society,  and  trans- 
mitted afterwards  to  those  who  govern,  it  always  grants  that  power  is  for  the 
common  weal,  and  that,  if  it  does  not  direct  its  actions  to  this  end,  it  falls  into 
tyranny.  To  privileges,  honors,  and  distinctions  of  every  kind,  it  applies  its 
favorite  touchstone — the  public  good;  whatever  is  opposed  to  this,  is  rejected 
as  noxious ;  whatever  does  not  tend  to  promote  it,  is  repudiated  as  superfluous. 
Convinced  that  knowledge  and  virtue  are  the  only  things  of  real  worth,  and 
deserving  of  consideration  in  the  distribution  of  the  social  functions,  this  demo- 
cracy requires  them  to  be  sought  without  ceasing,  that  they  may  be  elevated  to 
the  summit  of  power  and  of  glory ;  it  goes  to  seek  them  in  the  midst  of  the 
deepest  obscurity.  A  nobleman,  proud  of  his  titles  and  his  heraldry,  and 
boasting  of  the  glorious  deeds  of  his  ancestors,  without  being  able  to  imitate 
them,  is,  in  its  estimation,  an  object  of  ridicule;  it  will  allow  such  a  man  to 
enjoy  his  riches,  that  the  sacred  right  of  property  may  not  be  violated ;  but  it 
will  remove  from  his  grasp,  by  all  lawful  means,  the  influence  he  might  derive 
from  the  nobility  of  his  blood.  In  fine,  if  it  takes  nobility,  birth  or  riches  into 
consideration,  it  is  not  for  any  intrinsic  worth  of  these  advantages,  but  because 
they  are  signs  which  lead  us  to  expect  a  more  accomplished  education,  more 
knowledge  and  probity. 

Full  of  generoifs  ideas,  this  democracy,  placing  the  dignity  of  man  in  the 
highest  degree,  reminding  man  of  his  rights,  and  also  of  his  duties,  is  indignant 
at  the  very  name  of  tyranny.  It  hates  tyranny,  condemns  it,  repels  it,  and  is 
perpetually  employed  in  discovering  the  best  means  for  preventing  it.  Wise 
and  calm,  as  the  inseparable  companion  of  reason  and  good  sense  must  ever  be, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  365 

it  agrees  very  well  with  monarchy ;  but  we  may  rest  assured  that  its  desires 
have  generally  been,  that  the  laws  of  the  country  should,  in  one  way  or  another, 
place  a  restraint  upon  the  excesses  of  kings.  Aware  that  the  rock  against 
which  they  ran  the  risk  of  being  wrecked,  was  the  excess  of  contributions 
levied  upon  the  people,  its  favorite  idea,  which  it  has  never  abandoned,  even 
when  it  was  impracticable,  has  been  to  restrain  the  unlimited  faculties  of  power 
with  respect  to  contributions.  Another  of  its  predominating  ideas  has  been  to 
prevent  the  will  of  man  from  prevailing  in  the  formation  or  application  of  the 
laws.  It  has  ever  sought  to  guarantee  and  secure  in  some  way,  that  the  will 
should  not  usurp  the  place  of  reason.  Such  has  been  the  force  of  this  uni- 
versal desire,  that  it  has  been  indelibly  stamped  upon  European  manners,  and 
the  most  absolute  monarchs  have  been  compelled  to  gratify  it.  Hence  one 
thing  very  worthy  of  remark  is,  that  the  throne  has  ever  been  surrounded  by 
respectable  counsellors,  whose  existence  was  insured  either  by  the  laws  or  by 
the  national  customs.  These  counsellors  certainly  could  not  preserve,  in  all 
circumstances,  the  independence  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  their 
object,  but  they  did  not  fail  to  be  of  great  service ;  for  their  mere  existence 
was  an  eloquent  protest  against  unjust  and  arbitrary  regulations  ;  it  was  a  noble 
personification  of  reason  and  justice,  pointing  out  the  sacred  limits  ever  to  be 
regarded  as  inviolable  by  the  most  powerful  monarch.  This  is  also  the  reason 
why  sovereigns  in  Europe  never  exercise  themselves  the  faculty  of  pronouncing 
judgment,  differing  in  this  respect  from  the  sultans.  The  laws  and  customs  of 
Europe  energetically  repulse  this  faculty,  as  fatal  to  the  people  as  it  is  to  the 
monarch ;  and  the  mere  recital  of  such  an  attempt  would  excite  public  indigna- 
tion against  its  author. 

The  meaning  of  all  this  is,  that  this  principle,  so  much  extolled,  that  it  is 
not  the  monarch  but  the  law  that  commands,  has  been  received  in  Europe  for 
many  centuries ;  it  was  in  full  force  in  all  the  European  nations  long  before 
modern  publicists  emphatically  enunciated  it.  It  will  be  said,  perhaps,  that  if 
this  was  the  case  in  theory,  it  was  not  so  in  practice.  I  do  not  deny  that  there 
were  reprehensible  exceptions,  but  the  principle  was  generally  respected.  As 
a  case  in  point,  let, us  take  the  most  absolute  reign  of  modern  times,  with  the 
most  unlimited  royal  power  in  all  its  splendor,  in  its  apogee, — the  reign  in 
which  the  king  could  exclaim  with  too  much  pride,  but  yet  with  truth,  "  I  am 
the  state" — that  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth.  It  lasted  more  than  half  a  century, 
with  an  astonishing  variety  and  complication  of  events.  How  many  deaths, 
confiscations,  and  banishments  took  place  in  it,  executed  by  the  royal  command, 
without  any  judicial  ordeal !  Perhaps  some  arbitrary  acts  of  this  time  may  be 
cited  j  but  let  them  be  compared  with  what  was  passing  under  equivalent 
circumstances  amongst  the  nations  out  of  Europe  :  let  any  one  recall  to  mind 
what  took  place  at  the  time  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  the  excesses  of  absolute 
royalty  wherever  Christianity  did  not  exist,  and  he  will  see  that  the  excesses 
committed  in  European  monarchies  are  scarcely  worthy  of  being  mentioned. 
This  is  a  proof  that  the  distinction  made  between  monarchical  governments, 
whether  absolute  or  despotic,  is  not  arbitrary  and  fictitious.  Any  one  acquainted 
with  the  legislation  and  history  of  Europe  must  be  well  aware  that  this  dis- 
tinction is  correct,  and  he  will  be  forced  to  smile  at  those  boisterous  declamations 
in  which  malice  or  ignorance  endeavors  to  confound  the  two  systems  of  go- 
vernment. 

This  limit  imposed  upon  power,  this  circle  of  reason  and  justice  which  we 
always  find  traced  around  it,  derives  its  origin  principally  from  the  ideas  dis- 
seminated by  Christianity,  whether  it  have  its  guarantee  in  ideas  and  manners 
or  in  political  forms.  It  is  Christianity  that  has  proclaimed,  "  Reason  and 
justice,  knowledge  and  virtue,  are  every  thing ;  the  mere  will  of  man,  his 
birth,  his  titles,  are  of  no  intrinsic  value."  These  words  have  penetrated 

2F  2 


366  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

every  where,  from  the  palace  of  kings  to  the  poor  man's  cottage ;  and,  from 
the  moment  that  the  mind  of  an  entire  people  became  imbued  with  such  ideas, 
Asiatic  despotism  became  impracticable.  In  fact,  in  the  absence  of  every 
political  form  limiting  the  power  of  the  monarch,  a  voice  resounds  in  his  ears 
on  all  sides,  exclaiming,  "We  are  not  thy  slaves,  we  are  thy  subjects;  thou 
art  a  king,  but  thou  art  a  man,  and  a  man  who,  like  ourselves,  must  appear 
one  day  before  the  Supreme  Judge ;  thou  hast  the  power  of  making  laws,  but 
merely  for  our  interests  ;  thou  canst  exact  tributes  from  us,  but  only  such  as 
are  necessary  for  the  common  weal  ;  thou  canst  not  judge  us  according  to  thy 
caprice,  but  only  conformably  to  the  laws  ;  thou  canst  not  seize  our  property 
without  rendering  thyself  more  culpable  than  the  common  robber,  nor  make 
an  attempt  on  our  lives,  of  thy  own  will,  without  becoming  an  assassin;  the 
power  thou  hast  received  is  not  for  thy  comfort  or  pleasure,  nor  for  the  gratifi- 
cation of  thy  passions,  but  solely  for  our  happiness ;  thou  art  a  person  ex- 
clusively devoted  to  the  public  weal;  if  thou  forgettest  this,  thou  art  a 
tyrant." 

Unfortunately,  however,  together  with  this  spirit  of  lawful  independence,  of 
rational  liberty, — together  with  this  just,  noble,  and  generous  democracy,  there 
has  ever  been  another  accompanying  it,  and  forming  with  it  the  most  lively 
contrast.  The  latter  has  been  extremely  injurious  to  the  former,  by  prevent- 
ing it  from  attaining  the  object  of  its  just  pretensions  ;  erroneous  in  its  princi- 
ples and  perverse  in  its  intentions,  violent  and  unjust  in  its  mode  of  acting,  its 
traces  have  been  everywhere  marked  by  a  stream  of  blood.  Instead  of  obtain- 
ing true  liberty  for  the  people,  it  has  merely  served  to  deprive  them  of  that 
which  they  already  possessed ;  or  if  it  actually  found  them  groaning  under  the 
yoke  of  slavery,  it  has  only  served  to  rivet  their  chains.  Allying  itself  on  all 
occasions  with  the  basest  passions,  it  has  attracted  to  its  standard  all  that  was 
most  vile  and  abject  in  society,  and  gathered  together  the  most  turbulent  and 
ill-disposed  men.  By  cheating  its  miserable  followers  with  delusive  promises, 
and  exciting  them  with  the  prospect  of  plunder  and  pillage,  it  has  been  a  per- 
petual source  of  commotions,  scandals,  and  bitter  animosities,  that  have  at 
length  produced  their  natural  results — persecutions,  proscriptions,  and  execu- 
tions. Its  fundamental  dogma  was  the  rejection  of  all  authority  of  every 
description,  to  overturn  which  was  its  constant  aim ;  the  reward  it  expected  for 
its  labors  was  to  seat  itself  upon  a  throne  established  amidst  universal  ruin,  to 
glut  itself  with  the  blood  of  thousands  of  victims,  and  to  revel  in  the  grossest 
orgies  during  the  distribution  of  its  blood-stained  spoil.  In  all  times,  in  all 
countries,  riots,  popular  insurrections,  and  revolutions  have  taken  place;  but, 
for  the  last  seven  centuries,  Europe  presents  these  scenes  in  so  singular  a 
character,  that  it  forms  a  most  fitting  subject  for  the  reflection  of  philosophers. 
In  fact,  these  tendencies  towards  social  dissolution — tendencies,  the  origin  of 
which  it  is  not  difficult  to  discover  in  the  very  heart  of  man — have  not  only 
existed  in  the  bosom  of  Europe,  but  have  been  formed  into  a  theory ;  as  ideas, 
they  have  been  defended  with  all  the  obstinacy  and  infatuation  of  a  sectarian 
spirit ;  and,  wherever  an  opportunity  occurred,  reduced  to  practice  with  un- 
yielding pertinacity  and  unbridled  fury.  The  system  was  made  up  of  folly  and 
fanaticism,  and  carried  out  with  obstinacy,  a  spirit  of  proselytism,  and  monstrous 
crimes.  In  every  page  of  its  history  this  truth  is  attested  in  characters  of 
blood.  Happy  our  nation,  had  she  not  tried  the  experiment ! 

Europe  may  be  compared  to  those  men  of  great  capacity  and  of  active  and 
intrepid  characters,  who  are  either  the  very  best  or  the  very  worst  of  men. 
Scarcely  can  a  single  fact  of  any  weight  remain  isolated  in  Europe  :  there  is 
not  a  truth  that  is  not  useful,  nor  an  error  that  is  not  fatal.  Ideas  have  a 
tendency  to  become  realized,  and  facts,  in  their  turn,  incessantly  call  in  the  aid 
of  ideas.  If  virtues  exist,  they  are  explained,  and  their  foundation  is  sought 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY.  367 

for  in  elevated  theories.  If  crimes  are  met  with,  their  vindication  is  attempted 
on  the  authority  of  perverse  theories.  Nations  do  not  rest  satisfied  with  the 
practice  either  of  good  or  evil — they  strive  to  propagate  it,  and  are  restless  till 
they  have  induced  their  neighbors  to  imitate  them.  Nay,  there  is  something 
beyond  a  mere  spirit  of  proselytism  limited  to  a  few  countries — ideas,  in  our 
times,  aim  at  nothing  short  of  universal  empire.  The  spirit  of  propa- 
gandism  does  not  date  from  the  French  Revolution,  nor  even  from  the  sixteenth 
century ;  from  the  very  dawn  of  civilization,  from  the  times  when  the  minds  of 
men  began  to  evince  symptoms  of  activity,  this  phenomenon  is  apparent,  and 
in  a  very  striking  manner.  In  the  agitated  Europe  of  the  twelfth  and  thir- 
teenth centuries,  we  behold  the  Europe  of  the  nineteenth  century,  just  as  the 
imperfectly  defined  lineaments  of  the  germ  contain  forms  of  the  future  being. 

A  great  part  of  the  sects  which  assailed  the  Church,  dating  from  the  tenth 
century,  were  decidedly  revolutionary;  they  either  proceeded  from  the  fatal 
democracy  which  I  have  just  mentioned,  or  derived  their  support  from  it. 
Unfortunately  this  democracy,  restless,  unjust  and  turbulent,  having  compro- 
mised the  tranquillity  of  Europe  in  the  centuries  anterior  to  the  sixteenth,  found 
in  Protestantism  its  most  fervent  propagators.  Among  the  numerous  sects 
into  which  the  pretended  reform  was  immediately  divided,  some  opened  the 
way  for  it,  and  others  adopted  it  as  their  standard.  And  what  must  have  been 
the  result  in  the  political  organization  of  Europe  ?  I  will  say  it  candidly  :  the 
disappearance  of  those  political  institutions  which  enabled  the  different  classes 
of  the  state  to  take  part  in  its  affairs,  was  inevitable.  Now,  as  it  was  very 
difficult  for  the  European  people,  considering  their  character,  ideas  and  customs, 
to  submit  for  ever  to  their  new  condition,  as  their  predominant  inclination 
must  have  urged  them  to  place  bounds  upon  the  extension  of  power,  it  was 
natural  that  revolutions  should  ensue ;  it  was  natural  that  future  generations 
should  have  to  witness  great  catastrophes,  such  as  the  English  Revolution  of 
the  seventeenth  century  and  the  French  Revolution  of  the  eighteenth.  There 
was  a  time  when  it  might  have  been  difficult  to  comprehend  these  truths ;  that 
time  is  past.  The  revolutions  in  which  for  some  centuries  the  different  nations 
of  Europe  have  been  successively  involved,  have  brought  within  the  reach  of 
the  least  intelligent  that  social  law  so  frequently  realized,  viz.  that  anarchy 
leads  to  despotism,  and  that  despotism  begets  anarchy.  Never,  at  any  time, 
in  any  nation  (history  and  experience  prove  the  fact),  have  anti-social  ideas 
been  inculcated,  the  minds  of  the  people  been  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  insub- 
ordination and  rebellion,  without  almost  immediately  provoking  the  application 
of  the  only  remedy  at  the  command  of  nations  in  such  conflicts,  the  establish- 
ment of  a  very  strong  government,  which  justly  or  unjustly,  legally  or  not, 
lifts  up  its  iron  arm  over  every  one,  and  makes  all  heads  bend  under  its  yoke. 
To  clamor  and  tumult  succeeds  the  most  profound  silence ;  the  people  then 
easily  become  resigned  to  their  new  condition,  for  reflection  and  instinct  teach 
them  that  although  it  is  well  to  possess  a  certain  amount  of  liberty,  the  first 
want  of  society  is  self-preservation. 

What  was  the  case  in  Germany,  after  the  introduction  of  Protestantism  by 
a  succession  of  religious  revolutions  ?  Maxims  destructive  of  all  society  were 
propagated,  factions  formed,  insurrections  took  place ;  upon  the  field  of  battle 
and  upon  the  scaffolds  blood  flowed  in  torrents ;  but  no  sooner  did  the  instinct 
of  social  preservation  begin  to  operate,  than,  instead  of  popular  forms  being 
established  and  taking  root,  every  thing  tended  towards  the  opposite  extreme. 
And  was  not  this  the  country  in  which  the  people  had  been  flattered  by  the  prospect 
of  unrestrained  liberty,  of  a  re-partition  and  even  a  community  of  property ;  in 
fine,  by  the  promise  of  the  most  absolute  equality  in  every  thing.  Yet,  in  this 
same  country,  the  most  striking  inequality  prevailed,  and  the  feudal  aristocracy 
preserved  its  full  force.  In  other  countries,  in  which  no  such  hopes  of  liberty 

*JT 


368  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

and  equality  had  been  held  out,  we  can  scarcely  discover  the  limits  which 
separated  the  nobility  from  the  people.  In  Germany,  the  nobility  still  retained 
their  wealth  and  their  preponderance,  were  still  surrounded  by  titles,  privileges, 
and  distinctions  of  every  description.  In  that  very  country,  in  which  there  were 
such  outcries  against  the  power  of  kings,  in  which  the  name  of  king  was 
declared  synonymous  with  tyrant,  the  most  absolute  monarchy  was  established ; 
and  the  apostate  of  the  Teutonic  order  founded  that  kingdom  of  Prussia,  from 
which  representative  forms  are  still  excluded.*  In  Denmark,  Protestantism  was 
established,  and  with  it  absolute  power  immediately  took  deep  root ;  in  Sweden 
we  find,  at  the  very  same  time,  the  power  of  Gustavus  established. 

What  was  the  case  in  England  ?  Representative  forms  were  not  introduced 
into  that  country  by  Protestantism ;  they  existed  centuries  before,  as  well  as 
in  other  nations  of  Europe.  But  the  monarch  who  founded  the  Anglican 
Church  was  distinguished  for  his  despotism,  and  the  Parliament,  which  ought 
to  have  restrained  him,  was  most  shamefully  degraded.  What  idea  can  we 
form  of  the  liberty  of  a  country  whose  legislators  and  representatives  debased 
themselves  so  far  as  to  declare,  that  any  one  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  the 
illicit  amours  of  the  Queen  is  bound,  under  pain  of  high  treason,  to  bring  an 
accusation  against  her  ?  What  can  we  think  of  the  liberty  of  a  country,  in 
which  the  very  men  who  ought  to  defend  that  liberty,  cringe  with  so  much 
baseness  to  the  unruly  passions  of  the  monarch,  that  they  are  not  ashamed,  in 
order  to  flatter  the  jealousy  of  the  sovereign,  to  establish  that  any  young 
female  who  should  marry  a  king  of  England,  should,  under  a  pain  of  high 
treason,  be  compelled  before  her  marriage  to  reveal  any  stain  there  might  be 
on  her  virtue  ?  Such  ignominious  enactments  are  certainly  a  stronger  proof  of 
abject  servility  than  the  declaration  of  that  same  Parliament,  establishing  that 
the  mere  will  of  the  monarch  should  have  the  force  of  law.  Representative 
forms  preserved  in  that  country  at  a  time  when  they  had  disappeared  from 
almost  every  other  nation  of  Europe,  were  not,  however,  a  guarantee  against 
tyranny ;  for  the  English  cannot  assuredly  boast  of  the,  liberty  they  enjoyed 
under  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Elizabeth.  Perhaps  in  no  country  in 
Europe  was  less  liberty  enjoyed,  in  no  country  were  the  people  more  oppressed 
under  popular  forms,  in  no  country  did  despotism  prevail  to  a  greater  extent. 
If  there  be  anything  which  can  convince  us  of  these  truths,  in  case  the  facts 
already  cited  should  be  found  insufficient,  it  is  undoubtedly  the  efforts  made 
by  the  English  to  acquire  liberty.  And  if  the  efforts  made  to  shake  off  the 
yoke  of  oppression  are  to  be  regarded  as  a  sure  sign  of  its  galling  effects,  we 
are  justified  in  thinking  that  the  oppression  under  which  England  was  groaning 
must  have  been  very  severe,  since  that  country  has  passed  through  so  long  and 
terrible  a  revolution,  in  which  so  many  tears  and  so  much  blood  has  been  shed. 

When  we  consider  what  has  taken  place  in  France,  we  remark  that  religious 
wars  have  always  given  an  ascendency  to  royal  power.  After  such  long  agita- 
tions, so  many  troubles  and  civil  wars,  we  see  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  and 
we  hear  that  proud  monarch  exclaim,  "  /  am  the  state"  We  have  here  the 
most  complete  personification  of  the  absolute  power  which  always  follows 
anarchy.  Have  the  European  nations  had  to  complain  of  the  unlimited  power 
exercised  by  monarchs  ?  have  they  had  to  regret  that  all  the  representative 
forms  which  could  ensure  their  liberties  perished  under  the  ascendency  of  the 
throne  ?  Let  them  blame  Protestantism  for  it,  which  spreading  the  germs  of 
anarchy  all  over  Europe,  created  an  imperious,  urgent,  and  inevitable  necessity 
for  centralizing  rule,  for  fortifying  royal  power :  it  was  necessary  to  stop  up 
every  source  from  which  dissolvent  principles  might  flow,  and  to  keep  within 
narrow  bounds  all  the  elements  which,  by  contact  and  vicinity,  were  ready  to 
ignite  and  produce  a  fatal  conflagration. 

*  When  this  was  written.— Tr. 


PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  369 

Every  reflecting  man  will  agree  with  me  on  this  point.  Considering  the 
aggrandizement  of  absolute  power,  they  will  discover  in  it  nothing  but  the 
realization  of  a  fact  already  long  ago  everywhere  observed.  Assuredly,  the 
monarchs  of  Europe  cannot  be  compared,  either  by  the  fact  of  their  origin  or 
the  character  of  their  measures,  to  those  despots  who,  under  different  titles, 
have  usurped  the  command  of  society  at  the  critical  moment  when  it  was  near 
its  dissolution ;  but  it  may  be  said  with  reason,  that  the  unlimited  extent  of 
their  power  has  been  caused  by  a  great  social  necessity,  viz.  that  of  one  sole 
and  forcible  authority,  without  which  the  preservation  of  public  order  was 
impossible.  We  cannot  without  dismay  take  a  view  of  Europe  after  the 
appearance  of  Protestantism.  What  frightful  dissolution !  What  erroneous 
ideas  !  What  relaxation  of  morals  !  What  a  multitude  of  sects  !  What  ani- 
mosity in  men's  minds  !  What  rage,  what  ferocity  !  Violent  disputes,  inter- 
minable debates,  accusations,  recriminations  without  end ;  troubles,  rebellion, 
intestine  and  foreign  wars,  sanguinary  battles,  and  atrocious  punishments. 
Such  is  the  picture  that  Europe  presents ;  such  are  the  effects  of  this  apple  of 
discord  thrown  among  men  who  are  brethren.  And  what  was  sure  to  be  the 
result  of  this  confusion,  of  this  retrograde  movement,  by  which  society  seemed 
returning  to  violent  means,  to  the  tyranny  of  might  over  right  ?  The  result 
was  sure  to  be  what  it  has  in  fact  been  :  the  instinct  of  preservation,  stronger 
than  the  passions  and  the  frenzy  of  man,  was  sure  to  prevail ;  it  suggested  to 
Europe  the  only  means  of  self-preservation;  royal  power,  already  in  the 
ascendant,  and  verging  towards  its  highest  point,  was  sure  to  end  by, attaining 
it  in  reality;  there  to  become  isolated  and  completely  separated  from  the  people, 
and  to  impose  silence  on  popular  passions.  What  ought  to  have  been  effected 
by  a  wise  direction  of  ideas,  was  accomplished  by  the  force  of  a  very  powerful 
institution ;  the  vigor  of  the  sceptre  had  to  neutralize  the  impulse  given  to 
society  towards  its  ruin.  If  we  consider  attentively,  we  shall  find  that  such  is 
the  meaning  of  the  event  of  1680  in  Sweden,  when  that  country  was  subjected 
to  the  fierce  will  of  Charles  XI. ;  such  the  meaning  of  the  event  of  1669  in 
Denmark,  when  that  nation,  wearied  with  anarchy,  supplicated  King  Frederick 
III.  to  declare  the  monarchy  hereditary  and  absolute,  which  he  in  fact  did ; 
such,  in  fine,  is  the  meaning  of  what  took  place  in  Holland  in  1747,  and  of 
the  creation  of  an  hereditary  stadtholder.  If  we  require  more  convincing 
examples,  we  have  the  despotism  of  Cromwell  in  England  after  such  terrible 
revolutions,  and  that  of  Napoleon  in  France  after  the  republic.  (37) 


CHAPTER  LXIV. 

STRUGGLE  BETWEEN   THE   THREE   SOCIAL   ELEMENTS. 

WHEN  once  these  three  elements  of  government,  monarchy,  aristocracy,  and 
democracy,  began  each  to  contend  for  the  ascendency,  the  most  certain  means 
of  securing  the  victory  to  monarchy,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other  two  elements, 
was  to  drive  one  of  these  latter  into  acts  of  turbulence  and  outrage ;  for  it  thus 
became  absolutely  necessary  to  establish  one  sole,  powerful,  unfettered  centre 
of  action,  that  would  be  able  to  awe  the  turbulent  and  to  insure  public  order. 
Now,  just  at  this  time,  the  position  of  the  popular  element  was  full  of  hope, 
but  also  beset  with  dangers;  and  hence,  to  preserve  the  influence  it  had  already 
acquired,  and  to  increase  its  ascendency  and  power,  the  greatest  moderation 
and  circumspection  were  requisite.  Monarchy  had  already  acquired  great 
power,  and,  having  obtained  it  in  part  by  espousing  the  cause  of  the  people 
against  the  lords)  it  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  natural  protector  of  popular 
interests.  It  certainly  had  some  claims  to  this  title,  but  no  less  certainly  did 
47 


370  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

it  find  in  this  circumstance  a  most  favorable  opportunity  for  extending  its  power 
to  an  unlimited  degree,  at  the  expense  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people. 

There  existed  a  germ  of  division  between  the  aristocracy  and  the  commons, 
which  afforded  the  monarchs  an  opportunity  of  curtailing  the  rights  and  powers 
of  the  lords,  convinced,  moreover,  as  they  were,  that  any  measure  tending  to 
such  an  object  would  be  well  received  by  the  multitude.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  monarch  might  rest  assured  that  the  lords  would  hail  with  delight 
any  act  tending  to  humble  the  people,  who  already  had  raised  their  heads  so 
high  when  the  feudal  aristocracy  was  to  be  resisted ;  and,  in  this  case,  if  the 
people  committed  any  excesses,  if  they  adopted  maxims  and  doctrines  subver- 
sive of  public  order,  no  one  could  prevent  the  monarch  from  putting  a  stop  to 
their  proceedings  by  all  possible  means.  The  lords,  who  were  powerful  enough 
to  repress  such  disorders  themselves,  would  very  naturally  be  glad  to  leave 
such  a  work  to  the  monarch,  fearing  lest  the  people,  in  their  exasperation 
against  them,  might  deprive  them  of  their  prerogatives,  their  honors,  their 
property,  and  even  of  their  lives ',  or  from  the  secret  satisfaction  they  would 
naturally  feel  at  seeing  that  rival  power  brought  down  which  had  recently 
humbled  themselves,  and  whose  rivalry  had  been  maintained  through  so  many 
and  such  ferocious  struggles.  In  such  an  undertaking,  the  lords  would  natu- 
rally bring  the  whole  weight  of  their  influence  to  the  support  of  the  monarch, 
thus  taking  advantage  of  the  false  direction  given  to  the  popular  movement  to 
revenge  themselves  upon  the  people,  whilst  veiling  their  vengeance  under  the 
pretext  of  public  utility.  The  people,  it  is  true,  possessed  various  means  of 
defence ;  but  when  isolated  and  opposed  to  the  throne,  they  found  these  means 
too  weak  to  afford  them  any  hope  of  victory.  Learning,  indeed,  was  no  longer 
the  exclusive  patrimony  of  any  privileged  class,  but  knowledge  had  not  had 
time  to  become  diffused  so  far  as  to  form  a  public  opinion  strong  enough  to 
exercise  any  direct  influence  upon  the  affairs  of  government.  The  art  of  print- 
ing was  already  producing  its  results,  but  was  not  yet  sufficiently  developed  to 
produce  that  rapid  and  extensive  circulation  of  ideas  which  has  subsequently 
been  attained.  Notwithstanding  the  efforts  everywhere  made  at  that  time  to 
promote  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  we  need  only  understand  correctly  the 
nature  and  character  of  the  knowledge  of  the  period,  to  be  convinced  that 
neither  in  substance  nor  in  form  was  it  calculated  to  become,  to  any  general 
extent,  the  property  of  the  popular  classes.  Thanks  to  the  progress  of  com- 
merce and  the  arts,  there  arose,  it  is  true,  a  new  description  of  wealth,  destined 
of  necessity  to  become  the  patrimony  of  the  people.  But  commerce  and  the 
arts  were  then  in  their  infancy,  and  did  not  possess  either  the  extent  or  the 
influence  which,  at  a  later  period,  connected  them  intimately  with  every  branch 
of  society.  Except  in  some  few  countries  of  very  little  importance,  the  position 
of  the  merchant  and  the  artizan  could  not  secure  them  any  great  amount  of 
influence  of  itself. 

Considering  the  course  of  events,  and  the  elevation  which  royal  power  had 
acquired  on  the  ruins  of  feudalism,  the  only  means  for  restricting  monarchical 
power,  until  the  democratic  element  should  have  acquired  sufficient  force  to  be 
respected,  was  the  union  of  the  aristocracy  with  the  people.  But  such  a  coa- 
lition was  not  easily  to  be  obtained,  since  between  the  aristocracy  and  the 
people  there  existed  so  much  animosity  and  rivalry — a  rivalry  which,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  was  inevitable,  owing  to  the  opposition  of  their  respective  interests. 
We  must  bear  in  mind,  however,  that  the  nobility  were  not  the  only  aristocracy; 
there  was  another  much  more  powerful  and  influential  than  they — the  clergy. 
This  latter  class  was  at  that  time  possessed  of  all  the  ascendency  and  influence 
which  both  moral  and  material  means  can  confer ;  in  fact,  besides  the  religious 
character,  which  insured  the  respect  and  veneration  of  the  people,  they  were 
possessed,  at  the  same  time,  of  abundant  riches ;  which  easily  secured  to  them, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  371 

on  the  one  hand,  gratitude  and  influence ;  and,  on  the  other,  made  them  feared 
by  the  great,  and  respected  by  monarehs.  Now,  here  is  one  of  the  leading 
mistakes  of  Protestantism  :  to  crush  the  power  of  the  clergy  at  such  a  time,  was 
to  accelerate  the  complete  victory  of  absolute  monarchy,  to  leave  the  people 
defenceless,  the  monarch  unrestrained,  aristocracy  without  a  bond  of  union, 
without  a  vital  principle ;  it  was  to  prevent  the  three  elements — monarchy, 
aristocracy,  and  democracy — from  uniting  to  form  a  limited  government, 
towards  which  almost  all  the  European  nations  appeared  to  be  inclining.  We 
have  already  seen  that  it  was  not  at  that  time  expedient  to  isolate  the  people, 
for  their  political  existence  was  still  feeble  and  precarious ;  and  it  is  no  less 
evident  that  the  nobility,  as  a  means  of  government,  ought  not  to  have  been 
left  to  themselves.  This  class,  possessing  no  other  vital  principle  than  that 
derived  from  their  titles  and  privileges,  were  incapable  of  resisting  the  attacks 
continually  aimed  at  them  by  the  royal  power.  In  spite  of  themselves,  the 
nobility  were  under  the  necessity  of  yielding  to  the  monarch's  will,  of  abandon- 
ing their  inaccessible  castles,  to  resort  to  the  sumptuous  palades  of  kings,  and 
play  the  part  of  courtiers. 

Protestantism  crushed  the  power  of  the  clergy,  not  only  in  the  countries  in 
which  it  succeeded  in  implanting  its  errors,  but  also  in  others.  In  fact,  where 
it  could  not  fully  introduce  itself,  its  ideas,  when  not  in  open  opposition  to  the 
Catholic  faith,  exercised  a  certain  degree  of  influence.  From  that  time  the 
power  of  the  clergy  lost  its  principal  support  in  the  political  influence  of  the 
Popes,  for  whilst  kings  assumed  a  tone  of  greater  boldness  against  the  preten- 
sions of  the  Holy  See,  the  Popes,  on  their  side,  that  they  might  give  no 
pretext,  no  occasion  for  the  declamations  of  Protestants,  were  obliged  to  act 
with  great  circumspection  in  every  thing  relating  to  temporal  affairs.  All  this 
has  been  regarded  as  the  progress  of  European  civilization, — as  one  step 
towards  liberty  ]  however,  the  rapid  sketch  which  I  have  just  given  of  the 
political  condition  of  that  period,  clearly  proves  that,  instead  of  taking  the 
surest  way  to  the  development  of  representative  forms,  the  road  to  absolute 
monarchy  was  chosen.  Protestantism,  interested  in  crushing  by  all  possible 
means  the  power  of  the  Popes,  exalted  that  of  kings  even  in  spiritual  matters. 
By  thus  concentrating  in  their  hands  the  spiritual  and  temporal  powers,  it  left 
the  throne  without  any  sort  of  counterpoise.  By  destroying  the  hope  of 
obtaining  liberty  by  peaceable  means,  it  led  the  people  to  have  recourse  to 
force,  and  opened  the  crater  of  those  revolutions  which  have  cost  modern 
Europe  so  many  tears. 

In  order  that  the  forms  of  political  liberty  should  take  root  and  attain  to 
perfection,  they  were  not  to  be  forced  prematurely  from  the  atmosphere  which 
gave  them  birth ;  for  in.  this  atmosphere  existed  together  the  monarchical,  aris- 
tocratical,  and  popular  elements,  all  strengthened  and  directed  by  the  Catholic 
religion ;  under  the  influence  of  this  same  religion,  these  elements  were  being 
gradually  combined,  politics  were  not  to  be  separated  from  religion.  Instead 
of  regarding  the  clergy  as  a  fatal  element,  it  was  important  to  look  upon  them 
as  a  mediator  among  all  classes  and  powers,  ready  to  calm  the  ardor  of  strife, 
to  place  bounds  against  excess,  to  prevent  the  exclusive  preponderance  of  the 
monarch,  the  nobility,  or  the  people.  Whenever  powers  and  interests  of  dif- 
ferent natures  are  to  be  combined,  a  mediator  is  essential,  or  some  sort  of 
intervention  to  prevent  violent  shocks ;  if  this  mediator  does  not  exist  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  circumstances,  recourse  must  be  had  to  the  law  for  the  cre- 
ation of  one.  From  this  it  is  evident  what  an  evil  Protestantism  inflicted  upon 
Europe ;  since  its  first  act  was  completely  to  isolate  the  temporal  power,  to 
place  it  in  rivalship  and  hostility  to  the  spiritual,  and  to  leave  no  mediator 
between  the  monarch  and  the  people.  The  lay  aristocracy  at  once  lost  their 
political  influence ;  for  they  had  now  lost  their  force  and  bond  of  union,  which 


372  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

they  derived  from  their  connection  with  the  ecclesiastical  aristocracy.  When 
once  the  nobles  were  reduced  to  mere  courtiers,  the  power  of  the  throne  was 
entirely  without  a  counterpoise. 

I  have  said  it,  and  I  repeat  it,  that  the  strengthening  of  the  royal  power, 
even  at  the  expense  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  lords  and  of  the  commons, 
tended  powerfully  to  the  maintenance  of  public  order,  and  consequently  to  the 
progress  of  civilization ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  extreme  preponderance 
obtained  by  this  power  is  much  to  be  lamented ;  and  it  may  be  well  to  reflect, 
that  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  this  preponderance  was  the  removal  of  the 
clergy  from  the  sphere  of  politics.  At  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  question  no  longer  was,  whether  those  numerous  castles  should 
be  left  standing,  from  the  heights  of  which  proud  barons  gave  the  law  to  their 
vassals,  and  held  themselves  justified  in  despising  the  ordinances  of  the  mon- 
arch ;  nor  whether  that  long  list  of  communal  liberties  should  be  preserved, 
which  had  no  connection  with  each  other,  which  were  opposed  to  the  preten- 
sions of  the  great,  and  at  the  same  time  embarrassed  the  action  of  the  sovereign, 
by  preventing  the  formation  of  a  central  government  capable  of  insuring  order, 
of  protecting  legitimate  interests,  of  giving  an  impulse  to  the  movement  of 
civilization,  which  had  everywhere  commenced  with  so  much  activity.  This 
was  no  longer  the  question ;  on  all  sides  the  castles  were  being  levelled,  the 
great  lords  were  descending  from  their  fortresses,  and  becoming  more  humane 
towards  the  people ;  they  were  giving  up  their  exactions,  and  beginning  to  show 
respect  to  the  power  of  the  monarch ;  and  the  commons,  obliged  to  submit  to 
an  amalgamation  of  the  multitude  of  petty  states,  to  form  extensive  monarchies, 
were  forced  to  part  with  so  much  of  their  rights  and  liberties  as  was  opposed 
to  the  system  of  general  centralization. 

The  question  was,  to  discover  whether  there  existed  any  means  of  limiting 
power,  and  yet  securing  to  the  people  the  benefits  of  its  centralization  and 
augmentation;  whether  it  was  possible,  without  embarrassing  or  weakening 
the  action  of  power,  to  secure  to  the  people  a  reasonable  amount  of  influence 
over  the  progress  of  affairs,  and,  above  all,  the  right  they  had  already  acquired 
of  watching  over  the  public  revenues.  That  is,  at  once  to  prevent  the  sangui- 
nary horrors  of  revolutions,  and  the  abuses  and  disorders  of  court  favorites. 
The  people  alone  were  incapable  of  preserving  this  influence,  unless  they  had 
been  furnished  with  a  knowledge  of  the  public  affairs  ;  an  indispensable  resource 
in  such  a  case,  but  of  which  they  were  in  general  completely  destitute.  I  do 
not  mean  to  deny  the  existence  of  a  certain  kind  of  knowledge  amongst  the 
commons;  but  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  term  public  affairs  had  acquired 
an  extensive  signification;  for  it  was  not  merely  applied  to  a  municipality  or  a 
province;  centralization  becoming  everywhere  more  general  and  triumphant, 
caused  this  term  to  be  applied  to  whole  kingdoms,  not  merely  considered  as 
isolated,  but  in  the  whole  of  their  relations  with  other  nations.  From  that 
time  European  civilization  began  to  assume  that  character  of  generality,  which 
still  distinguishes  it :  from  that  time,  to  understand  aright  the  private  affairs 
of  any  one  kingdom,  it  was  necessary  to  look  abroad  over  the  whole  of  Europe, 
sometimes  over  the  whole  world.  Men  capable  of  such  elevated  views  could 
not  be  very  common  in  society ;  moreover,  as  the  most  exalted  part  of  society 
was  attracted  by  the  splendor  of  the  throne  of  the  monarch,  a  focus  of  intelli- 
gence was  sure  to  be  formed  there,  with  exclusive  pretensions  to  the  govern- 
ment. Compare  with  this  centre  of  action  and  intelligence,  the  people  alone, 
still  weak  and  ignorant,  and  the  result  may  be  easily  guessed.  Weakness  and 
ignorance  never  prevailed  over  force  and  intelligence.  But,  what  remedy  was 
there  for  this  difficulty  ?  The  preservation  of  the  Catholic  religion  all  over 
Europe,  and  consequently  the  influence  of  the  clergy ;  for  it  is  well  known  that 
the  clergy  were  still  considered  at  this  epoch  as  the  centre  of  learning. 

Those  who  have  extolled  Protestantism  for  having  weakened  the  influence  of 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  373 

the  Catholic  clergy,  have  not  sufficiently  reflected  upon  the  nature  of  that 
influence.  It  would  have  been  difficult  to  discover  at  that  epoch  a  class  of 
citizens  connected  with  the  three  elements  of  power  by  common  interests  with 
each,  and  yet  not  exclusively  allied  to  any.  Monarchy  had  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  clergy.  In  fact,  how  can  we  imagine  that  the  ministers  of  a  religion 
regarding  power  as  an  emanation  from  Heaven  would  declare  themselves  the 
enemies  of  royal  power,  which  was  acknowledged  to  be  at  the  head  of  all  others? 
Neither  had  the  aristocracy  any  thing  to  apprehend  on  the  part  of  the  clergy, 
so  long  as  they  did  not  outstep  the  bounds  of  reason.  The  titles,  by  virtue  of 
which  they  claimed  the  possession  of  riches,  their  rights  to  a  certain  degree  of 
consideration  and  of  precedence  were  not  likely  to  be  combated  by  a  class 
whose  principles  and  interests  were  necessarily  favorable  to  every  thing  within 
the  bounds  of  reason,  of  justice,  and  of  the  laws.  The  democracy,  comprising 
the  generality  of  the  people,  found  support  and  most  generous  protection  in  the 
Church.  How  could  the  Church,  which  had  labored  so  much  to  emancipate 
them  from  the  ancient  slavery,  and  at  a  later  period  from  feudal  chains,  declare 
herself  the  enemy  of  a  class  which  might  be  considered  as  her  creature  ?  If  the 
people  experienced  an  amelioration  in  their  civil  condition,  it  was  owing  to  the 
efforts  of  the  clergy ;  if  they  acquired  political  influence,  it  was  owing  to  the 
amelioration  of  their  condition — another  favor  obtained  through  the  influence 
of  the  clergy  ;  and  if  the  clergy  had  any  where  a  sure  support,  it  was  natural 
to  look  for  it  in  that  popular  class  which,  continually  in  contact  with  them, 
received  from  them  their  inspirations  and  instructions. 

Besides,  the  Church  selected  her  members  indiscriminately  from  all  classes. 
To  elevate  a  man  to  the  sacred  ministry  she  required  neither  titles  of  nobility 
nor  riches,  and  this  alone  was  sufficient  to  insure  intimate  relations  between  the 
clergy  and  the  people,  and  to  prevent  the  latter  from  regarding  them  with 
aversion  and  estrangement.  Hence  the  clergy,  united  to  all  classes,  were  an 
element  perfectly  adapted  to  prevent  the  exclusive  preponderance  of  any  of 
these  classes,  to  maintain  all  social  elements  in  a  certain  gentle  and  productive 
fermentation,  which  in  time  would  have  produced  and  matured  a  natural  com- 
bination. I  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  there  would  not  have  arisen  differences, 
disputes,  perhaps  conflicts,  inevitable  occurrences  so  long  as  men  shall  be  men ; 
but  who  does  not  see  that  the  terrible  effusion  of  blood  in  the  wars  of  Germany, 
in  the  revolutions  of  England  and  France,  would  have  been  impossible  ?  It 
will  be  said,  perhaps,  that  the  spirit  of  European  civilization  necessarily  tended 
to  diminish  the  extreme  inequality  of  classes;  I  grant  it,  and  will  even  add, 
that  this  tendency  was  conformable  to  the  principles  and  maxims  of  the 
Christian  religion,  continually  reminding  men  of  their  equality  before  God,  of 
their  common  origin  and  destination,  of  the  emptiness  of  honors  and  riches,  and 
proclaiming  that  virtue  is  the  only  thing  solid  upon  earth,  the  only  thing 
capable  of  rendering  us  pleasing  in  the  eyes  of  God.  But  to  reform  is  not  to 
destroy ;  to  cure  the  disease,  we  must  not  kill  the  patient.  It  was  deemed 
better  to  overthrow  at  one  blow  what  might  have  been  corrected  by  legal  means; 
European  civilization  having  been  corrupted  by  the  fatal  innovations  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  legitimate  authority  having  been  disregarded  even  in  matters 
within  its  exclusive  sphere,  its  mild  and  beneficent  action  has  been  replaced  by 
the  disastrous  expedients  of  violence.  Three  centuries  of  calamity  have  more 
or  less  opened  the  eyes  of  nations,  by  teaching  them  how  perilous  it  is,  even 
for  the  success  of  an  enterprise,  to  confide  it  to  the  cruel  hazard  of  the  em- 
ployment of  force ;  but  it  is  probable  that  if  Protestantism,  like  an  apple  of 
discord,  had  not  been  thrown  into  the  middle  of  Europe,  all  these  great  social 
and  political  questions  would,  at  the  present  time,  be  much  nearer  being  solved 
in  a  safe,  peaceable,  and  certain  manner,  if,  indeed,  they  had  not  been  already 
solved  long  since.  (38) 

2G 


374 


CHAPTER  LXV. 

POLITICAL   DOCTRINES   BEFORE  THE  APPEARANCE   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 

IN  matters  appertaining  to  representative  government,  modern  political  science 
boasts  of  its  great  progress :  we  hear  it  continually  asserting  that  the  school 
in  which  the  deputies  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  imbibed  their  lessons  was 
totally  ignorant  of  political  constitutions.  Now  when  we  compare  the  doctrines 
of  the  predominating  school  of  the  present  day  with  those  of  the  preceding 
school,  what  difference  do  we  discover  between  them  ?  On  what  points  do  they 
differ  ?  Where  is  this  boasted  progress  ? 

The  school  of  the  eighteenth  century  said  :  "  The  king  is  the  natural  enemy 
of  the  people ;  his  power  must  either  be  totally  destroyed,  or  at  least  so  far 
restrained  and  limited,  that  he  may  only  appear  with  his  hands  tied  on  the 
summit  of  the  social  edifice,  merely  invested  with  the  faculty  of  approving  the 
measures  of  the  representatives  of  the  people."  And  what  says  the  modern 
school,  which  boasts  of  its  progress,  of  the  advantage  it  has  derived  from  ex- 
perience, and  of  having  hit  the  exact  point  marked  out  by  reason  and  good 
sense  ?  "  Monarchy,"  says  this  school,  "  is  essential  to  the  great  European 
nations ;  the  attempts  at  republicanism  made  in  America,  whatever  may  be 
their  results,  require,  as  yet,  the  test  of  time ;  besides,  they  were  made  under 
circumstances  very  different  from  those  in  which  we  are  placed,  and  conse- 
quently, are  not  to  be  imitated  by  us.  The  king  should  not  be  regarded  as  the 
enemy  of  the  people^  but  as  their  father;  instead  of  presenting  him  to  public 
view  with  his  hands  tied,  he  should  be  represented  surrounded  with  power, 
grandeur,  and  even  with  majesty  and  pomp ;  without  which  it  is  impossible 
for  the  throne  to  fulfil  the  high  functions  with  which  it  is  invested.  The  king 
should  be  inviolable — not  nominally,  but  really  and  effectually,  so  that  his 
power  cannot,  under  any  pretext,  be  attacked.  He  should  be  placed  in  a  sphere 
beyond  the  whirlwind  of  passion  and  party,  like  a  tutelar  divinity,  a  stranger 
to  mean  views  and  base  passions ;  he  ought  to  be,  as  it  were,  the  representative 
of  reason  and  justice."  "  Fools,"  exclaims  this  school  to  its  adversaries,  "can 
you  not  see  that  it  would  be  better  to  have  no  king  at  all  than  such  a  one  as 
you  would  have  ?  Your  king  would  always  be  an  enemy  to  the  constitution,  for 
he  would  find  this  constitution  always  attacking,  embarrassing,  restricting,  and 
humiliating  him." 

We  will  now  compare  this  progress  with  the  doctrines  predominating  in 
Europe  long  before  the  appearance  of  Protestantism.  This  comparison  will 
enable  us  to  show  clearly  that  every  thing  reasonable,  just,  and  useful,  con- 
tained in  these  doctrines,  was  already  known  and  generally  propagated  in 
Europe  when  society  was  under  the  exclusive  influence  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

A  king  is  essential,  says  the  modern  school ;  and,  thanks  to  the  influence  of 
the  Catholic  religion,  all  the  great  nations  of  Europe  had  a  king :  the  king 
must  not  be  regarded  as  the  enemy,  but  as  the  father  of  the  people;  and  he  was 
already  called  the  father  of  the  people  :  the  power  of  the  king  should  be  great ; 
that  power  was  great:  the  king  should  be  inviolable,  his  person  sacred;  his 
person  was  sacred,  and  his  prerogative  insured  to  him  by  the  Church  from  the 
earliest  ages,  in  an  august  and  solemn  ceremony,  that  of  his  coronation.  "  The 
people  are  supreme,"  said  the  school  of  the  last  century ;  "  the  law  is  the 
expression  of  the  general  will,  the  representatives  of  the  people  are  alone, 
therefore,  invested  with  legislative  faculties ',  the  monarch  cannot  resist  this 
will.  The  laws  are  submitted  to  his  sanction  through  mere  formality ;  if  the 
king  refuses  this  sanction,  the  laws  are  to  undergo  another  examination ;  but 
if  the  will  of  the  representatives  of  the  people  still  remains  the  same,  it  shall 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  375 

be  raised  to  the  dignity  of  law ;  and  the  monarch  who,  by  the  refusal  of  his 
sanction,  shall  show  that  he  regards  this  general  will  as  detrimental  to  the  public 
good,  shall  be  compelled,  at  the  expense  of  his  dignity  and  independence,  to 
give  effect  to  it." 

In  reply  to  this,  the  modern  school  says  :  "  The  supremacy  of  the  people  is 
either  unmeaning,  or  has  a  dangerous  sense ;  the  law  should  not  be  the  expres- 
J  sion  of  will,  but  of  reason ;  mere  will  does  not  constitute  a  law ;  for  this 
purpose,  reason,  justice,  and  public  expediency  are  required."  These  ideas 
were  general  long  before  the  sixteenth  century,  not  only  amongst  educated 
men,  but  even  among  the  most  simple  and  ignorant  classes.  A  doctor  of  the 
thirteenth  century  admirably  expressed  it  in  his  habitual  laconic  language : 
"  It  is  a  rule  dictated  by  reason,  and  having  the  common  weal  for  its  aim." 
"  Would  you,"  continued  the  modern  school,  "  have  royal  power  a  truth,  you 
must  assign  it  the  first  place  among  legislative  powers ;  you  must  entrust  it 
with  an  absolute  veto.  In  the  ancient  cortes,  in  the  ancient  states-general  and 
parliaments,  the  king  did  occupy  this  place  among  the  legislative  powers; 
nothing  was  done  without  his  consent ;  he  possessed  an  absolute  veto" 

"Away  with  classes!"  exclaims  the  Constituent  Assembly;  "away  with 
distinctions  !  The  king  face  to  face  with  the  people,  directly  and  immediately ; 
the  rest  is  an  attempt  against  imprescriptible  rights."  "  You  are  rash,"  replies 
the  modern  school ;  "  if  there  are  no  distinctions,  they  must  be  created.  If 
there  are  not  in  society  classes  forming  in  themselves  a  second  legislative  body 
a  mediator  between  the  king  and  the  people,  there  must  be  artificial  ones ; 
through  the  medium  of  the  law  must  be  created  what  does  not  exist  in  society; 
if  reality  is  wanting,  recourse  must  be  had  to  fiction."  Now  these  classes  ex- 
isted in  ancient  society,  they  took  part  in  public  affairs,  they  were  organized 
as  active  instruments,  they  formed  the  first  legislative  bodies.  I  ask  now, 
whether  this  parallel  does. not  show,  as  clear  as  the  light  of  day,  that  what  is 
now  termed  progress  in  matters  of  government,  is,  in  fact,  a  true  return  towards 
what  was  every  where  taught  and  practised  under  the  influence  of  the  Catholic 
religion  before  the  appearance  of  Protestantism  ?  In  addressing  myself  to  men 
endowed  with  the  least  intelligence  upon  social  and  political  questions,  I  may 
assuredly  dispense  with  the  differences  which  must  necessarily  result  from  the 
two  epochs.  I  grant  that  the  course  of  events  would  of  itself  have  caused 
important  modifications  ;  political  institutions  were  to  be  accommodated  to  the 
fresh  wants  to  be  satisfied.  But  I  maintain,  at  the  same  time,  that,  so  far  as 
circumstances  permitted,  European  civilization  was  advancing  on  the  right 
road  to  a  better  state,  containing  within  itself  the  means  necessary  for  reforming 
without  destroying.  But  for  this  purpose  a  spontaneous  development  of  events 
was  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  mere  action  of  man  is  of  little  avail, 
that  sudden  attempts  are  dangerous ;  that  the  great  productions  of  society  are 
like  those  of  nature,  both  requiring  an  indispensable  element,  time. 

There  is  one  fact  which  appears  to  me  to  have  been  too  little  reflected  upon, 
although  including  the  explanation  of  some  strange  phenomena  of  the  last  three 
centuries.  This  fact  is,  that  Protestantism  has  prevented  civilization  from 
becoming  homogeneous,  in  spite  of  a  strong  tendency  urging  all  the  nations  of 
Europe  to  homogeneity.  The  civilization  of  the  nations  without  doubt  receives 
its  nature  and  its  characteristics  from  the  principles  that  have  given  it  life  and 
movement ;  now  these  principles  being  the  same,  or  very  nearly  so,  in  all  the 
nations  of  Europe,  these  nations  must  have  borne  a  close  resemblance  to  each 
other.  History  and  philosophy  agree  on  this  point ;  therefore,  so  long  as  the 
European  nations  did  not  receive  the  inculcation  of  any  germ  of  division,  their 
civil  and  political  institutions  were  developed  with  a  very  remarkable  simi- 
larity. True,  certain  differences  were  observable  in  them,  which  were  the 
inevitable  consequences  of  a  variety  of  circumstances ;  but  we  see  that  they 


376  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

were  becoming  more  and  more  alike  and  forming  Europe  into  one  vast  whole, 
of  which  we  can  scarcely  form  a  correct  idea,  accustomed  as  we  are  to  ideas  of 
disunion.  This  homogeneity  would  have  arrived  at  its  perfection  through  the 
effect  of  the  rapidity  which  the  increase  and  prosperity  of  commerce  and  the 
arts  gave  to  intellectual  and  material  communications;  the  art  of  printing 
would  have  contributed  to  it  more  than  anything  else,  for  the  ebb  and  flow  of 
ideas  would  have  dispersed  the  inequalities  separating  the  nations  one  from 
another. 

But  unfortunately,  Protestantism  appeared  and  separated  the  European 
people  into  two  great  families,  which,  since  their  division,  have  professed  a 
mortal  hatred  towards  each  other.  This  hatred  has  been  the  cause  of  furious 
wars,  in  which  torrents  of  blood  have  been  shed.  One  thing  yet  more  fatal 
than  these  catastrophies  was  the  germ  of  civil,  political,  and  literary  schism, 
introduced  into  the  bosom  of  Europe  by  the  absence  of  religious  unity.  Civil 
and  political  institutions,  and  all  the  branches  of  learning,  had  appeared  and 
prospered  in  Europe  under  the  influence  of  religion ;  the  schism  was  religious ; 
it  affected  even  the  root,  and  extended  to  the  branches.  Thus  arose  among 
the  various  nations  those  brazen  walls  which  kept  them  separate ;  the  spirit  of 
suspicion  and  mistrust  was  everywhere  spread;  things  which  before  would 
have  been  deemed  innocent  or  without  importance,  from  that  time  were  looked 
upon  as  eminently  dangerous. 

What  uneasiness,  disquietude,  and  agitation  must  have  been  the  result  of 
these  fatal  complications !  We  may  say  that  in  this  detestable  germ  is  con- 
tained the  history  of  the  calamities  with  which  Europe  was  afflicted  during  the 
last  three  centuries.  To  what  may  we  attribute  the  Anabaptist  wars  in  Ger- 
many, those  of  the  empire,  and  the  Thirty-years  war ;  those  of  the  Huguenots 
in  France,  and  the  bloody  scenes  of  the  League ;  and  that  profound  source  of 
division,  that  uninterrupted  series  of  discord,  which  beginning  with  the 
Huguenots,  was  continued  by  the  Jansenists,  and  then  by  philosophers,  termi- 
nating in  the  Convention  ?  Had  England  not  contained  in  her  bosom  that 
nest  of  sects  engendered  by  Protestantism,  would  she  have  had  to  suffer  the 
disasters  of  a  revolution  which  lasted  so  many  years  ?  Had  Henry  VIII.  not 
seceded  from  the  Catholic  Church,  Great  Britain  would  not  have  passed  two- 
thirds  of  the  sixteenth  century  in  the  most  atrocious  religious  persecutions, 
and  under  the  most  brutal  despotism  ;  she  would  not  have  been  drowned  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  seventeenth  in  torrents  of  blood,  shed  by  sectarian  fana- 
ticism. Had  it  not  been  for  Protestantism,  would  England  have  been  in  the  fatal 
position  in  which  she  is  placed  by  the  Irish  question,  scarcely  leaving  her  a 
choice  between  a  dismemberment  of  the  empire  and  a  terrible  revolution  ? 
Would  not  nations  of  brethren  have  found  the  means  of  coming  to  an  amicable 
understanding,  if,  during  the  last  three  centuries,  religious  discords  had  not 
separated  them  by  a  lake  of  blood?  Those  offensive  and  defensive  con- 
federations between  nation  and  nation,  which  divided  Europe  into  two  parties, 
as  inimical  to  each  other  as  the  Christians  to  the  Mussulmans,  that  traditional 
hatred  between  the  North  and  the  South,  that  profound  separation  between 
Protestant  and  Catholic  Germany,  between  Spain  and  England,  between  that 
country  and  France,  were  sure  to  have  an  extraordinary  effect  in  retarding 
communications  between  European  nations ;  and  what  would  have  been  obtained 
much  sooner  by  moral  means,  could  only  be  obtained  by  material  ones.  Steam 
tends  to  convert  Europe  into  one  vast  city ;  if  men  who  were  one  day  to  live 
under  the  same  roof  hated  one  another  for  three  centuries,  what  was  the  cause 
of  it  ?  If  people's  hearts  had  been  united  long  before  in  mutual  affection, 
would  not  the  happy  moment  in  which  they  were  to  join  hands  have  been 
hastened  ? 

'     :'-,        -•-'         -V  ,••    V:?r  '      • 


377 
CHAPTER  LXVI. 

POLITICAL  DOCTRINES  IN   SPAIN. 

MY  explanation  of  this  matter  would  be  incomplete,  were  I  to  leave  the  fol- 
lowing difficulty  unresolved  :  "  In  Spain,  Catholicity  has  prevailed  exclusively, 
and  under  it  an  absolute  monarchy  was  established,  a  sufficient  indication  that 
Catholic  doctrines  are  inimical  to  political  liberty."  The  great  majority  of 
men  never  look  deeply  into  the  real  nature  of  things,  nor  pay  due  attention  to 
the  true  meaning  of  words.  Present  them  with  something  in  strong  relief  that 
will  make  a  vivid  impression  on  their  imagination,  and  they  take  facts  just  as 
they  appear  at  the  first  glance,  thoughtlessly  confounding. causality  with  coinci- 
dence. It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  empire  of  the  Catholic  religion  coincided 
in  Spain  with  the  final  preponderance  of  absolute  monarchy;  but  the  question 
is,  Was  the  Catholic  religion  the  true  cause  of  this  preponderance  ?  Was  it  she 
that  overturned  the  ancient  cortes,  to  establish  the  throne  of  absolute  monarchs 
on  the  ruins  of  popular  institutions  ? 

Before  we  commence  our  examination  into  the  cause  that  destroyed  the  in- 
fluence of  the  nation  on  public  affairs,  it  may  be  well  to  remind  the  reader 
that  in  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Germany,  absolutism  was  established  and  up- 
held in  juxtaposition  with  Protestantism.  Hence  the  argument  of  coincidence 
is  very  little  worth,  as,  owing  to  the  exact  identity  of  circumstances  in  the  two 
cases,  it  could  just  as  well  be  proved  that  Protestantism  leads  to  absolutism. 
I  will  just  observe  here,  that  in  my  endeavors  to  demonstrate  in  the  foregoing 
chapters  that  the  pseudo-Reformation  tended  to  the  overthrow  of  political 
liberty,  I  have  not  rested  my  arguments  upon  coincidences  only,  however  careful 
I  may  have  been  to  point  them  out  to  the  reader.  I  have  said  that  Protestant- 
ism, by  diffusing  dissolvent  doctrines,  had  occasioned  a  necessity  for  an  exten- 
sion of  temporal  power }  that  by  destroying  the  political  influence  of  the  clergy 
and  the  Popes,  it  had  destroyed  the  equilibrium  between  the  social  classes,  left 
no  counterpoise  to  the  throne,  and  further  augmented  the  power  of  the 
monarch,  by  granting  him  ecclesiastical  supremacy  in  Protestant  countries,  and 
exaggerating  his  prerogatives  in  Catholic  nations. 

But  we  will  dismiss  these  general  considerations,  and  fix  our  attention  upon 
Spain.  This  nation  has  the  misfortune  to  be  one  of  those  that  are  least  known ; 
its  history  is  not  properly  studied,  Hor  are  sound  views  taken  of  its  present 
condition.  Its  troubles,  its  rebellions,  its  civil  wars,  proclaim  that  it  has  not 
yet  received  its  true  system  of  government,  which  proves  that  the  nation  to  be 
governed  is  but  imperfectly  understood.  Its  history  is,  if  possible,  still  less 
perfectly  understood.  The  present  influence  of  events  already  very  remote, 
works  secretly  and  almost  imperceptibly;  and  hence  the  eye  of  the  observer 
is  satisfied  with  a  superficial  view  of  affairs,  and  he  forms  his  opinions  too 
hastily — opinions  which  too  often,  in  consequence,  take  the  place  of  facts 
and  reality.  In  treating  of  the  causes  that  have  deprived  Spain  of  her 
political  liberty,  almost  all  authors  fix  their  attention  principally  or  exclu- 
sively upon  Castile,  giving  monarchs  infinitely  more  credit  for  sagacity  than 
the  course  of  events  would  seem  to  justify.  They  generally  select  the  war 
of  the  Communeros  as  their  point  of  view,  and,  according  to  certain  writers, 
but  for  the  defeat  at  Villalar,  the  liberties  of  Spain  would  have  been  forever 
secure.  I  admit  that  the  war  of  the  Communeros  affords  an  excellent  point  of 
view  for  the  study  of  this  matter ;  in  fact,  the  field  of  Villalar  was  in  some 
measure  witness  to  the  conclusion  of  the  drama.  Castile  should  be  regarded 
as  the  centre  of  events ;  and  it  is  here  that  the  Spanish  monarchs  gave  proof 
of  great  sagacity  in  the  manner  in  which  they  brought  the  enterprise  to  a 
close.  Nevertheless,  I  do  not  deem  it  just  to  give  an  exclusive  preference  to  one 
48  2e2 


378  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

of  these  considerations,  and  it  does  appear  to  me  that  the  real  state  of  the 
question  is  generally  misconceived  :  effects  are  taken  for  causes,  accessories  for 
principals. 

In  my  opinion,  the  ruin  of  free  institutions  resulted  from  the  following 
causes  : — 1st,  the  premature  and  immoderately  extensive  development  of  these 
institutions ;  2dly,  the  formation  of  the  Spanish  nation  out  of  a  successive 
reunion  of  very  heterogeneous  parts,  all  possessing  institutions  extremely 
popular;  3dly,  the  establishment  of  the  centre  of  power  in  the  middle  of  the 
provinces  where  these  forms  were  most  restricted,  and  where  the  authority  of 
the  crown  was  the  greatest  ;  4thly,  the  extreme  abundance  of  wealth,  the  power 
and  the  splendor  which  the  Spanish  people  saw  everywhere  around  them,  and 
which  lulled  them  to  sleep  in  the  arms  of  prosperity ;  5thly,  the  exclusively 
military  position  of  the  Spanish  monarchs,  whose  armies  were  everywhere  vic- 
torious, their  military  power  and  prestige  being  at  their  height  precisely  at  the 
critical  time  when  the  quarrel  had  to  be  decided.  I  will  take  a  rapid  view  of 
these  causes,  although  the  nature  of  this  work  does  not  permit  me  to  devote  to 
them  the  space  which  the  gravity  and  importance  of  the  subject  demand.  The 
reader  will  pardon  me  this  political  digression  on  account  of  the  close  con- 
nection existing  between  this  subject  and  the  religious  question. 

As  regards  popular  forms  of  government.  Spain  has  been  in  advance  of  all 
monarchical  nations.  This  is  an  indubitable  fact.  In  Spain,  these  forms 
received  a  premature  and  extreme  development ;  and  this  contributed  to  their 
ruin,  as  a  child  sickens  and  dies,  if,  in  its  tender  years,  its  growth  is  too  rapid, 
or  its  intellect  too  precocious.  This  active  spirit  of  liberty,  this  multitude  of 
fueros  and  of  privileges,  these  impediments  everywhere  placed  in  the  way  of 
power,  checking  the  rapidity  and  energy  of  its  action — this  great  development 
of  the  popular  element,  in  its  very  nature  restless  and  turbulent,  existing 
simultaneously  with  the  wealth,  the  power,  and  the  pride  of  the  aristocracy, 
very  naturally  gave  rise  to  many  commotions.  Elements  so  numerous,  so 
various,  and  so  opposite  to  each  other,  which,  moreover,  had  not  time  to  be 
combined  so  as  to  form  a  peaceable  and  harmonious  whole,  were  not  likely  to 
work  tranquilly  together.  Order  is  the  prime  necessity  of  society ;  it  is  essen- 
tjal  to  the  growth  of  the  ideas,  the  manners,  and  the  laws  of  a  nation. 
Wherever  there  exists  a  germ  of  continual  disorder,  how  deep  soever  it  may 
have  struck  its  roots,  it  is  sure  to  be  extirpated,  or  at  least  crushed,  so  as  no 
longer  to  keep  public  tranquillity  in  perpetual  danger.  The  municipal  and 
political  organization  of  Spain  had  this  inconvenience,  and  hence  an  imperative 
necessity  for  its  modification.  But  the  ideas  and  the  manners  of  the  time  were 
such,  that  matters  could  not  be  expected  to  stop  at  a  simple  modification.  The 
system  of  constituencies,  which  so  easily  creates  numerous  assemblies,  either 
to  enact  new  fundamental  codes  or  to  reform  the  old  ones,  was  not  then  under- 
stood as  it  is  in  our  days;  neither  were  men's  ideas  at  that  time  so  generalized 
as  to  place  them  above  all  that  exclusively  and  particularly  relates  to  a  people, 
at  a  point  of  elevation  whence  they  could  no  longer  observe  every  petty  local 
object,  but  had  their  attention  wholly  engrossed  by  mankind,  society,  the  nation, 
or  the  government.  It  was  not  so  at  that  time  :  a  charter  of  liberty  granted 
by  a  king  to  a  city  or  a  town ;  an  immunity  wrested  from  a  feudal  lord  by  his 
armed  vassals;  some  privilege  obtained  in  reward  of  warlike  achievements,  or 
sometimes  granted  as  a  recompense  for  the  bravery  of  a  man's  ancestors;  a 
concession  to  the  cortes,  made  by  the  monarch  in  exchange  for  the  grant  of  a 
contribution,  or,  as  it  was  then  termed,  of  a  service, — a  law  or  custom,  the 
antiquity  of  which  lay  hidden  in  the  depths  of  the  past,  or  confounded  with 
the  infancy  of  monarchy  :  such,  to  give  a  few  instances,  were  the  titles  of  which 
they  were  proud,  and  which  they  maintained  with  jealous  ardor. 

Liberty  now-a-days  is  more  vague,  and  sometimes  less  positive,  owing  to  the 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  379 

generalization  and  elevation  which  men's  ideas  have  assumed ;  but  then  it  is 
far  less  liable  to  destruction.  Speaking  a  language  well  understood  by  the 
people,  and  appearing  as  the  common  cause  of  all  nations,  it  awakens  universal 
sympathies,  and  is  in  a  position  to  found  more  extensive  associations  as  a  gua- 
rantee against  the  attacks  of  power.  The  words  liberty,  equality,  rights  of 
man,  intervention  of  the  people  in  public  affairs,  ministerial  responsibility, 
public  opinion,  liberty  of  the  press,  toleration,  and  other  similar  ones,  do 
undoubtedly  contain  a  great  diversity  of  meanings,  which  it  would  be  difficult 
to  determine  and  to  classify  when  we  come  to  make  a  specific  application  of 
them ;  and  yet  these  words  present  to  the  mind  certain  ideas  which,  although 
complicated  and  confused,  have  a  false  appearance  of  clearness  and  simplicity. 
On  the  other  hand,  these  words  represent  certain  striking  objects  that  dazzle 
the  mind  by  their  vivid  and  flattering  colors,  and  hence  they  cannot  be  uttered 
without  exciting  a  lively  interest;  they  are  understood  by  the  masses,  and 
hence  every  self-constituted  champion  of  the  ideas  they  convey  is,  at  once 
regarded  as  a  defender  of  the  rights  of  all  mankind.  But  imagine  yourself 
living  among  the  people  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  and  your 
position  will  be  found  very  different.  Take  for  your  subject  the  franchises  of 
Catalonia  or  of  Castile,  and  address  yourself  to  the  Aragonese,  who  were  so 
intractable  on  the  subject  of  their  fueros,  and  you  will  produce  no  effect — will 
not  succeed  in  awakening  either  their  zeal  or  their  interest ;  a  charter  that  does 
not  contain  the  name  of  one  of  their  towns  or  cities  is,  in  their  eyes,  a  thing  of 
no  importance,  and  foreign  to  their  wishes.  This  inconvenience,  originating  in 
the  ideas  of  the  times,  which  were  naturally  confined  to  local  circumstances, 
became  very  great  in  Spain,  where,  under  the  same  sceptre,  there  was  formed 
an  amalgamation  of  people  differing  most  widely  in  their  manners,  in  their 
municipal  and  political  organization,  and  divided,  moreover,  by  rivalries  and 
animosities.  In  such  a  state  of  things  it  was  comparatively  easy  to  curtail  the 
liberties  of  one  province  without  giving  umbrage  to  the  others,  or  exciting  their 
apprehensions  for  their  own  liberties.  If,  at  the  period  of  the  insurrections  of 
the  Oommuneros  in  Castile  against  Charles  V.,  there  had  existed  that  commu- 
nication of  ideas  and  sentiments,  and  those  lively  sympathies,  which  at  the 
present  time  unite  people  together,  the  defeat  of  Villalar  would  have  been  a 
simple  defeat  and  nothing  more ;  the  cry  of  alarm,  resounding  throughout  Ara- 
gon  and  Castile,  would  certainly  have  given  more  trouble  to  the  young  and 
ill-advised  monarch.  But  such  was  not  the  case ;  all  the  efforts  of  the  people 
were  isolated,  and  consequently  barren  of  results.  The  royal  power,  proceed- 
ing upon  a  fixed  and  steady  plan,  was  able  to  beat  down  piecemeal  these 
scattered  forces,  and  the  result  was  not  doubtful.  In  1521,  Padilla,  Bravo, 
and  Maldonado  perished  on  the  scaffold;  in  1591,  D.  Diego  de  Heredia,  D. 
Juan  de  Luna,  and  the  Justiciary  himself,  D.  Antonio  de  Lanuza,  met  the  same 
fate ;  when,  in  1640,  the  Catalonians  rose  in  insurrection  for  the  defence  of 
their  rights,  notwithstanding  the  manifestos  they  issued  to  attract  supporters, 
they  found  no  one  to  assist  them.  There  were  then  no  flying  sheets,  coming 
every  morning  to  fix  the  attention  of  the  people  upon  all  sorts  of  questions,  and 
to  stir  up  alarm  at  the  least  appearance  of  danger  to  their  liberties.  The  peo- 
ple, warmly  attached  to  their  customs  and  usages,  satisfied  with  the  nominal 
confirmations  which  their  monarchs  were  daily  giving  to  their  fueros,  proud 
also  of  the  respect  shown  to  their  ancient  liberties,  were  little  aware  that  they 
were  confronted  by  a  sagacious  adversary,  who  never  resorted  to  force  but  to 
effect  a  decisive  blow,  yet  constantly  held  his  powerful  arm  ready  to  crush 
them.  An  attentive  study  of  the  history  of  Spain  will  show  that  the  concen- 
tration of  the  whole  governing  power  in  the  hands  of  the  monarch,  to  the 
exclusion,  as  far  as  was  possible,  of  popular  influence,  dates  from  the  reign  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Nor  is  this  surprising;  for  there  was  then  a  greater 


380  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

necessity  for  such  a  course,  and  it  could  be  more  easily  adopted.  There  was  a 
greater  necessity;  for,  from  that  time,  the  action  of  government  began  to 
extend  from  one  common  center  over  the  whole  of  Spain,  the  various  portions 
of  which  differed  so  widely  in  their  laws,  their  manners,  and  their  customs ; 
hence  the  central  action  naturally  felt  more  sensibly  the  embarrassment  occa- 
sioned by  so  great  a  diversity  of  cortes,  of  municipalities,  of  codes,  and  of 
privileges ;  and,  as  every  government  wishes  its  action  to  be  rapid  and  effica- 
cious, the  idea  of  simplifying,  uniting,  and  centralizing  their  power  naturally 
took  possession  of  the  kings  of  Spain.  It  is,  in  fact,  easy  to  understand  that 
a  monarch  at  the  head  of  numerous  armies,  with  magnificent  fleets  at  his  dis- 
posal, who  had,  on  a  hundred  occasions,  humbled  his  most  powerful  foes,  and 
won  the  respect  of  foreign  nations,  would  not  like  to  be  continually  going  to 
preside  over  the  cortes  in  Castile,  in  Aragon,  in  Valencia,  and  in  Catalonia. 
It  would  undoubtedly  cost  him  dear  to  be  constantly  repeating  the  oath  binding 
him  to  protect  the  rights  and  libel-ties  of  his  subjects,  and  listening  to  the  per- 
petual strain  re-echoed  in  his  ears  by  the  procuradorcs  of  Castile,  and  the 
brazos  of  Aragon,  Valencia,  and  Catalonia.  It  was  hard  for  him  to  be  obliged 
humbly  to  solicit  from  the  cortes  assistance  for  the  expenses  of  the  state,  and 
particularly  for  almost  continual  wars.  If  he  submitted  to  this,  it  was  only 
from  the  dread  of  those  resolute  men,  real  lions  in  the  'battle-field  when  fighting 
in  defence  of  their  religion,  their  country,  and  their  king,  and  who  would  have 
fought  with  no  less  intrepidity  in  their  streets  and  houses,  had  an  attempt  been 
made  to  despoil  them  of  those  rights  and  franchises  which  they  inherited  from 
their  forefathers. 

The  union  of  the  crowns  of  Aragon  and  Castile  alone  so  far  prepared  the 
way  for  the  ruin  of  popular  institutions,  that  it  followed  almost  necessarily. 
From  that  time,  in  fact,  the  throne  had  obtained  too  great  a  preponderance  for 
the  fueros  of  the  kingdoms  recently  united  to  oppose  it  with  success.  To  ima- 
gine the  existence  at  that  period  of  a  political  power  capable  of  resisting  the 
crown,  we  must  suppose  all  the  assemblies  held  from  time  to  time  in  the 
different  kingdoms  under  the  name  of  cortes  united  into  one  grand  national 
representative  body,  with  a  power  analogous  to  that  of  the  king ;  we  must  sup- 
pose this  central  assembly  actuated  by  a  zeal  equal  to  that  of  the  ancient 
assemblies  for  the  preservation  of  their  fueros  and  privileges,  ready  to  sacrifice 
all  their  rivalries  to  the  public  good,  and  advancing  towards  their  object  with  a 
firm  step,  in  one  compact  mass,  and  never  giving  an  advantage  to  their  adver- 
sary. In  other  words,  we  must  suppose  what  was  utterly  impossible  at  that 
period ;  impossible,  on  account  of  the  ideas,  the  habits,  and  the  rivalries  of  the 
people ;  impossible,  at  a  time  when  the  people  were  incapable  of  comprehending 
the  question  in  so  lofty  a  sense ;  impossible,  owing  to  the  resistance  which  it 
would  have  met  with  from  the  monarchs ;  to  the  embarrassment  and  compli- 
cation, arising  from  the  municipal,  social,  and  political  organization.  In  a 
word,  it  was  something  impossible  to  effect  or  even  to  conceive. 

Every  circumstance  was  in  favor  of  the  aggrandizement  of  the  royal  power. 
The  monarch  being  no  longer  merely  king  of  Aragon  or  of  Castile,  but  of  Spain, 
the  ancient  kingdoms  dwindled  into  insignificance  before  the  majesty  and  the 
splendor  of  the  throne,  and  sank  by  degrees  to  the  rank  which  alone  suited 
them,  that  of  provinces.  From  that  moment  the  action  of  the  monarch  became 
more  extensive  and  complicated,  and  consequently  he  could  not  come  so  fre- 
quently into  contact  with  his  vassals.  The  celebration  of  the  cortes  in  each  of 
the  recently  united  kingdoms,  would  have  occasioned  long  delays;  for  the  king 
was  oftentimes  engaged  at  another  part  of  the  empire.  When  sedition  was  to 
be  chastised,  abuses  to  be  checked,  or  excesses  to  be  repressed,  he  was  no 
longer  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the  forces  of  the  particular  kingdom  in  which 
these  things  occurred,  as  he  could  employ  the  arms  of  Castile  to  subdue  insur- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  381 

rection  in  the  kingdom  of  Aragon,  and  those  of  Aragon  to  put  down  the  rebels 
of  Castile.  Grenada  lay  at  his  feet ;  Italy  yielded  to  one  of  his  victorious 
captains;  in  his  fleet  was  Columbus,  who  had  just  discovered  a  new  world; 
under  these  circumstances,  it  was  in  vain  to  listen  for  the  murmurs  of  the 
cortes  and  of  ayuntamientoSj — these  were  no  longer  heard,  they  had  totally 
disappeared. 

Had  the  national  manners  had  a  peaceable  tendency,  had  not  Spain  been 
habituated  to  war,  democratic  institutions  would  probably  have  been  preserved 
with  less  difficulty.  Had  the  attention  of  the  people  been  fixed  exclusively  upon 
their  municipal  and  political  affairs,  they  would  have  better  understood  their 
real  interests ;  kings  themselves  would  not  have  been  so  ready  to  rush  into  war, 
and  the  throne  would  in  some  degree  have  lost  the  prestige  it  obtained  from 
the  splendor  and  success  of  its  armies ;  the  administration  would  not  have  been 
imbued  with  that  blunt  harshness  for  which  military  habits  are  always  more 
or  less  remarkable ;  and  the  ancient  fueros  would  thus  have  more  easily  retained 
some  consideration.  But  precisely  at  that  period  Spain  was  the  most  warlike 
nation  in  the  world ;  it  was  in  its  element  on  the  battle-field ;  seven  centuries 
of  combats  had  made  it  a  nation  of  soldiers.  Its  recent  victories  over  the 
Moors ;  the  exploits  of  its  armies  in  Italy ;  the  discoveries  of  Columbus ;  every 
thing,  in  fine,  contributed  to  its  exaltation,  and  to  inspire  it  with  that  spirit  of 
chivalry  which,  for  so  long  a  time,  was  one  of  its  distinguishing  characteristics. 
It  was  necessary  for  the  king  to  be  a  captain ;  and  he  was  certain  to  captivate 
the  minds  of  Spaniards,  so  long  as  he  won  renown  by  brilliant  feats  of  arms. 
Now,  arms  are  the  bane  of  popular  institutions.  After  a  victory  on  the  field 
of  battle,  the  order  and  discipline  of  the  camp  are  usually  transferred  to  the 
city. 

From  the  time  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  throne  rose  to  such  a  height 
of  power  that  liberal  institutions  were  almost  lost  sight  of.  The  people  and 
the  grandees,  it  is  true,  re-appeared  upon  the  scene  after  the  death  of  Isabella ; 
but  this  was  entirely  owing  to  the  misunderstanding  between  Ferdinand  the 
Catholic  and  Philip  le  Bel,  which  impaired  the  unity,  and  consequently  the 
strength  of  the  throne ;  and  hence,  as  soon  as  these  circumstances  disappeared, 
the  throne  again  resumed  its  full  preponderance,  and  that  not  only  during  the 
last  days  of  Ferdinand,  but  even  under  the  regency  of  Ximenes.  The  men  of 
Castile,  exasperated  by  the  excesses  of  the  Flemish,  and  encouraged  perhaps 
by  the  hope,  that  the  rule  of  a  young  monarch  would  be,  as  it  usually  is,  only 
feeble,  again  raised  their  voices ;  their  remonstrances  and  complaints  speedily 
ended  in  commotions  and  in  open  insurrection.  Notwithstanding  many  cir- 
cumstances highly  favorable  to  the  Communeros,  and  the  probability  that 
their  conduct  would  be  followed  by  all  the  provinces  of  the  monarchy,  we  find 
that  the  insurrection,  although  considerable,  did  not  assume  either  the  import- 
ance or  extent  of  a  national  movement ;  a  great  portion  of  the  Peninsula  pre- 
served a  strict  neutrality,  and  the  rest  inclined  to  the  cause  of  monarchy.  If 
I  am  not  mistaken,  this  fact  indicates  that  the  throne  had  already  obtained  an 
immense  prestige,  and  was  regarded  as  the  highest  and  most  powerful  institu- 
tion. The  entire  reign  of  Charles  V.  was  extremely  well  calculated  to  perfect 
this  beginning.  Commenced  under  the  auspices  of  the  battle  of  Villalar,  this 
reign  continued  through  an  uninterrupted  series  of  wars,  in  which  the  treasures 
and  the  blood  of  Spain  were  spent  with  incredible  profusion  in  all  the  countries 
of  Europe,  Africa,  and  America.  The  nation  was  not  allowed  time  even  to 
think  of  its  affairs :  almost  always  deprived  of  the  presence  of  its  king,  it  had 
become  a  province  at  the  diposal  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  the  ruler  of 
Europe.  True,  the  cortes  of  1538  boldly  gave  Charles  a  severe  lecture  instead 
of  the  succor  he  demanded.  But  it  was  already  too  late  ;  the  clergy  and  the 
nobility  were  expelled  from  the  cortes,  and  the  representation  of  Castile  was 


382  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

restricted  for  the  future  to  the  procuradores  alone ;  that  is,  it  was  doomed  to  be 
no  more  than  the  shadow  of  what  it  had  been — a  mere  instrument  of  the 
royal  will. 

Much  has  been  said  against  Philip  II. ;  but,  in  my  opinion,  this  monarch 
merely  kept  his  place,  and  allowed  things  to  take  their  natural  course.  The 
crisis  was  already  past;  the  question  already  decided;  the  Spanish  nation 
could  not  regain  its  lost  influence,  save  by  the  regenerating  action  of  centuries. 
Still,  we  must  not  imagine  that  absolute  power  was  so  fully  and  completely 
established  as  to  leave  not  a  vestige  of  ancient  liberty ;  but  this  liberty  could 
do  nothing  from  its  asylum  in  Aragon  and  Catalonia  against  the  giant  that 
held  it  in  check  from  the  midst  of  a  country  entirely  subject  to  his  sway,  from 
the  capital  of  Castile.  The  monarchs  might  probably,  by  one  bold  and  heavy 
blow,  have  struck  down  every  thing  that  opposed  them ;  but  whatever  proba- 
bilities of  success  they  had  in  the  vast  means  at  their  disposal,  they  were  very 
careful  not  to  make  the  attempt,  but  left  the  inhabitants  of  Navarre,  the  sub- 
jects of  the  crown  of  Aragon,  in  the  tranquil  enjoyment  of  their  franchises, 
rights,  and  privileges.  At  the  same  time,  they  were  careful  to  prevent  the 
contagion  spreading  to  the  other  provinces.  By  means  of  partial  attacks,  and 
more  especially  by  leading  the  people  to  allow  their  ancient  liberties  to  fall 
into  desuetude,  they  gradually  diminished  their  zeal  for  them,  and  insensibly 
brought  them  to  a  habit  of  tamely  bending  under  the  action  of  a  central 
power.  (39) 


CHAPTER    LXVII. 

POLITICAL  LIBERTY   AND   RELIGIOUS   INTOLERANCE. 

IN  the  sketch  I  have  here  drawn,  the  rigorous  accuracy  of  which  no  one  can 
question,  we  have  not  discovered  any  thing  like  oppression  in  Catholicity,  nor 
any  alliance  between  the  clergy  and  the  throne  for  the  destruction  of  liberty : 
what  we  have  discovered  is  merely  the  regular  and  natural  order  of  things, — 
a  successive  development  of  events  contained  in  each  other,  as  the  plant  is 
contained  in  the  germ.  As  for  the  Inquisition,  I  think  I  have  said  enough  re- 
specting it  in  the  chapters  that  treat  of  it :  in  this  place  I  will  merely  observe, 
that  it  was  not  a  political  instrument  in  the  hands  of  kings,  ready  to  be  used 
at  their  beck.  Religion  was  its  object;  and  as  we  have  seen,  far  from  losing 
sight  of  this  object  to  suit  the  wishes  of  the  sovereign,  it  unhesitatingly  con- 
demned the  doctrines  that  would  have  unjustly  extended  the  powers  of  the 
monarch.  Shall  I  be  told,  that  the  Inquisition  was  in  its  very  nature  intoler- 
ant, and  consequently  opposed  to  the  growth  of  liberty  ?  I  answer,  that  toler- 
ation, as  now  understood,  had  at  that  time  no  existence  in  any  European 
country.  Besides,  it  was  under  the  direct  and  full  influence  of  religious  in- 
tolerance that  the  people  were  emancipated,  municipalities.organized,  the  system 
of  large  representative  assemblies  established,  which,  under  different  names, 
and  more  or  less  directly,  interfered  in  public  affairs. 

Men's  ideas  were  not  yet  so  far  perverted  as  to  lead  them  to  believe  that 
religion  was  favorable  and  conducive  to  the  oppression  of  the  people ;  on  the 
contrary,  we  observe  in  the  hearts  of  these  people  a  vehement  desire  for  liberty 
and  progress,  whilst  at  the  same  time  they  clung  with  enthusiasm  to  a  faith,  in 
the  sight  of  which  it  appeared  to  them  just  and  salutary  to  refuse  toleration  to 
any  doctrine  at  variance  with  the  teaching  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  Unity  of 
faith  does  not  fetter  the  people — does  not  impede  their  movements  in  any  direc- 
tion— as  well,  indeed,  might  it  be  said,  that  the  mariner  is  fettered  by  the  com- 
pass that  guides  him  in  safety  through  the  wide  expanse  of  waters.  Was  the 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY.  383 

ancient  unity  of  European  civilization  wanting  in  grandeur,  in  variety,  or  in 
beauty  ?  Did  Catholic  unity,  presiding  over  the  destinies  of  society,  arrest  its 
progress,  even  in  the  ages  of  barbarism  ?  Let  us  fix  our  eyes  upon  the  grand 
and  delightful  spectacle  exhibited  in  the  centuries  preceding  the  sixteenth,  and 
pause  a  moment  to  reflect ;  we  shall  all  the  better  understand  in  what  manner 
Protestantism  has  given  a  wrong  direction  to  the  course  of  civilization. 

The  immense  agitation  occasioned  by  the  gigantic  enterprise  of  the  Crusades 
shows  in  what  a  state  of  fermentation  were  the  elements  deposited  in  the  bosom 
of  society.  The  shock  excited  them  to  activity — union  augmented  their  force 
— every  where,  and  in  every  sense,  was  to  be  seen  a  vigorous  and  active  move- 
ment, a  sure  presage  of  the  high  degree  of  civilization  and  refinement  which 
Europe  was  about  to  attain.  The  arts  and  sciences,  as  if  called  into  life  by 
some  powerful  voice,  reappeared,  loudly  asserting  their  claim  to  protection  and 
an  honorable  reception.  On  the  feudal  castles,  those  heirlooms  of  the  man- 
ners of  the  period  of  conquest,  a  ray  of  light  suddenly  gleamed,  that  illumin- 
ated with  the  rapidity  of  lightning  all  climates  and  all  people.  Those  masses 
of  men,  who  had  hitherto  bent  in  painful  toil  for  the  benefit  of  their  masters, 
now  lifted  up  their  heads,  and,  with  bold  hearts  and  enfranchised  lips,  demanded 
a  share  in  social  advantages.  Addressing  each  other  with  a  look  of  intelli- 
gence, they  combined  together,  and  insisted  in  common  that  the  law  should  be 
substituted  for  caprice.  Then  towns  sprang  up,  increased  in  size  and  import- 
ance, and  were  surrounded  with  ramparts ;  municipal  institutions  arose,  and 
began  to  develop  themselves ;  kings,  till  then  the  sport  of  the  pride,  ambition 
or  stubbornness  of  the  feudal  lords,  seized  upon  an  opportunity  so  favorable, 
and  made  common  cause  with  the  people.  Threatened  with  destruction,  feud- 
alism entered  valiantly  into  the  contest,  but  in  vain  j  and,  restrained  by  a  power 
even  more  irresistible  than  the  weapons  of  its  adversaries,  and,  as  if  oppressed 
by  the  air  it  breathed,  it  felt  its  action  impeded,  its  energies  enfeebled,  and, 
despairing  of  victory,  it  gave  itself  up  to  the  enjoyment  to  be  found  in  the 
patronage  of  the  arts. 

To  the  coat  of  mail  now  succeeded  elegance  of  dress ;  to  the  powerful  shield, 
the  pompous  escutcheon ;  to  the  bearing  and  address  of  the  warrior,  the  man- 
ners of  the  courtier  : — thus  was  the  whole  power  of  feudalism  undermined ;  the 
popular  element  was  left  completely  at  liberty  to  develop  itself;  and  the  powers 
of  monarchs  became  every  day  more  extensive.  Royalty  thus  strengthened, 
municipal  institutions  in  full  vigor,  and  feudalism  undermined,  the  remnants 
of  barbarism  and  oppression  still  existing  in  the  laws  fell  one  by  one  beneath 
the  attacks  of  so  many  adversaries ;  and,  for  the  first  time  in  the  world's  history, 
there  was  seen  a  considerable  number  of  great  nations  presenting  the  peaceful 
spectacle  of  many  millions  of  men  living  in  social  union,  and  enjoying  together 
the  rights  of  men  and  of  citizens.  Until  this  period,  public  tranquillity,  and 
even  the  very  existence  of  society,  had  to  be  secured  by  carefully  excluding 
from,  the  working  of  the  political  machine  a  great  number  of  individuals  by 
means  of  slavery — a  system  that  proved  at  once  the  intrinsic  inferiority  and 
weakness  of  the  governments  of  antiquity.  The  Christian  religion,  with  the 
courage  inspired  by  the  consciousness  of  strength,  and  with  an  ardent  love  for 
humanity,  had  never  doubted  that  she  held  in  her  hands  other  means  of  re- 
straining men  than  a  recourse  to  degradation  and  violence,  and  had,  in  fact, 
resolved  the  problem  in  a  manner  the  most  noble  and  generous.  She  had  said 
to  society  :  "  Dost  thou  dread  this  immense  multitude,  that  have  no  sufficient 
titles  to  thy  confidence  ?  I  will  stand  security  for  them.  Thou  enslavest  them ; 
thou  puttest  chains  around  their  necks ;  I  will  subdue  their  hearts.  Leave 
them  free ;  and  this  multitude,  before  which  thou  tremblest  as  before  a  herd  of 
wild  beasts,  will  become  a  class  of  men  serviceable  to  themselves  and  to  thee." 
This  voice  had  been  heard,  and  all  men  were  freed  from  the  yoke  of  slavery— 


384  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

all  entered  upon  this  noble  struggle,  which  was  to  place  society  in  equilibrium, 
without  destroying  or  shaking  its  foundations.  We  have  already  said  above, 
that  there  existed  powerful  adversaries.  Shocks  more  or  less  violent  were 
inevitable ;  but  there  was  no  cause  for  anticipating  any  serious  catastrophe, 
unless  some  fatal  combination  of  circumstances  arose  to  overthrow  the  only 
power  capable  of  moderating  the  inflamed,  and  sometimes  exasperated,  passions 
of  men — to  impose  silence  upon  that  powerful  voice,  ever  ready  to  say  to  the 
combatants,  That  is  enough.  That  voice — the  voice  of  Christianity — might 
have  been  heard  with  greater  or  less  docility  j  but  it  would  always  have  sufficed 
to  calm  down  the  fury  of  the  passions,  to  moderate  the  fierceness  of  their  con- 
flicts, and  thus  to  prevent  scenes  of  bloodshed. 

If  we  take  a  glance  at  Europe  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  and  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  centuries,  with  a  view  to  discover  the  social  elements,  whose 
struggle  seemed  likely  to  disturb  public  tranquillity,  we  shall  find  the  power 
of  the  throne  already  far  superior  to  that  of  the  lords  and  of  the  people ;  we 
shall  see  it  endeavoring  to  please  its  rivals,  lending  its  aid  to  one  for  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  others :  but  already  this  power  was  evidently  indestructible. 
Held  more  or  less  in  check  by  the  proud  remnants  of  feudalism,  and  by  the 
ever-growing  and  encroaching  power  of  the  people,  monarchy  nevertheless 
maintained  its  position  as  a  central  force  for  the  protection  of  society  against 
violence  and  excess.  This  tendency  was  so  strong,  that  we  every  where  meet 
with  the  same  phenomenon,  manifested  with  more  or  less  distinctness,  and  with 
characters  of  greater  or  less  identity.  The  nations  of  Euro.pe  were  great  both 
in  numbers  and  extent;  the  abolition  of  slavery  gave  a  sanction  to  the  prin- 
ciple, that  man  ought  to  live  free  in  the  midst  of  society,  enjoying  its  most 
essential  advantages,  and  with  sufficient  room  to  enable  him  to  take  a  more  or 
less  elevated  rank,  according  to  the  means  he  employs  to  gain  it.  Thus  society 
had  said  to  each  individual :  "  I  acknowledge  thee  as  a  man  and  a  citizen ;  from 
this  moment  I  guarantee  to  thee  the  possession  of  these  titles.  If  thou  desirest 
to  lead  a  quiet  life  in  the  bosom  of  thy  family — labor  and  be  careful ;  no  one 
shall  wrest  from  thee  the  rewards  of  thy  labors,  nor  trammel  the  free  exercise 
of  thy  faculties.  Dost  thou  aspire  to  the  possession  of  wealth — consider  how 
others  have  acquired  it,  and  display  a  similar  activity  and  intelligence.  Art 
thou  ambitious  of  fame,  of  rising  to  an  elevated  rank,  to  splendid  titles — the 
sciences  and  the  military  profession  are  before  thee.  If  thou  hast  inherited  an 
illustrious  name,  thou  mayest  still  increase  its  lustre ;  if  thou  art  not  in  pos- 
session of  such  a  name,  thou  art  free  to  acquire  one." 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  social  problem  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  Every  thing  was  made  public,  all  the  great  means  of  action  were 
openly  developing  themselves  with  rapidity  ;  the  art  of  printing  already  trans- 
mitted men's  thoughts  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other  with  the  speed 
of  lightning,  and  insured  their  preservation  for  the  benefit  of  future  genera- 
tions. The  frequent  intercourse  between  nations,  the  revival  of  literature  and 
the  arts,  the  cultivation  of  the  sciences,  the  inclination  for  travelling  and  com- 
merce, the  discovery  of  a  new  passage  to  the  East  Indies,  the  discovery  of 
America,  the  preference  given  to  political  negotiations  for  effecting  the  arrange- 
ments of  international  relations, — every  thing  combined  to  give  to  the  minds 
of  men  that  strong  impulse,  that  shock  which  at  once  arouses  and  develops  all 
their  faculties,  and  gives  new  life.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  by  what  process 
of  reasoning,  in  the  face  of  facts  so  positive  and  certain, — facts  that  stand  so 
prominently  forward  in  every  page  of  history,  any  man  could  ever  seriously 
maintain  that  Protestantism  aided  human  progress.  If  previous  to  Luther's 
reform  society  had  been  found  stationary,  and  still  submerged  in  the  chaos 
into  which  it  had  been  plunged  by  the  irruptions  of  the  barbarians ;  if  the  people 
had  not  succeeded,  previously  to  that  reform,  in  forming  themselves  into  great 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

nations,  and  in  providing  themselves  with  systems  of  government  more  or  less 
perfectly  organized,  but  all  unquestionably  superior  to  any  that  had  hitherto 
existed,— the- assertion  might  carry  with  it  a  degree  of  plausibility,  or,  at  all 
events,  it  would  not  stand,  as  it  unfortunately  does,  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  most  authentic  and  notorious  facts.  But  what,  on  the  contrary,  was  the 
actual  state  of  Europe  at  the  time  of  Luther's  appearance  ?  The  administration 
of  justice,  exercised  with  more  or  less  perfection,  already  possessed  a  highly 
moral,  rational,  and  equitable  system  of  legislation  for  the  guidance  of  its 
decisions ;  the  people  had  in  great  part  shaken  off  the  yoke  of  feudalism,  and 
had  acquired  abundant  resources  for  the  preservation  and  defence  of  their 
liberties ;  the  executive  had  made  immense  progress,  owing  to  the  establish- 
ment, extension,  and  amelioration  of  municipalities;  the  royal  authority, 
enlarged,  fortified,  and  consolidated,  formed  in  the  midst  of  society  a 
central  force  powerful  to  work  good,  to  prevent  evil,  to  restrain  the  passions,  to 
preserve  the  balance  of  interests,  to  prevent  ruinous  social  contests,  and  to 
watch  over  the  general  welfare  of  society  by  constant  protection  and  effectual 
encouragement;  in  fine,  at  that  period, nations  were  seen  to  fix  a  look  of  great 
foresight  and  sagacity  on  the  rock  upon  which  the  vessel  of  society  is  in  danger 
of  being  wrecked;  whenever  the  power  of  royalty  is  left  without  any  sort  of 
counterpoise.  Such  was  already  the  condition  of  Europe  before  the  religious 
revolution  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

I  promptly  concede  that  great  progress  has  been  made  since  that  period  in 
all  matters  of  a  social,  political  and  administrative  nature ;  but  does  it  follow 
that  this  progress  is  owing  to  the  Protestant  Reformation  ?  To  prove  that  it  is, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  produce  two  societies  absolutely  similar  in  position 
and  circumstances,  but  separated  by  a  long  space  of  time,  that  would 
render  all  reciprocal  influence  between  them  impossible,  and  subjected,  one 
to  the  influence  of  the  Catholic,  the  other  to  the  Protestant  principle ;  then 
each  of  the  two  religions  might  come/forward  and  say  to  the  world,  "  This  is 
my  work/'  But  it  is  absurd  to  compare,  as  is  often  done,  times  so  widely  dif- 
ferent, circumstances  so  utterly  dissimilar  and  exceptional  with  ordinary  cases ; 
it  should  also  be  remembered,  that,  in  every  thing,  the  first  step  is  always  the 
most  difficult,  and  the  greatest  merit  is  always  due  to  invention ;  in  a  word, 
after  so  many  other  violations  of  the  rules  of  logic,  our  opponents  should  not 
obstinately  persist  in  deducing  from  one  single  fact  all  other  facts,  simply 
because  the  latter  happen  to  be  posterior  to  the  former,  otherwise  they  will 
fall  under  suspicion  of  insincerity  in  their  search  after  truth,  and  of  a  wish  to 
falsify  history. 

The  organization  of  European  society,  such  as  Protestantism  found  it,  was, 
assuredly  not  perfect,  but  it  was,  at  all  events,  as  perfect  as  was  possible.  Unless 
Providence  had  vouchsafed  to  govern  the  world  by  prodigies,  Europe,  at  this 
period,  could  not  have  attained  to  a  more  advantageous  position.  The  elements 
of  progress,  of  happiness,  of  civilization  and  refinement,  were  in  her  bosom ;  they 
were  numerous  and  powerful ;  time  was  developing  them  by  degrees  in  a  man- 
ner truly  wonderful ;  and  as  mournful  experience  is  every  day  lessening  the 
prestige  and  credit  of  destructive  doctrines,  the  time  is  perhaps  not  far  distant, 
when  philosophers,  examining  dispassionately  this  period  of  history,  will  agree 
that  society  had  even  then  received  the  most  fortunate  impulse.  It  will  be  seen 
that  Protestantism,  by  giving  a  wrong  direction  to  the  march  of  society,  only  pre- 
cipitated it  upon  a  perilous  route,  where  it  has  been  on  the  brink  of  ruin ;  and 
would  perhaps  have  been  ruined  altogether,  had  not  the  hand  of  the  Most  High 
been  stronger  than  the  feeble  arm  of  man.  Protestants  boast  of  having  rendered 
great  service  to  society  by  having  destroyed  in  some  countries,  and  impaired 
in  others,  the  power  of  the  Popes.  As  regards  the  Papal  supremacy  in  rela- 
tion to  matters  of  faith,  what  1  have  elsewhere  said  will  suflice  to  demonstrate 

49  2H 


386  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

the  disastrous  consequences  of  the  exercise  of  private  judgment ;  as  to  discip- 
line, I  am  unwilling  to  enter  upon  questions  that  would  indefinitely  extend  the 
limits  of  this  work.  I  will  merely  ask  my  opponents,  whether  they  deem  it  pru- 
dent to  leave  a  society  co-extensive  with  the  world  without  a  legislator,  without  a 
judge,  without  an  arbitrator,  without  a  counsellor,  without  a  chief? 

Temporal  power. — This  term  has  long  been  the  bugbear  of  kings — the 
watchword  of  the  anti-Catholic  party — a  snare  into  which  many  upright  men 
have  fallen — a  butt  for  the  shafts  of  discontented  statesmen,  disappointed 
writers,  and  snarling  canonists;  and  nothing  more  natural,  seeing  that  the 
subject  afforded  them  an  opportunity  of  pouring  out  their  resentments,  and  of 
giving  currency  to  their  suspicious  doctrines,  well  assured  that,  by  affecting 
zeal  for  the  power  of  the  monarch,  they  would  find,  in  case  of  danger,  a  ready 
asylum  in  the  palaces  of  kings.  The  present  is  not  the  place  for  the  discus- 
sion of  a  question  that  has  been  the  subject  of  so  many  vehement  and  learned 
disputes ;  and  it  would  be  the  more  inopportune,  as,  in  the  existing  state  of 
things,  assuredly  no  power  apprehends  the  least  temporal  usurpation  on  the 
part  of  the  Holy  See,  which,  whatever  its  enemies  may  say,  has  evinced  at  all 
times,  and  even  humanly  speaking,  more  prudence,  tact,  patience,  and  wisdom 
than  any  other  power  upon  earth ;  and  amidst  the  extreme  difficulties  of  modern 
times,  has  taken  up  a  position  that  enables  it  to  yield  to  the  various  exigencies 
of  the  times  without  any  compromise  of  its  high  dignity,  without  any  deviation 
from  its  sublime  obligations.  It  is  certain  that  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Popes  had  risen  in  the  course  of  time  to  such  a  height,  that  the  successor  of  St. 
Peter  had  become  a  universal  counsellor,  arbitrator,  and  judge,  from  whose 
sentence  it  was  dangerous  to  appeal,  even  in  purely  political  matters.  The  general 
movement  throughout  Europe  had  somewhat  weakened  this  power ;  but  yet,  at 
the  moment  when  Protestantism  made  its  appearance,  it  still  had  such  an  as/- 
cendency  over  the  minds  of  men,  it  commanded  so  much  veneration  and  respect, 
and  was  possessed  of  such  vast  means  for  defending  its  rights,  enforcing  its 
pretensions,  supporting  its  decisions,  and  making  its  counsels  respected,  that 
the  most  powerful  monarchs  of  Europe  considered  it  a  very  serious  matter  to 
have  the  Court  of  Rome  opposed  to  them  in  any  affair  whatever ;  and  conse- 
quently they  eagerly  sought  on  all  occasions,  to  secure  its  favor  and  friendship. 
Rome  had  thus  become  a  general  centre  of  negotiation,  and  no  affair  of  impor- 
tance could  escape  its  influence. 

Such  have  been  the  outcries  raised  against  the  colossal  power,  against  this 
pretended  usurpation  of  rights,  that  one  might  suppose  the  Popes  to  have  been 
a  succession  of  deep  conspirators,  who,  by  their  intrigues  and  artifices,  aimed 
at  nothing  short  of  universal  monarchy.  As  our  opponents  plume  themselves 
on  their  spirit  of  observation  and  historical  analysis,  I  felt  it  necessary  to 
observe,  that  the  temporal  power  of  the  Popes  was  strengthened  and  extended 
at  a  time  when  no  other  power  was  as  yet  really  constituted.  To  call  that 
power  usurpation  therefore,  is  not  merely  an  inaccuracy — it  is  an  anachronism. 
In  the  general  confusion  brought  upon  all  European  society  by  the  irruptions 
of  the  barbarians,  in  that  strange  medley  of  races,  laws,  manners,  and  tradi- 
tions, there  remained  only  one  solid  foundation  for  the  structure  of  the  edifice 
of  civilization  and  refinement,  only  one  luminous  body  to  shine  upon  the  chaos, 
only  one  element  capable  of  giving  life  to  the  germ  of  regeneration  that  lay 
buried  in  blood-stained  ruins — Christianity,  predominant  over  and  annihilating 
the  remains  of  other  religions,  arose,  in  this  age  of  desolation,  like  a  solitary 
column  in  the  center  of  a  ruined  city,  or  like  a  bright  beacon  amid  darkness. 

Barbarians,  and  proud  of  their  triumphs  as  they  were,  the  conquering  people 
bowed  their  heads  beneath  the  pastoral  staff  that  governs  the  flock  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  spiritual  pastors,  a  body  of  men  quite  new  to  these  barbarians, 
and  speaking  a  lofty  and  divine  language,  obtained  over  the  chiefs  of  the  fero- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  387 

cious  hordes  from  the  north  a  complete  and  permanent  ascendency,  which  the 
course  of  ages  could  not  destroy.  Such  was  the  foundation  of  the  temporal 
power  in  the  Church  ;  and  it  will  be  easily  conceived  that  as  the  Pope  towered 
above  all  the  other  pastors  in  the  ecclesiastical  edifice,  like  a  superb  cupola 
above  the  other  parts  of  a  magnificent  temple,  his  temporal  power  must  have 
risen  far  higher  than  that  of  ordinary  bishops  ;  and  must  also  have  had  a  deeper, 
more  solid,  and  more  lasting  foundation.  All  the  principles  of  legislation,  all 
the  foundations  of  society,  all  the  elements  of  intellectual  culture,  all  that 
remained  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  all  was  in  the  hands  of  religion ;  and  all  very 
naturally  sought  protection  from  the  pontifical  throne,  the  only  power  acting 
with  order,  concert,  and  regularity,  and  the  only  one  that  offered  any  guarantee 
for  stability  and  permanence.  Wars  succeeded  to  wars,  convulsions  to  convul- 
sions, the  forms  of  society  were  continually  changing;  but  the  one  great, 
general,  and  dominant  fact,  the  stability  and  influence  of  religion,  remained 
still  the  same :  and  it  is  ridiculous  in  any  man  to  declaim  against  a  phenomenon 
so  natural,  so  inevitable,  and,  above  all,  so  advantageous,  designating  it,  "A 
succession  of  usurpations  of  temporal  power." 

Power,  ere  it  can  be  usurped,  must  exist ;  and  where,  I  pray,  did  temporal 
power  then  exist  ?  Was  it  in  kings  ? — the  sport,  and  frequently  the  victims 
of  the  haughty  barons  ?  In  the  feudal  lords  ? — continually  engaged  in  contests 
amongst  themselves,  with  kings,  and  with  the  people  ?  In  fine,  was  it  in  the 
people  ? — a  troop  of  slaves,  who,  thanks  to  the  efforts  of  religion,  were  slowly 
working  out  their  freedom  ?  The  people,  it  is  true,  united  against  the  lords — 
they  raised  their  voices  to  demand  protection  from  the  monarch,  or  to  solicit 
the  aid  of  the  Church  against  the  vexations  and  outrages  inflicted  on  them  by 
both  ;  still,  however,  they  as  yet  formed  but  an  unorganized  embryo  of  society, 
without  any  fixed  rule,  without  government,  and  without  laws.  Could  we 
honestly  compare  modern  times  with  these  ?  Could  we  apply  to  these  bygone 
ages  restrictions  and  distinctions  of  authority  that  are  admissible  only  in  a  state 
of  society  in  which  the  elements  of  life  and  civilization  have  been  developed, 
in  which  solid  and  permanent  foundations  have  been  laid,  in  which,  conse- 
quently, the  functions  of  social  authority  could  be,  and  have  in  effect  been, 
regulated,  after  a  minute  analysis  of  the  limits  of  their  respective  jurisdictions  ? 
To  reason  otherwise,  would  be  to  seek  order  in  chaos,  smoothness  on  the  sur- 
face of  a  tempest-tossed  ocean.  We  should  not  forget,  either,  a  general  and 
unvarying  fact,  founded  on  the  very  nature  of  things, — a  fact,  moreover,  to 
which  the  history  of  all  times  and  all  countries  is  continually  calling  our  atten- 
tion, and  which  has  received  a  striking  confirmation  from  the  revolutions  of 
modern  times, — viz.  that  whenever  society  is  deeply  diseased,  there  is  always 
at  hand  a  principle  of  life  to  stay  the  progress  of  the  malady.  A  contest  takes 
place — collisions  occur  one  after  another — they  become  more  frequent  and  more 
violent;  but  ultimately  the  principle  of  order  prevails  over  that  of  disorder,  and 
continues  long  afterwards  to  predominate  in  society.  This  principle  may  be 
more  or  less  just,  more  or  less  rational,  more  or  less  violent,  more  or  less  ade- 
quate to  attain  its  object;  but  whatever  it  be  in  these  respects,  it  always 
prevails  in  the  end,  unless,  during  the  struggle,  another,  a  better  and  more 
powerful  principle  takes  its  place. 

Now,  in  the  middle  ages,  this  principle  was  the  Christian  Church.  She  alone 
could  be  this  principle,  for  she  had  truth  in  her  doctrines,  justice  in  her  laws, 
and  regularity  and  prudence  in  her  government.  She  was  the  only  element  of 
life  that  existed  at  this  period — the  only  depository  of  the  grand  idea  upon 
which  the  reorganization  of  society  depended ;  and  this  idea  was  not  vague  and 
abstract,  but  positive  and  practicable,  for  it  proceeded  from  the  lips  of  Him 
whose  word  calls  forth  worlds  out  of  nothing,  and  makes  light  to  shine  forth  in 
the  midst  of  darkness.  When  once  the  sublime  doctrines  of  the  Church  had 


388  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

penetrated  into  the  heart  of  society,  her  pure,  fraternal,  and  consoling  morality 
necessarily  influenced  its  manners.  Forms  of  government  also,  and  systems 
of  legislation  were,  in  like  manner,  more  or  less  affected  by  her  mild  and  pow- 
erful influence.  These  are  facts — undeniable  facts.  Now,  the  Roman  Pontiffs 
were  the  center  of  this  happy  preponderance  which  religion  so  legitimately 
obtained  and  so  justly  deserved;  hence  it  is  clear  that  the  power  of  the  Holy 
See  very  naturally  rose  above  all  other  powers. 

After  having  contemplated  this  sublime  picture,  drawn  from  the  plain  and 
authentic  records  of  history,  why  dwell  on  the  defects  or  the  vices  of  some  few 
individuals  ?  Why  drag  to  light  the  excesses,  the  errors,  the  disorders  ever 
incident  to  humanity  ?  Why  maliciously  seek  out  facts  through  a  long  suc- 
cession of  obscure  ages,  collecting  them  together  and  placing  them  in  a  light 
most  calculated  to  make  an  impression,  and  to  mislead  the  ignorant  ?  Why, 
in  fine,  urge,  exaggerate,  disfigure,  and  paint  these  facts  in  the  darkest  possible 
colors  ?  To  do  so,  is  to  betray  a  very  shallow  understanding  of  the  philosophy 
of  history,  a  spirit  of  great  partiality,  low  views,  grovelling  sentiments,  and 
miserable  spleen.  It  should  be  loudly  proclaimed  to  the  whole  world,  and  a 
thousand  times  repeated,  that  it  may  never  be  forgotten,  that  limits  which  have 
no  existence  cannot  be  respected — that  to  create  power  is  not  to  usurp  it — that 
to  make  laws  is  not  to  violate  them — that  to  reduce  to  order  the  chaos  in  which 
society  is  overwhelmed  is  not  to  disturb  society.  Now  this  was  the  work  of 
the  Church — this  is  what  was  done  by  the  Popes.  (40) 


CHAPTER  LXVIII. 

UNITY  IN   FAITH   NOT   ADVERSE   TO   POLITICAL  LIBERTY. 

THE  supposed  incompatibility  of  unity  in  faith  with  political  liberty  is  an 
invention  of  the  irreligious  philosophy  of  the  last  century.  Whatever  political 
opinions  be  adopted,  it  is  of  extreme  importance  that  we  be  on  our  guard 
against  such  a  doctrine.  We  must  not  forget  that  the  Catholic  religion  occu- 
pies a  sphere  far  above  all  forms  of  government — she  does  not  reject  from  her 
bosom  either  the  citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  the  inhabitant  of  Russia,  but 
embraces  all  men  with  equal  tenderness,  commanding  all  to  obey  the  legitimate 
governments  of  their  respective  countries.  She  considers  them  all  as  children 
of  the  same  father,  participators  in  the  same  redemption,  heirs  to  the  same 
glory.  It  is  very  important  to  bear  in  mind  that  irreligion  allies  itself  to  liberty 
or  to  despotism,  according  as  its  interests  incline;  lavish  of  its  applause  when 
an  infuriated  populace  are  burning  temples  and  massacring  the  ministers  of  the 
altar,  it  is  ever  ready  to  flatter  monarchs,  to  exaggerate  their  power  beyond 
measure,  whenever  they  win  its  favor  by  despoiling  the  clergy,  subverting  dis- 
cipline, and  insulting  the  Pope.  Caring  little  what  instruments  it  employs, 
provided  it  accomplishes  its  work,  it  is  royalist  when  in  a  position  to  sway  the 
minds  of  kings,  to  expel  the  Jesuits  from  France,  from  Spain,  from  Portugal, 
to  pursue  them  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe  without  allowing  them  either 
respite  or  repose ;  liberal  in  the  midst  of  popular  assemblies  that  exact  sacri- 
legious oaths  from  the  clergy,  and  send  into  exile  or  to  the  scaffold  the  minis- 
ters of  religion  who  remain  faithful  to  their  duty. 

The  man  who  cannot  see  that  what  I  have  advanced  is  strictly  true,  must 
have  forgotten  history,  and  paid  little  attention  to  very  recent  occurrences. 
With  religion  and  morality,  all  forms  of  government  are  good  •  without  them, 
none  can  be  good.  An  absolute  monarch,  imbued  with  religious  ideas,  sur- 
rounded by  counsellors  of  sound  doctrines,  and  reigning  over  a  people  amongst 
whom  the  same  doctrines  prevail,  may  make  his  subjects  happy,  and  will  be  sure 


PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY.  389 

to  do  so  as  far  as  circumstances  of  time  and  place  permit.  A  wicked  monarch, 
or  one  surrounded  by  wicked  counsellors,  will  do  mischief  in  proportion  to  the 
extent  of  his  powers ;  he  will  be  even  more  to  be  dreaded  than  revolution  itself, 
because  better  able  to  arrange  his  plans,  and  to  carry  them  out  more  rapidly, 
with  fewer  obstacles,  a  greater  appearance  of  legality,  more  pretensions  to  pub- 
lic utility,  and  consequently  with  more  certainty  of  success  and  of  permanent 
results.  Revolutions  have  undoubtedly  done  great  injury  to  the  Church ;  but 
persecuting  monarchs  have  done  equally  as  much.  A  freak  of  Henry  VIII. 
established  Protestantism  in  England;  the  cupidity  of  certain  other  princes 
produced  a  like  result  in  the  nations  of  the  north;  and  in  our  own  days,  a 
decree  of  the  Autocrat  of  Russia  drives  millions  of  souls  into  schism.  It  fol- 
lows that  an  unmixed  monarchy,  if  it  be  not  religious,  is  not  desirable ;  for 
irreligion,  immoral  in  its  nature,  naturally  tends  to  injustice,  and  consequently 
to  tyranny.  If  irreligion  be  seated  on  an  absolute  throne,  or  if  she  hold  pos- 
session of  the  mind  of  its  occupant,  her  powers  are  unlimited ;  and,  for  my  part, 
I  know  nothing  more  horrible  than  the  omnipotence  of  wickedness. 

In  recent  times,  European  democracy  has  signalized  itself  lamentably  by  its 
attacks  upon  religion ;  a  circumstance  which,  far  from  favoring  its  cause,  has 
injured  it  extremely.  We  can  indeed  form  an  idea  of  a  government  more  or 
less  free,  when  society  is  virtuous,  moral,  and  religious ;  but  not  when  these 
conditions  are  wanting.  In  the  latter  case,  the  only  form  of  government  that 
remains  is  despotism,  the  rule  of  force,  for  force  alone  can  govern  men  who  are 
without  conscience  and  without  Grod.  If  we  attentively  consider  the  points  of 
difference  between  the  revolution  of  the  United  States  and  that  of  France,  we 
shall  find  that  one  of  the  principal  points  of  difference  consists  in  this,  that  the 
American  revolution  was  essentially  democratic,  that  of  France  essentially  im- 
pious. In  the  manifestos  by  which  the  former  was  inaugurated,  the  name  of 
Grod,  of  Providence,  is  every  where  seen ;  the  men  engaged  in  the  perilous 
enterprise  of  shaking  off  the  yoke  of  Great  Britain,  far  from  blaspheming  the 
Almighty,  invoke  his  assistance,  convinced  that  the  cause  of  independence  was 
the  cause  of  reason  and  of  justice.  The  French  began  by  deifying  the  leaders 
of  irreligion,  overthrowing  altars,  watering  with  the  blood  of  priests  the  tem- 
ples, the  streets,  and  the  scaffolds — the  only  emblem  of  revolution  recognized 
by  the  people  is  Atheism  hand  in  hand  with  liberty.  This  folly  has  borne  its 
fruits — it  communicated  its  fatal  contagion  to  other  revolutions  in  recent  times 
— the  new  order  of  things  has  been  inaugurated  with  sacrilegious  crimes ;  and 
the  proclamation  of  the  rights  of  man  was  begun  by  the  profanation  of  the 
temples  of  Him  from  whom  all  rights  emanate. 

Modern  demagogues,  it  is  true,  have  only  imitated  their  predecessors  the 
Protestants,  the  Hussites,  the  Albigenses ;  with  this  difference,  however,  that  in 
our  days  irreligion  has  manifested  itself  openly,  side  by  side  with  its  companion, 
the  democracy  of  blood  and  baseness ;  whilst  the  democracy  of  former  times 
was  allied  with  sectarian  fanaticism.  The  dissolving  doctrines  of  Protest- 
autism  rendered  a  stronger  power  necessary,  precipitated  the  overthrow  of 
ancient  liberties,  and  obliged  authority  to  hold  itself  continually  on  the  alert, 
and  ready  to  strike.  When  the  influence  of  Catholicity  had  been  enfeebled, 
the  void  had  to  be  filled  up  by  a  system  of  espionage  and  force.  Do  not  for- 
get this,  you  who  make  war  upon  religion  in  the  name  of  liberty ;  do  not  forget 
that  like  causes  produce  like  effects.  Where  moral  influences  do  not  exist, 
their  absence  must  be  supplied  by  physical  force  :  if  you  take  from  the  people 
the  sweet  yoke  of  religion,  you  leave  governments  no  other  resource  than  the 
vigilance  of  police,  and  the  force  of  bayonets.  Reflect,  and  choose.  Before 
the  advent  of  Protestantism,  European  civilization,  under  the  aegis  of  the  Ca- 
tholic religion,  was  evidently  tending  towards  that  general  harmony,  the  ab- 
sence of  which  has  rendered  necessary  an  excessive  employment  of  force.  Unity 

2  H  2 


390  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

of  faith  disappeared,  opening  the  way  to  an  unrestrained  liberty  of  opinion  and 
religious  discord ;  the  influence  of  the  clergy  was  in  some  countries  destroyed, 
in  others  weakened :  thus  was  the  equilibrium  between  different  classes  put  an 
end  to,  and  the  class  naturally  destined  to  fill  the  ofiice  of  mediator  rendered 
powerless.  By  abridging  the  power  of  the  Popes,  both  people  and  governments 
were  let  loose  from  that  gentle  curb  which  restrained  without  oppressing,  and 
corrected  without  degrading ;  kings  and  people  were  arrayed  against  each  other, 
without  any  body  of  men  possessed  of  authority  to  interpose  between  them  in 
case  of  a  conflict;  without  a  single  judge,  who,  the  friend  of  both  parties,  and 
disinterested  in  the  quarrel,  might  have  settled  their  differences  with  imparti- 
ality, governments  began  to  place  their  reliance  upon  standing  armies,  and  the 
people  upon  insurrections. 

And  it  is  of  no  avail  to  allege  that  in  countries  where  Catholicity  prevailed, 
a  political  phenomenon  arose  similar  to  that  which  we  observe  in  Protestant 
nations ;  for  I  maintain  that  amongst  Catholics  themselves  events  did  not 
follow  the  course  which  they  naturally  would  have  followed,  had  not  the  fatal 
Reformation  intervened.  To  attain  its  complete  development,  European  civi- 
lization required  the  unity  from  which  it  had  sprung ;  it  could  not  by  any  other 
means  establish  harmony  amongst  the  diverse  elements  which  it  sheltered  in  its 
bosom.  Its  homogeneity  was  gone  the  moment  unity  of  faith  disappeared. 
From  that  hour  no  nation  could  adequately  effect  its  organization  without  tak- 
ing into  account,  not  only  its  own  internal  wants,  but  also  the  principles  that 
prevailed  in  other  countries,  against  the  influence  of  which  it  had  to  be  on  its 
guard.  Do  you  suppose,  for  instance,  that  the  policy  of  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment, constituted  as  it  was  the  protector  of  Catholicity  against  powerful  Pro- 
testant nations,  was  not  powerfully  influenced  by  the  peculiar  and  very  dan- 
gerous position  of  the  country  ? 

I  think  I  have  shown  that  the  Church  has  never  been  opposed  to  the  legiti- 
mate development  of  any  form  of  government ;  that  she  has  taken  them  all 
under  her  protection,  and  consequently  that  to  assert  that  she  is  the  enemy  of 
popular  institutions  is  a  calumny.  I  have  also  placed  it  equally  beyond  a 
doubt,  that  the  sects  hostile  to  the  Catholic  Church,  by  encouraging  a  demo- 
cracy either  irreligious  or  blinded  by  fanaticism,  so  far  from  aiding  in  the 
establishment  of  just  and  rational  liberty,  have,  in  fact,  left  the  people  no 
alternative  between  unbridled  licentiousness  and  unrestrained  despotism.  The 
lesson  thus  furnished  by  history  is  confirmed  by  experience ;  and  the  future 
will  serve  only  to  corroborate  its  truth.  The  more  religious  and  moral  men 
are,  the  more  deserving  they  are  of  liberty ;  for  they  have  then  less  need  of 
external  restraints,  having  a  most  powerful  one  in  their  own  consciences.  An 
irreligious  and  immoral  people  stand  in  need  of  some  authority  to  keep  them 
in  order,  otherwise  they  will  be  constantly  abusing  their  rights,  and  will  con- 
sequently deserve  to  lose  them.  St.  Augustine  perfectly  understood  these 
truths,  and  explains  briefly  and  beautifully  the  conditions  necessary  for  all 
forms  of  government.  The  holy  Doctor  shows  that  popular  forms  are  good 
where  the  people  are  moral  and  conscientious ;  where  they  are  corrupt,  they 
require  either  an  oligarchy  or  an  unmixed  monarchy. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  an  interesting  passage,  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  that 
we  meet  with  in  his  first  book  on  Free  Will,  chap,  vi.,  will  be  read  with 
pleasure. 

"  Augustine.  You  would  not  maintain,  for  instance,  that  men  or  people  are 
so  constituted  by  nature  as  to  be  absolutely  eternal,  and  subject  neither  to 
destruction  nor  change  ? — Evodius.  Who  can  doubt  that  they  are  changeable, 
and  subject  to  the  influence  of  time? — Augustine.  If  the  people  are  serious 
and  temperate ;  and  if,  moreover,  they  have  such  a  concern  for  the  public  good 
that  each  one  would  prefer  the  public  interest  to  his  own,  is  it  not  true  that  it 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  391 

would  be  advisable  to  enact  that  such  a  people  should  choose  their  own  authorities 
the  administration  of  their  affairs? — Evodius.  Certainly. — Augustine. 
ut,  in  case  these  same  people  become  so  corrupt  that  the  citizens  pj  efer  their 
own  to  the  public  good;  if  they  sell  their  votes;  if,  corrupted  by  ambitious  men, 
they  intrust  the  government  of  the  state  to  men  as  criminal  and  corrupt  as  them- 
selves ;  is  it  not  true  that,  in  such  a  case,  if  there  be  amongst  them  a  man  of 
integrity,  and  possessing  sufficient  power  for  the  purpose,  he  will  do  well  to 
take  from  these  people  the  power  of  conferring  honors,  and  concentrate  it  in 
the  hands  of  a  small  number  of  upright  men,  or  even  in  the  hands  of  one 
man  ? — Evodius.  Undoubtedly. — Augustine.  Yet,  since  these  laws  appear 
very  much  opposed  to  each  other,  the  one  granting  the  people  the  right  of 
conferring  honors,  the  other  depriving  them  of  that  right ;  since,  moreover, 
they  cannot  both  be  in  force  at  once,  are  we  to  affirm  that  one  of  these  laws  is 
unjust,  or  that  it  should  not  have  been  enacted? — Evodius.  By  no  means."* 

The  whole  question  is  here  comprised  in  a  few  words  :  Can  monarchy,  aris- 
tocracy, and  democracy,  be  one  and  all  legitimate  and  proper  ?  Yes.  By  what 
considerations  are  we  to  be  guided  in  our  decision  as  to  which  of  these  forms 
is  legitimate  and  proper  in  any  given  case  ?  By  the  consideration  of  existing 
rights,  and  of  the  condition  of  the  people  to  whom  such  form  is  to  be  applied. 
Can  a  form  once  good  become  bad  ?  Certainly  it  may ;  for  all  human  things 
are  subject  to  change.  These  reflections,  as  solid  as  they  are  simple,  will  pre- 
vent all  excessive  enthusiasm  in  favor  of  any  particular  form  of  government. 
This  is  not  a  mere  question  of  theory,  but  one  of  prudence  also.  Now,  pru- 
dence does  not  decide  before  having  attentively  considered  and  weighed  all  cir- 
cumstances. But  there  is  one  predominant  idea  in  this  doctrine  of  St.  Augus- 
tine :  this  idea  I  have  already  indicated,  viz.  that  great  virtue  and  disinterest- 
edness are  required  under  a  free  government.  Those  who  are  laboring  to 
establish  political  liberty  on  the  ruins  of  all  religious  belief  would  do  well  to 
reflect  upon  the  words  of  the  illustrious  doctor. 

J3ow  would  you  have  people  exercise  extensive  rights,  if  you  disqualify  them 
by  perverting  their  ideas  and  corrupting  their  morals  ?  You  say  that  under 
representative  forms  of  government  reason  and  justice  are  secured  by  means 
of  elections ;  and  yet  you  labor  to  banish  this  reason  and  justice  from  the 
bosom  of  that  society  in  which  you  talk  of  securing  them.  You  sow  the  wind, 
and  reap  the  whirlwind ;  instead  of  models  of  wisdom  and  prudence,  you  offer 
the  people  scandalous  scenes.  Do  not  say  that  we  are  condemning  the  age, 
and  that  it  progresses  in  spite  of  us  :  we  reject  nothing  that  is  good;  but  per- 
versity and  corruption  we  must  reprobate.  The  age  progresses — true;  but 
neither  you  nor  we  know  whither.  Catholics  know  one  thing — a  thing  which 
it  needs  not  a  prophet  to  tell,  viz.  that  a  good  social  condition  cannot  be  formed 
out  of  bad  men ;  that  immoral  men  are  bad  ;  that  where  there  is  no  religion, 
morality  cannot  take  root.  Firm  in  our  faith,  we  shall  leave  you  to  try,  if 
you  choose,  a  thousand  forms  of  government,  to  apply  your  palliatives  to  your 
own  social  patient,  to  impose  upon  him  with  deceitful  words;  his  frequent 

*  Aug.  Quid  ipsi  homines  et  populi,  ejusne  generis  return  sunt,  ut  interire  mutarive  non  pos- 
sint,  aeternique  omnino  sint  V — Evoa.  Mutabile  plune  atque  tempori  obnoxium  hoc  genus  es>se 
quis  dubitet  ? — Aug.  Ergo,  si  populus  sit  bene  moderatus  et  gravis,  communisque  utilitatis  di- 
ligentissimus  custos,  in  quo  unusquisque  minoris  rein  privatam  quam  publicam  pendat,  nonne 
recte  lex  fertur,  qua  huic  ipsi  populo  liceat  crcare  sibi  magistrates,  per  quos  sua  res,  id  est  pub- 
lica,  administretur  ? — Evoa.  Recte  prorsus. — Aug.  Porro,  si  paulatim  depravatus  idem  populus 
rem  privatam  reipublicae  praeferat,  atque  habeat  venale  sutt'ragium,  corruplusque  ab  eis  qui 
honores  amant,  regimen  in  se  flagitiosis  consceleratisque  committat,  nonne  item  recte,  si  .quis 
tune  extiterit  vir  bonus,  qui  plurimum  possit,  adimat  huic  populo  potestatem  dandi  honores,  et 
in  paucorum  bonorum  vel  etiam  unius  redigat  arbitrium  V — Evod.  Et  id  recte. — Aug.  Cum 
ergo  duae  istas  leges  ita  sibi  videantur  esse  contrariae,  ut  una  earum  honorum  dandorum  populo 
tribuat  potestatem,  auferat  altera,  et  cum  ista  secunda  ita  lata  sit,  ut  nullo  modo  ambae  in  una 
civitate  simul  esse  possint,  num  dicemus  aliquam  earum  injustam  esse  et  ferri  minime  debuisse  ? 
— Evod.  Nullo  modo. 


392  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED  WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

convulsions — his  continued  restlessness — are  evidences  of  your  incapacity  ;  and 
well  is  it  for  your  patient  that  he  still  feels  this  anxiety :  it  is  a  sure  sign  that 
you  have  not  entirely  succeeded  in  securing  his  confidence.  If  ever  you  do 
secure  it- — if  ever  he  fall  asleep  quietly  in  your  arms — "  all  flesh  will  then  have 
corrupted  its  way ;"  and  it  may  also  be  feared  lest  God  should  resolve  to  sweep 
man  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  LXIX. 

OF   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT    UNDER   THE   INFLUENCE   OF   CATHOLICITY. 

IT  has  been  abundantly  proved  in  the  course  of  this  work,  that  the  pseudo- 
Reformation  has  not  in  any  way  contributed  to  the  perfection  either  of  indi- 
viduals or  of  society  ;  from  which  we  may  naturally  infer  that  the  case  is  the 
same  as  regards  the  development  of  the  intellect.  I  am  unwilling,  however, 
to  let  this  truth  stand  merely  as  a  corollary,  and  I  believe  it  to  be  susceptible 
of  a  special  elucidation.  We  may  freely  examine  what  advantage  Protest- 
antism has  conferred  upon  the  various  branches  of  human  learning,  without  any 
fear  of  the  result  as  regards  Catholicity.  When  we  are  to  examine  objects 
naturally  embracing  a  great  many  different  relations,  it  is  not  enough  merely 
to  pronounce  certain  conspicuous  names,  or  to  cite  with  emphasis  one  or  two 
facts.  This  is  not  the  way  to  place  a  question  in  its  proper  light ;  and  to  treat 
it  adequately,  much  more  is  required.  A  discussion,  either  confined  within 
limits  too  narrow  to  admit  of  its  full  development,  or  allowed  an  indefinite 
range,  carries  with  it,  in  the  eyes  of  an  observer  of  only  slight  penetration,  an 
air  of  universality,  elevation,  and  boldness,  whilst  in  reality  it  is  all  uncertainty 
and  vagueness,  and  is  liable  to  be  involved  in  endless  contradictions. 

To  investigate  this  question  satisfactorily,  we  must,  it  seems  to  me,  grasp 
the  Catholic  and  Protestant  principles  respectively,  subject  them  to  a  most 
rigid  scrutiny,  and  seize  upon  every  point  that  appears  favorable  or  inimical 
to  the  development  of  the  human  mind.  Further,  we  should  survey,  in  its 
widest  range,  the  history  of  the  intellect ;  pausing  here  and  there  at  the  epochs 
where  the  influence  of  the  principle  whose  tendencies  and  effects  we  are  study- 
ing has  been  most  effectively  exerted ;  then,  rejecting  anomalous  exceptions, 
as  proving  nothing  either  one  way  or  the  other,  and  facts  too  insignificant  and 
isolated  to  affect  in  any  way  the  course  of  events,  the  mind,  sufficiently  elevated, 
and  observing  attentively,  and  with  a  sincere  desire  to  know  the  truth,  will  be 
enabled  to  discover  how  far  its  philosophical  deductions  are  in  accordance  with 
facts;  and  thus  will  it  complete  the  solution  of  the  problem. 

One  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  Catholicity,  one  of  its  distinctive 
characteristics,  is  the  submission  of  the  intellect  to  authority  in  matters  of 
faith.  This  is  the  point  against  which  the  attacks  of  Protestants  have  ever 
been  and  still  are  directed :  and  this  is  quite  natural,  seeing  that  Protestants 
profess  resistance  to  authority  as  a  fundamental  and  constituent  principle. 
From  this  fatal  source  flow  all  their  other  errors.  If  there  be  in  Catholicity 
any  thing  capable  of  arresting  the  march  of  the  mind  or  of  lowering  its  flight, 
it  must  unquestionably  be  the  principle  of  submission  to  authority.  With  this 
principle  must  rest  all  the  blame  in  this  respect,  if  indeed  the  Catholic  religion 
be  chargeable  with  any. 

Submission  of  the  intellect  to  authority.  These  words,  it  cannot  be  denied, 
do,  unless  we  have  seized  upon  their  true  meaning,  and  ascertained  the  precise 
objects  to  which  this  submission  is  applicable,  at  first  sight,  convey  an  idea  of 
antagonism  to  intellectual  development.  If  you  cherish  an  ardent  affection  for 
the  dignity  of  our  nature;  if  you  are  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  scientific 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  393 

progress,  and  behold  with  delight  the  brilliant  efforts  of  a  bold,  vigorous,  and 
accomplished  genius;  you  will  discover  something  repulsive  in  a  principle 
which  appears  to  invoke  slavery,  since  it  checks  the  flight  of  the  mind,  clips  the 
wings  of  the  intellect,  and  casts  it  into  the  dust.  But  if  you  examine  this 
principle  in  its  essence,  apply  it  to  the  various  branches  of  learning,  and  observe 
what  are  the  points  of  contact  which  it  offers  with  the  methods  adopted  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  mind,  will  you  discover  any  foundation  for  these  suspi- 
cions and  apprehensions  ?  What  truth  will  you  find  in  the  reproaches  of  which 
Catholicity  has  been  made  the  object  ?  How  vain  and  puerile  will  appear  all 
the  declamation  published  on  this  subject ! 

We  will  now  enter  fully  into  the  examination  of  this  difficulty  ;  we  will  take 
the  Catholic  principle,  and  analyze  it  with  the  eye  of  impartial  philosophy. 
With  this  principle  before  us,  we  will  survey  the  whole  field  of  science,  and 
consult  the  testimony  of  the  greatest  men.  If  we  find  that  it  has  ever  been 
opposed  to  the  genuine  development  of  any  one  branch  of  learning;  if,  on  visit- 
ing the  tombs  where  repose  the  most  illustrious,  they  tell  us  that  the  principle 
of  submission  to  authority  chained  down  their  intellects,  obscured  their  imagi- 
nations, and  withered  their  hearts, — we  will  then  acknowledge  that  Protestants 
are  right  in  the  reproaches  which  they  are  constantly  directing  against  the 
Catholic  religion  on  this  subject.  God,  man,  society,  nature,  the  entire  crea- 
tion— such  are  the  objects  on  which  our  minds  can  be  occupied ;  beyond  the 
sphere  of  these  objects  we  cannot  reach,  for  they  embrace  infinity — -there  is 
nothing  beyond  them.  Well,  then,  the  Catholic  principle  opposes  no  obstacle 
to  the  mind's  progress.  Whether  as  regards  God  or  man,  society  or  nature,  it 
imposes  no  shackles,  places  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  human  mind ;  instead 
of  checking  this  progress,  it  rather  serves  as  a  lofty  beacon,  which,  far  from 
interfering  with  the  mariner's  liberty,  guides  him  in  safety  amid  the  obscurity 
of  night. 

How  does  the  Catholic  principle  oppose  the  freedom  of  the  human  mind  in 
anything  relating  to  the  Divinity  ?  Protestants  surely  will  not  tell  us  that 
there  is  anything  at  all  wrong  in  the  idea  which  the  Catholic  religion  gives  of 
God.  Agreeing  with  us  on  the  idea  of  a  being  eternal,  immutable,  infinite, 
the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  just,  holy,  full  of  goodness,  a  re  warder  of  the 
good,  and  a  punisher  of  the  wicked,  they  admit  this  to  be  the  only  reasonable 
idea  of  God  that  can  be  presented  to  the  mind  of  man.  To  this  idea  the 
Catholic  religion  unites  an  incomprehensible,  profound,  and  ineffable  mystery, 
veiled  from  the  sight  of  weak  mortals, — the  august  mystery  of  the  Trinity ;  but 
on  this  point  Protestants  cannot  reproach  us,  unless  they  are  prepared  to  avow 
themselves  Socinians.  The  Lutherans,  the  Calvinists,  the  Anglicans,  and  many 
other  sects,  condemn,  as  well  as  we  do,  those  who  deny  this  august  mystery. 
We  may  remark  here,  that  Calvin  had  Michael  Servetus  burned  at  Geneva  for 
his  heretical  doctrines  on  the  Trinity.  I  am  well  aware  of  the  ravages  that 
Socinianism  has  made  among  the  separated  Churches,  where  the  spirit  and  the 
right  of  private  judgment  in  matters  of  faith  have  converted  Christians  into 
unbelieving  philosophers ;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity 
was  long  respected  by  the  leading  Protestant  sects,  and  is  so  yet,  externally  at 
least,  by  the  greater  part  of  them. 

In  any  case,  I  cannot  see  how  this  mystery  shackles  human  reason  in  its 
contemplation  of  the  Divinity.  Does  it  prevent  it  from  going  forth  into  immen- 
sity ?  What  limit  does  it  fix  to  the  infinite  ocean  of  light  and  being  implied 
in  the  word  God  f  Does  it  in  the  least  obscure  this  splendor  ?  When  the 
mind  of  man,  soaring  above  the  regions  of  creation,  and  detaching  itself  from 
the  body  that  would  bear  it  down,  abandons  itself  to  the  delights  of  sublime 
meditation  on  the  infinite  Being,  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  does  this  august 
mystery  stop  him  in  his  heavenward  flight  ?  Ask  the  innumerable  volumes 
50 


394  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

written  on  the  Divinity,  eloquent  and  irrefragable  testimonies  of  liberty  enjoyed 
by  the  human  mind  wherever  Catholicity  prevails.  The  doctrines  of  Catho- 
licity relative  to  the  Divinity  may  be  considered  under  two  aspects ;  either  as 
having  reference  to  mysteries  above  our  comprehension,  or  as  touching  what  is 
within  the  reach  of  reason.  As  regards  mysteries,  their  abode  is  in  a  region 
so  sublime,  they  appertain  to  an  order  of  things  so  superior  to  any  created 
thought,  that  the  mind,  even  after  the  most  extensive,  most  profound,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  most  free  investigations,  is  unable,  without  the  aid  of  revelation, 
to  form  even  the  most  remote  idea  of  these  ineffable  wonders.  How  can  things 
that  never  meet,  which  are  of  a  totally  distinct  order,  and  which  are  an  immense 
distance  apart,  interfere  with  each  other  ?  The  intellect  can  fix  upon  one  of 
them  by  means  of  meditation,  can  lose  itself  in  contemplating  it,  without  even 
thinking  of  the  other.  Can  the  moon's  orbit  come  into  contact  with  the 
remotest  of  the  fixed  stars  ? 

Do  you  fear  that  the  revelation  of  a  mystery  may  limit  the  sphere  of  your 
reason's  operations  ?  Are  you  apprehensive  lest,  in  wandering  through  immen- 
sity, you  may  be  smothered  in  the  narrowness  of  your  reason  ?  Was  space 
wanted  for  the  genius  of  Descartes,  of  Gassendi,  of  Mallebranche  ?  Did  these 
men  complain  that  their  intellects  were  limited,  imprisoned  ?  Why,  indeed, 
should  they  complain  (I  speak  not  of  them  only,  but  of  all  the  great  minds  of 
modern  times  who  have  treated  of  the  Divinity),  when  they  cannot  but  own 
that  they  are  indebted  to  Catholicity  for  the  most  splendid  and  sublime  ideas 
that  enrich  their  writings  ?  The  philosophers  of  antiquity,  in  their  treatises 
on  the  Divinity,  are  at  an  immense  distance  below  the  least  eminent  of  our 
metaphysical  theologians.  What  would  Plato  himself  be  compared  to  Lewis 
of  Granada,  Louis  de  Leon,  Fenelon,  or  Bossuet  ?  Before  Christianity  appeared 
upon  earth,  before  the  faith  of  the  Chair  of  Peter  had  taken  possession  of  the 
world,  the  primitive  ideas  on  the  Divinity  having  been  effaced,  the  human  mind 
wandered  amongst  a  thousand  errors,  a  thousand  monstrous  fancies ;  feeling 
the  necessity  of  a  God,  man  substituted  for  the  Supreme  Being  the  creation  of 
his  own  imagination.  But  ever  since  the  ineffable  splendor,  descending  from 
the  bosom  of  the  Father  of  light,  has  shone  upon  the  whole  earth,  ideas  of  the 
Divinity  have  remained  so  fixed,  clear,  and  simple,  and  at  the  same  time  so 
lofty  and  sublime,  that  human  reason  has  obtained  a  wider  range ;  the  veil 
which  concealed  the  origin  of  the  universe  has  been  withdrawn  j  the  world's 
destiny  has  been  marked  out,  and  man  has  received  the  key  that  explains  the 
wonders  which  fill  and  surround  him.  Protestants  have  felt  the  force  of  this 
truth ;  their  aversion  for  every  thing  Catholic  was  almost  fanatical ;  yet,  gener- 
ally speaking,  they  may  be  said  to  have  respected  the  idea  of  the  Divinity.  On 
this  point,  of  all  others,  the  spirit  of  innovation  has  been  felt  the  least.  How, 
indeed,  could  it  be  otherwise  ?  The  God  of  the  Catholics  was  too  great  to  be 
replaced  by  any  other.  Newton  and  Leibnitz,  embracing  heaven  and  earth  in 
their  speculations,  could  say  nothing  new  of  the  Author  of  so  many  wonders, 
nothing  but  what  had  already  been  taught  by  the  Catholic  religion. 

Well  had  it  been  for  Protestants  if,  whilst  in  the  midst  of  their  wanderings 
they  preserved  this  precious  treasure,  they  had  faithfully  followed  the  example 
of  their  predecessors,  and  had  rejected  that  monstrous  philosophy  which 
threatens  us  with  the  revival  of  all  errors,  ancient  and  modern,  beginning  with 
the  substitution  of  a  monstrous  pantheism  for  the  sublime  Deity  of  Chris- 
tianity. Let  those  Protestants  who  are  friends  of  truth,  jealous  of  the  honor 
of  their  communion,  devoted  to  their  country's  welfare,  and  interested  in  the 
future  prospects  of  mankind,  be  warned  in  time.  If  pantheism  should  prevail, 
it  will  not  be  the  spiritualist  but  the  naturalist  philosophers  who  will  triumph. 
The  German  philosophers  may  in  vain  seek  refuge  in  abstraction  and  enigmas, 
in  vain  condemn  the  sensualist  philosophy  of  the  last  century;  a  God  con- 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  395 

founded  with  nature  is  not  God,  a  God  identified  with  every  thing  is  nothing ; 
pantheism  is  a  deification  of  the  universe,  that  is,  a  denial  of  God. 

What  sorrowful  reflections  suggest  themselves  to  us  when  we  consider  the 
direction  now  taken  by  the  minds  of  men  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  and  more 
especially  in  Germany !  Catholics  long  since  told  them  they  would  begin  with 
resistance  to  authority  by  denying  a  dogma,  but  would  end  by  a  denial  of  all, 
and  fall  into  atheism ;  and  the  course  of  ideas  during  the  last  three  centuries 
has  fully  confirmed  the  truth  of  the  prediction.  Strange,  that  German  philo- 
sophy should  aim  at  producing  a  reaction  against  the  materialist  school,  and 
with  all  its  spiritualism  end  in  pantheism !  Providence,  it  would  seem,  has 
ordained  that  the  soil  which  has  produced  so  many  errors  should  be  barren  of 
truth.  Out  of  the  Church  all  is  unsteadiness  and  confusion ;  materialism  end- 
ing in  atheism,  wild  idealism  and  fantastic  spiritualism  resulting  in  pantheism ! 
Verily,  God  still  abhors  pride,  and  repeats  the  terrible  chastisement  of  the  con- 
fusion of  tongues.  Catholicity  triumphs  the  while ;  but  mourns  in  the  midst 
of  her  triumphs.  I  do  not  see  either  how  it  can  be  that  Catholicity  impedes 
the  operation  of  the  intellect  as  regards  the  study  of  man.  What  does  the 
Church  require  of  us  on  this  point  ?  What  does  she  teach  on  the  subject  ? 
How  far  extends  the  circle  embracing  the  doctrines  we  are  forbidden  to  call  in 
question  ? 

Philosophers  are  divided  into  two  schools,  the  materialists  and  the  spir- 
itualists. The  former  assert  that  the  human  soul  is  only  a  portion  of  matter, 
which,  by  a  certain  modification,  produces  in  us  what  we  call  thought  and  will ', 
the  latter  maintains  that  the  energy  accompanying  thought  and  will  is  incom- 
patible with  the  inertness  of  matter ;  that  what  is  divisible,  composed  of  divers 
parts,  and  consequently  of  divers  entities,  could  not  harmonize  with  the  simple 
unity  essential  to  a  being  that  thinks,  wills,  reasons,  with  itself  upon  every 
thing,  and  possesses  the  profound  consciousness  of  individuality.  For  these 
reasons  they  assert  that  the  contrary  opinion  is  false  and  absurd ;  and  they 
ground  their  opinion  upon  a  variety  of  considerations.  The  Catholic  Church 
intervenes  in  the  dispute,  and  says  :  "  The  soul  of  man  is  not  corporeal,  it  is  a 
spirit ;  you  cannot  be  both  a  Catholic  and  a  materialist/'  But  ask  the  Catholic 
Church  by  what  systems  you  are  to  explain  the  ideas,  the  sensations,  the  acts 
of  the  will,  and  human  feelings, — and  she  will  tell  you  that  on  these  matters 
you  are  perfectly  free  to  hold  what  you  consider  most  in  accordance  with  rea- 
son ;  that  faith  does  not  descend  to  particular  questions  appertaining  to  the 
affairs  of  this  world,  which  God  himself  delivered  to  the  consideration  of  men. 
Before  the  light  of  the  Gospel  shone  upon  the  world,  the  schools  of  philosophy 
were  in  the  most  profound  ignorance  on  the  subject  of  our  origin  and  our  des- 
tiny ;  none  of  the  philosophers  could  explain  the  profound  contradictions  that 
are  found  in  man ;  none  of  them  succeeded  in  pointing  out  the  cause  of  that 
strange  mixture  of  greatness  and  littleness,  of  goodness  and  malice,  of  knowl- 
edge and  ignorance,  of  excellence  and  baseness.  But  religion  came  forth,  and 
said  :  "  Man  is  the  work  of  God ;  his  destiny  is  to  be  for  evermore  united  with 
God ;  for  him  the  earth  is  a  place  of  exile  only ;  man  is  no  longer  what  he  was 
when  he  came  forth  from  the  hands  of  his  Creator;  the  whole  human  race  is 
subjected  to  the  consequences  of  a  great  fall."  Now  I  would  defy  all  philo- 
sophers, ancient  and  modern,  to  show  wherein  the  obligation  of  believing  these 
things  militates  in  the  slightest  degree  against  the  progress  of  true  philosophy. 

So  far,  indeed,  are  the  doctrines  of  Catholicity  from  checking  philosophical 
progress,  that  they  are,  on  the  contrary,  a  most  fruitful  source  of  this  progress 
in  every  respect.  If  we  wish  to  make  progress  in  any  of  the  sciences,  it  is  no 
slight  advantage  for  the  intellect  to  have  a  safe  and  firm  axis  around  which  it 
may  revolve  j  it  is  a  fortunate  thing  to  be  enabled  to  avoid  at  the  very  outset 
in  the  intellectual  race,  a  multitude  of  questions  which  would  entangle  us  in 


896  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

inextricable  labyrinths,  or  from  which  we  could  not  escape  without  falling  into 
most  lamentable  absurdities ;  in  a  word,  when  we  approach  the  investigation 
of  these  questions,  we  ought  to  consider  ourselves  happy  in  finding  them 
resolved  beforehand  in  their  most  important  points,  and  in  knowing  where  the 
truth  lies,  and  where  the  danger  of  falling  into  error.  The  philosopher's  posi- 
tion is  then  that  of  a  man  who,  sure  of  the  existence  of  a  mine  in  a  certain 
rt,  does  not  waste  his  time  in  searching  after  it,  but,  knowing  his  ground, 
his  researches  and  labors  are  profitable  from  the  first.  This  is  the  cause  of 
the  vast  advantage  which  in  these  matters  modern  philosophers  possess  over 
those  of  antiquity :  the  ancients  had  to  grope  in  the  dark ;  the  moderns,  pre- 
ceded by  brilliant  lights,  advance  with  a  firm  and  sure  step,  and  march  straight 
to  their  destination.  They  may  boast  incessantly  that  they  set  aside  revelation, 
that  they  hold  it  in  disdain,  perhaps  that  they  even  openly  attack  it.  Even  in 
this  case  religion  enlightens  them,  and  often  guides  their  steps ;  for  there  are 
a  thousand  splendid  ideas  for  which  they  are  indebted  to  religion,  and  which 
they  cannot  erase  from  their  minds  ]  ideas  which  they  have  found  in  books, 
learned  in  catechisms,  and  imbibed  with  their  milk ;  ideas  which  they  hear 
uttered  by  every  one  around  them,  which  are  spread  everywhere,  and  which 
impregnate  with  their  vivifying  and  beneficent  influence  the  atmosphere  they 
breathe.  In  repudiating  religion,  these  same  moderns  are  carrying  ingratitude 
to  great  lengths ;  for  at  the  very  moment  they  insult  her,  they  are  profiting  by 
her  favors. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  into  details  on  this  matter,  or  numerous  proofs 
might  easily  be  adduced  in  support  of  the  foregoing  observations ;  a  comparison 
between  the  first  works  of  modern  philosophy  that  came  to  hand  and  the  works 
of  the  ancients  would  be  decisive ;  but  such  a  labor  would  still  be  incomplete 
for  those  who  are  not  versed  in  these  matters ;  and  for  those  who  are  so,  it 
would  be  superfluous.  I  leave  the  question  with  entire  confidence  to  the  per- 
spicacity and  impartiality  of  my  readers ;  it  will,  I  think,  be  acknowledged  that 
whenever  our  modern  philosophers  have  spoken  of  man  with  truth  and  dignity, 
their  language  has  borne  the  impress  of  Christian  ideas.  Such  is  the  influence 
of  Catholicity  upon  those  sciences  which,  confined  to  a  purely  speculative  order, 
allow  the  genius  of  the  philosopher  the  widest  range  and  the  greatest  freedom 
possible ;  but  if,  as  regards  those  sciences,  the  influence  of  Catholicity,  instead 
of  checking  the  mind  in  its  flight,  only  enlarges  its  range,  increases  its  sub- 
limity, its  daring,  and  at  the  same  time  its  security,  by  preventing  it  from 
running  astray,  what  shall  we  say  of  its  influence  on  the  study  of  ethics  ?  Has 
the  whole  body  of  philosophers  together  ever  discovered  any  thing  beyond  what 
is  contained*  in  the  Gospel  ?  What  doctrine  excels  in  purity,  in  sanctity,  in 
sublimity  that  taught  by  the  Catholic  religion  ?  On  this  point  we  will  do  jus- 
tice to  the  philosophers,  even  to  those  most  hostile  to  the  Christian  religion. 
They  have  attacked  its  doctrines,  and  smiled  at  the  divinity  of  its  origin ;  but 
have  always  evinced  a  profound  respect  for  its  morality.  I  know  not  what 
secret  influence  has  constrained  them  into  an  avowal  that  must  certainly  have 
cost  them  dear.  "  Yes/'  they  invariably  say,  "  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
morality  of  Catholicity  is  excellent." 

There  are  certain  doctrines  of  Catholicity  which  cannot  be  said  to  appertain 
directly  either  to  God,  to  man,  or  to  morality,  in  the  sense  generally  given  to 
this  word.  The  Catholic  religion  is  a  revealed  religion,  of  an  order  far  supe- 
rior to  any  thing  that  the  human  mind  is  capable  of  conceiving.  Its  object  is 
to  guide  us  to  a  destiny  that  we  could  neither  attain  nor  even  imagine  by  our 
own  strength,  and  it  is  based  upon  this  principle,  that  human  nature,  corrupted 
by  the  fall,  requires  to  be  restored  and  purified ;  evidently,  therefore,  it  should 
contain  certain  doctrines  explanatory  of  the  mode  in  which  this  work  of  resto- 
ration and  purification  is  to  be  effected,  whether  in  a  general  or  particular 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  397 

sense ;  and  at  the  same  time  pointing  out  the  means  which  God  has  chosen  to 
lead  man  to  happiness.  Such  are  the  doctrines  of  the  Incarnation,  of  Redemp- 
tion, of  Grace,  and  of  the  Sacraments. 

These  dogmas  embrace  a  wide  field ;  the  relations  in  which  they  stand  to 
God  and  to  man  are  very  extensive ;  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church  are, 
and  always  have  been,  unchangeable.  Well  then !  extensive  as  they  are,  they 
afford  not  a  single  point  that  can  be  said  to  have  a  tendency  to  embarrass  the 
free  action  of  the  intellect  in  investigations  of  any  kind.  The  cause  of  this  fact 
is  the  same  as  that  I  have  already  indicated.  Those  who  have  attentively  com- 
pared the  sciences  of  philosophy  and  theology  may  have  remarked  that  theology, 
in  the  sublime  questions  mentioned  above,  occupies  a  sphere  so  distinct  and 
supereminent  as  scarcely  to  preserve  a  single  point  of  contact  with  that  in  which 
philosophy  moves.  They  are  two  vast  and  sublime  orbits,  occupying  in  the 
depths  of  space  positions  very  distant  from  each  other.  Man  sometimes  tries 
to  make  them  approximate,  and  would  be  glad  if  a  ray  of  terrestrial  light  could 
penetrate  into  the  region  of  incomprehensible  mysteries ;  but  he  scarcely  knows 
how  to  begin  this,  and  we  hear  him  avow,  with  a  profound  sense  of  his  own 
weakness,  that  he  is  speaking  only  conventionally  and  by  analogy,  merely  with 
a  view  to  make  himself  better  understood.  The  Church  allows  such  attempts, 
owing  to  the  good  intentions  they  evince ;  sometimes  she  even  prompts  and 
encourages  them,  desiring,  as  far  as  possible,  to  accommodate  what  is  incom- 
prehensible in  her  doctrines  to  the  feeble  capacities  of  men. 

After  all  their  reasonings  on  the  attributes  of  the  Divinity  and  the  relations 
of  man  to  God,  have  philosophers  discovered  any  thing  incompatible  with 
these  doctrines  of  Catholicity  ?  Have  revealed  truths  stood  in  their  way  as  a 
stumbling-block  to  tneir  investigations  ?  When  Descartes,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  effected  a  revolution  in  philosophy,  a  singular  incident  occurred  that 
will  throw  a  strong  light  on  this  subject.  The  Catholic  doctrine  respecting  the 
august  mystery  of  the  Eucharist  is  known,  and  also  in  what  the  dogma  of 
transubstantiation  consists.  Many  theologians,  the  reader  is  also  probably 
aware,  in  order  to  explain  the  supernatural  phenomenon  which  takes  place 
after  the  consummation  of  the  miracle,  had  recourse  to  the  doctrine  of  acci- 
dents, which  they  distinguished  from  the  substance.  Now  the  theory  of  Des- 
cartes, and  of  almost  all  other  modern  philosophers,  was  incompatible  with  this 
explanation,  for  th'ey  denied  the  existence  of  accidents  distinct  from  the  sub- 
stance. It  consequently  appeared  at  first  sight  that  a  difficulty  would  here 
arise  for  the  Catholic  doctrine,  and  that  the  Church  would  have  to  oppose  this 
system  of  philosophy.  And  did  it  so  happen  ?  Not  at  all.  Upon  a  careful 
investigation  of  the  matter,  it  was  seen  that  the  Catholic  dogma  belonged  to  a 
region  infinitely  above  that  uncertain  one  in  which  the  philosophic  doctrine 
was  discovered,  however  closely  they  might  have  seemed  to  approximate.  In 
vain  theologians  discussed  the  matter,  indulged  in  mutual  recriminations,  drew 
from  the  new  doctrine  all  sorts  of  inferences,  in  order  tpv  represent  it  as  dan- 
gerous. The  Church,  always  superior  to  the  thoughts  of  men,  kept  aloof  from 
these  disputes,  maintaining  that  grave,  majestic,  and  impassive  attitude  so  well 
becoming  her  to  whom  Jesus  Christ  confided  the  sacred  deposit  of  His  doctrine. 
Such  is  the  liberty  accorded  by  the  Church  to  the  genius  of  philosophers,  that 
it  is  free  in  every  sense.  The  Church  has  no  need  to  be  continually  imposing 
restrictions  and  conditions ;  the  sacred  doctrines  of  which  she  is  the  depository 
dwelling  in  so  elevated  a  region  that  the  mind  of  man  can  scarcely  ever  meet 
them,  at  least  so  long  as  his  investigations  do  not  wander  from  the  track  of 
true  philosophy. 

But  this  human  reason,  at  once  so  powerful  and  so  feeble,  sometimes  be- 
comes puffed  up  with  arrogance  and  pride,  and  in  the  name  of  liberty  and  in- 
dependence claims  a  right  to  blaspheme  the  Almighty,  to  deny  man's  free  will, 


398  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

the  immortality  and  spirituality  of  his  soul,  her  sublime  origin  and  her  heavenly 
destiny.  At  such  a  time  we  avow,  and  we  glory  in  the  avowal,  the  Church 
does  raise  her  voice,  not  to  oppress  or  tyrannize  over  the  human  mind,  but  to 
defend  the  rights  of  the  Supreme  Being  and  the  dignity  of  human  nature ; 
then,  indeed,  we  behold  her  opposing,  with  unyielding  firmness,  that  senseless 
liberty  which  consists  in  the  fatal  right  of  uttering  all  sorts  of  extravagances. 
This  liberty  Catholics  neither  possess  nor  desire,  knowing  that  in  these  matters, 
as  in  others,  there  is  a  sacred  line  of  demarcation  between  liberty  and  licen- 
tiousness. Happy  slavery,  that  keeps  us  from  atheism,  materialism,  and  from 
doubting  whether  our  souls  come  from  God,  whether  they  tend  towards  Him, 
and  whether  there  exists  for  unhappy  mortals,  after  the  sufferings  that  weigh 
upon  them  in  this  life,  a  life  of  eternal  happiness  purchased  by  the  merits  of  a 
God-man  !  As  for  the  sciences  which  have  society  for  their  object,  I  think  I 
need  not  vindicate  the  Catholic  religion  from  the  reproach  of  having  in  this 
respect  oppressed  the  human  mind.  The  long  train  of  reflections  in  which  I 
have  set  forth  her  doctrines  and  her  influence,  as  regards  the  nature  and  extent 
of  power,  and  the  civil  and  political  liberty  of  nations,  proves  to  a  demonstra- 
tion that  the  Catholic  religion,  without  descending  to  the  arena  in  which  the 
passions  of  men  strive  and  contend,  teaches  a  doctrine  most  favorable  to  true 
civilization  and  to  the  rightly-understood  liberties  of  the  people. 

I  will  also  touch  briefly  upon  the  relations  of  the  Catholic  principle  with  the 
study  of  the  natural  sciences.  Assuredly  it  is  not  easy  to  see  in  what  way 
this  principle  can  be  injurious  to  the  progress  of  the  human  mind  in  this  de- 
partment of  knowledge.  I  have  said,  it  is  not  easy ;  I  might  have  said  impos- 
sible, and  that  for  a  very  simple  reason,  founded  upon  a  fact  within  the  reach 
of  every  man ;  viz.  the  extreme  reserve  which  the  Catholic  religion  evinces  in 
every  thing  relating  to  purely  natural  science.  One  might  suppose  that  God 
had  designed,  on  this  matter,  to  read  us  a  severe  lesson  on  our  excessive  curi- 
osity :  you  have  only  to  read  the  Bible  to  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  what  I 
have  advanced.  I  do  not  mean  that  nature  is  never  noticed  in  the  Bible ;  that 
divine  book  presents  her  to  us  in  her  grandest,  noblest,  and  most  sublime  as- 
pect ;  as  a  living  whole,  in  fact,  together  with  all  her  relations  and  her  sub- 
lime destiny,  but  without  any  kind  of  analysis  or  decomposition.  In  these 
sacred  pages  the  painter's  pencil  and  the  poet's  fancy  will  meet  with  magni- 
ficent models ;  but  the  inquisitive  philosopher  will  look  in  vain  for  the  hints 
he  is  in  quest  of.  The  Holy  Spirit  did  not  aim  at  making  naturalists,  but 
virtuous  men ;  hence,  in  describing  the  creation,  He  represents  it  solely  in  a 
light  the  best  adapted  to  excite  in  us  feelings  of  admiration  and  gratitude  to- 
wards the  Author  of  so  many  wonders  and  benefits.  Nature,  as  she  appears  in 
the  sacred  text,  has  not  much  to  gratify  the  curiosity  of  the  philosopher ;  but 
then  she  delights  and  ennobles  the  imagination— she  moves  and  penetrates  the 
heart. 


CHAPTER    LXX. 

HISTORICAL  ANALYSIS   OP  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

FROM  the  rapid  view  we  have  taken  of  the  several  branches  of  learning  in 
their  relations  to  the  authority  of  the  Church,  it  is  clear  to  a  demonstration, 
that  the  alleged  enslavement  of  the  intellect  amongst  Catholics  is  nothing  but 
a  mere  bugbear :  in  no  respect  does  our  faith  either  arrest  or  retard  the  progress 
of  learning.  Since,  however,  it  not  unfrequently  happens  that,  in  arguments 
apparently  the  most  solid,  a  flaw  is  discovered  when  they  are  brought  to  the 
test  of  facts,  it  will  be  well  to  corroborate  our  assertion  by  historical  testimony ; 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  399 

fully  assured  as  we  are,  that  the  result  must  be  favorable  to  the  cause  of 
truth.  "We  will  begin  at  the  beginning. 

M.  Gruizot  maintains  that  the  contest  between  the  Church  and  the  advocates 
of  the  freedom  of  thought  originated  in  the  middle  ages.  Noticing  the  efforts 
of  John  Erigena,  Roscelin,  Abelard,  and  the  alarm  they  excited  in  the  Church, 
he  observes  :  "  This  was  the  great  event  that  occurred  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  centuries,  at  a  time  when  the  Church  was 
under  theocratic  and  monastic  influence.  It  was  then  that,  for  the  first  time, 
a  serious  struggle  was  commenced  between  the  clergy  and  the  freethinkers." 
(Hist.  Generate  de  la  Civilisation  en  Europe.  Legon  6.)  The  entire  scope  of 
M.  Gruizot's  work  shows  that,  in  his  judgment,  the  best-founded  reproach  that 
could  be  cast  upon  the  Catholic  Church  was,  that  she  checked  the  freedom  of 
thought.  According  to  him,  this  is  the  point  upon  which  the  advantage  of  the 
Protestant  system  over  Catholicity  is  the  least  controvertible.  His  object  being 
the  complete  development  of  this  idea,  in  treating  of  the  religious  revolution 
of  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  requisite  for  him  to  deposit  it  as  a  seed  in  his 
preliminary  lectures  ;  as  otherwise  the  fact  of  the  Reformation  would  have  ap- 
peared isolated,  and  shorn  of  its  importance.  Besides,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
resistance  of  Protestants  to  the  Catholic  Church  should  have  a  meaning ;  that 
it  should  carry  with  it  the  appearance  of  a  noble  and  generous  thought ;  that 
it  should  be  regarded  as  the  proclamation  of  the  freedom  of  the  human  mind. 
To  attain  this  end,  the  Church,  on  the  one  hand,  must  be  represented  as  assert- 
ing claims  in  the  middle  ages  to  which  she  had  not  previously  pretended ;  and, 
on  the  other,  those  writers  who  resisted  these  alleged  pretensions  of  the  Church 
must  be  held  up  as  men  of  extraordinary  penetration. 

Now,  such  is  precisely  the  thread  of  M.  Guizot's  discourse }  and  we  hence 
infer  his  efforts  to  prepare  beforehand  the  triumph  of  his  opinions.  His  plan, 
however,  is  ill-concerted ;  for  he  appears  to  have  overlooked  the  most  palpable 
facts  in  the  history  of  the  Church ;  and  not  even  to  have  known  what  were  the 
doctrines  of  the  three  champions,  whose  names  he  invokes  with  so  much  com- 
placency. That  no  one  may  accuse  me  of  making  inconsiderate  assertions,  I 
will  here  quote  his  words  literally :  "  Thus  every  thing/7  says  he,  t(  seemed 
turning  to  the  advantage  of  the  Church,  of  her  unity,  and  of  her  power.  But 
whilst  the  Papacy  was  grasping  at  the  government  of  the  world,  whilst  the 
monasteries  were  undergoing  a  moral  reformation,  a  few  powerful  but  isolated 
individuals 'claimed  for  human  reason  the  right  of  being  something  in  man,  the 
right  to  interfere  in  the  formation  of  his  opinions.  Most  of  them  refrained 
from  attacking  received  opinions,  or  religious  belief;  they  merely  said  that 
reason  had  a  right  to  prove  them  ;  and  that  it  was  not  enough  that  they  were 
affirmed  byv  authority.  John  Erigena,  Roscelin,  and  Abelard  were  the  inter- 
preters, through  whom  individual  reason  began  to  lay  claim  to  her  inheritance 
— the  first  authors  of  that  movement  of  liberty,  which  was  associated  with  the 
reform  movement  of  Hildebrand  and  St.  Bernard.  If  we  seek  the  dominant 
feature  of  this  movement,  we  shall  find  that  it  was  not  a  change  of  opinion,  a 
revolt  against  the  system  of  public  belief;  it  was  simply  the  right  of  reason- 
ing claimed  for  reason."  (Hist.  Genbrale  de  la  Civilisation  en  Europe. 
Leqon  6.) 

We  will  pass  over  the  author's  singular  parallel  between  the  efforts  of  John 
Erigena,  Roscelin,  and  Abelard,  and  those  of  the  great  reformers,  Hildebrand 
or  St.  Gregory  VII.,  and  St.  Bernard.  These  latter  sought  to  reform  the 
Church  by  legitimate  means,  to  render  the  clergy  more  venerable  by  making 
them  more  virtuous,  and  to  win  greater  respect  for  authority  by  sanctifying 
the  persons  entrusted  with  its  exercise :  the  others,  according  to  M.  Guizot, 
resisted  this  authority  in  matters  of  faith ;  that  is,  they  aimed  at  its  over- 
throw, and  for  this  purpose  laid  the  axe  to  the  root ;  the  former  were  reformers, 


400  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

the  latter  devastators  :  and  yet  we  are  told  that  their  efforts  were  directed  to 
one  and  the  same  object,  had  one  and  the  same  tendency.  Verily,  the  philo 
sophy  of  history  were  a  sorry  thing,  if  it  could  allow  of  such  a  confusion  of 
ideas  !  What  progress  can  be  made  in  this  branch  of  knowledge,  by  men  who 
have  so  strange  a  way  of  dealing  with  facts  ?  But,  I  repeat,  let  us  take  leave 
of  these  aberrations,  and  fix  our  attention  specially  on  two  points :  the  worth 
of  these  three  writers,  so  much  vaunted,  and  the  idea  we  are  told  to  entertain 
of  their  resistance  to  authority.  Doubtless  the  names  of  John  Erigena  and 
Roscelin  are  already  pronounced  with  respect  by  those  persons  who  would  fain 
be  thought  well  versed  in  the  philosophy  of  history,  without  having  ever  read 
history,  and  who  are  obliged  to  content  themselves  with  those  easy  lessons  that 
are  learned  in  an  hour,  and  studied  in  an  evening.  With  persons  of  this  de- 
scription, it  is  enough  to  have  heard  these  names  pronounced  with  emphasis,  to 
have  seen  them  coupled  with  epithets,  such  as  pmverful  men,  advocates  of 
human  reason,  interpreters  of  individual  reason,  to  make  them  fancy  that  learn- 
ing is  no  less  indebted  to  Erigena  and  Roscelin  than  to  Descartes  or  Bacon. 

Without  bearing  in  mind  the  remarks  I  have  already  made  on  the  pecu- 
liarity of  M.  Gruizot's  position,  it  would  not  be  easy  to  conjecture  why  he 
should  seek  to  represent  as  new  and  extraordinary,  what  was,  in  fact,  neither 
new  nor  uncommon ',  how  he  could  say  that  the  Church  first  began  the  contest 
against  liberty  of  thought,  when  she  put  down  Erigena,  Roscelin,  and  Abelard. 
He  brings  forward  these  three  writers,  as  though  their  influence  had  been  para- 
mount; whereas  they  had  no  more  influence  than  other  sectarians,  who  abounded 
in  preceding  centuries.  Who  and  what  really  was  this  John  Erigena?  A 
writer  but  imperfectly  versed  in  theological  science ;  but  who,  puffed  up  by  the 
favor  shown  him  by  Charles  the  Bold,  broached  certain  errors  on  the  subject 
of  the  Eucharist,  predestination  and  grace.  In  all  that,  I  see  only  a  man 
departing  from  the  doctrine  of  the  Church ;  and  in  Nicholas  the  First  attempt- 
ing to  stop  him  in  his  career,  I  see  only  a  Pope  fulfilling  his  duty.  What  is 
there  in  all  this  either  new  or  extraordinary  ?  Does  not  the  whole  history  of 
the  Church,  from  the  time  of  the  Apostles,  exhibit  an  unbroken  succession  of 
similar  facts  ? 

I  repeat,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  for  what  purpose  the  name  of  Erigena 
is  brought  forward.  His  errors  produced  no  result  of  importance;  and  the  age 
in  which  he  lived  cannot  be  considered  as  having  exercised  any  great  influence 
on  the  intellectual  development  of  subsequent  times.  He  lived  in  the  ninth 
century.  Now,  this  century  had  no  share  in  the  movement  of  those  that  fol- 
lowed ;  indeed,  it  is  well  known  that  the  tenth  century  was  the  darkest  period 
of  ignorance  during  the  middle  ages ;  and  that  the  intellectual  movement  com- 
menced only  at  the  close  of  the  tenth,  and  at  the  opening  of  the  eleventh 
century.  Erigena  and  Roscelin  are  separated  by  two  centuries.  As  for  Ros- 
celin and  Abelard,  it  is  easier  to  understand  why  their  names  are  cited.  Every 
one  knows  the  noise  that  Abelard  made  in  the  world  by  his  doctrines,  and 
perhaps  still  more  by  his  adventures.  Roscelin  may  also  command  attention 
by  his  errors,  and  especially  as  the  master  of  Abelard. 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  spirit  that  guided  these  men,  and  of  the  opinion  we 
are  to  form  of  their  intentions,  we  must  enter  into  some  details  touching  their 
lives  and  their  doctrines.  Roscelin  was  one  of  the  most  crafty  men  of  his  time. 
A  subtle  dialectician  and  warm  partizan  of  the  sect  of  the  Nominalists,  he  sub- 
stituted his  own  opinions  for  the  teaching  of  the  Church ;  and  ended  by  falling 
into  the  gravest  errors  on  the  sacred  mystery  of  the  Trinity.  History  has 
recorded  a  fact,  that  proves  incontestably  the  notorious  dishonesty  of  the  man — 
his  want  of  probity  and  of  modesty.  At  the  time  that  Roscelin  was  propagating 
his  errors,  St.  Anselm,  who  was  afterwards  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was 
living,  but  at  that  time  abbot  of  Beck.  Lanfranc,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 


PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY.  401 

who  died  some  time  before,  had  left  behind  him  the  highest  reputation  for  virtue 
and  sound  doctrine.  Roscelin  thought  that  the  authority  of  so  high  a  name 
would  give  currency  and  consideration  to  his  errors;  and,  resorting  to  the 
foulest  calumny,  he  affirmed  that  his  opinions  were  the  same  as  those  of  Arch- 
bishop Lanfranc,  and  Anselm,  abbot  of  Beck.  To  this  calumny  Lanfranc  could 
not  reply,  as  he  was  already  in  the  tomb ;  but  the  abbot  of  Beck  vigorously 
repelled  so  unjust  an  imputation;  and  at  the  same  time  vindicated  the  reputa- 
tion of  Lanfranc,  who  had  been  his  master.  The  works  of  St.  Anselm  leave 
no  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of  Roscelin' s  errors.  We  find  them  recorded  with 
the  greatest  precision.  In  fact,  it  were  difficult  to  say  why  M.  Guizot  has 
conferred  so  much  importance  upon  this  man,  or  why  he  should  be  adduced  as 
one  of  the  principal  champions  of  the  freedom  of  thought.  There  is  nothing 
in  Roscelin  to  distinguish  him  from  other  heretics.  He  is  a  man  who  employs 
artifices  and  subtleties,  and  falls  into  error ;  but  nothing  is  more  common  in  the 
history  of  the  Church ;  and  it  certainly  cannot  be  considered  matter  of  aston- 
ishment. 

Abelard  is  more  deserving  of  notice  :  his  name  has  become  so  famous  that  no 
one  is  unacquainted  with  his  sad  adventures.  A  disciple  of  Roscelin,  and  as 
well  skilled  as  his  master  in  the  dialectics  of  the  age,  endowed  with  great 
talents,  and  eager  to  parade  them  on  the  principal  theatres  of  literature,  Abe- 
lard  earned  a  reputation  never  attained  by  the  dialectician  of  Compiegne.  His 
errors  on  points  of  very  great  importance  produced  much  mischief  in  the  Church, 
and  drew  upon  himself  many  sorrows.  But  it  is  not  true,  as  M.  Guizot  will 
have  it,  that  his  doctrines  met  with  less  reproof  than  his  method ;  neither  is  it 
true  that  he  and  his  master  Roscelin  had  no  intention  of  effecting  a  radical 
change  in  matters  of  doctrine.  Evidence  of  a  most  unexceptionable  kind  for- 
tunately places  the  matter  beyond  all  doubt,  and  proves  that  it  was  not  Ros- 
celin's  method,  but  his  error  on  the  Trinity,  for  which  he  was  condemned.  Nor 
have  we  less  certainty  in  the  case  of  Abelard ;  for  the  various  errors  taken  from 
his  works  are  preserved  in  the  form  of  articles. 

We  learn  from  St.  Bernard,  that  on  the  Trinity,  Abelard  held  the  opinions 
of  Arius — on  the  Incarnation,  those  of  Nestorius — on  grace,  those  of  Pelagius. 
All  this  did  not  merely  tend  to  a  radical  change  of  doctrine,  but  actually  was 
one.  I  do  not  know  that  Abelard  ever  protested  against  the  truth  of  these 
accusations;  and  even  if  he  had,  we  all  know  how  to  estimate  such  a  protest. 
It  is  certain  that,  in  the  famous  Assembly  of  Sens — convoked  at  the  request 
of  Abelard  himself — he  had  not  a  word  to  say  in  reply  to  the  sainted  abbot  of 
Clairvaux,  who  reproached  him  with  his  errors ;  and  laying  before  him  the  very 
words  of  his  propositions,  extracted  from  his  writings,  urged  him  either  to 
defend  or  abjure  them  Abelard,  confronted  with  so  formidable  an  adversary, 
was  so  embarrassed  that  he  could  only  say,  in  reply,  that  he  appealed  to  Rome. 
The  Council  of  Sens,  out  of  respect  for  the  Holy  See,  abstained  from  condemn- 
ing the  person  of  the  innovator,  but  did  not  fail  te  condemn  his  errors;  and 
this  condemnation  was  approved  by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  and  extended  to  his 
person  also.  Now,  from  the  articles  containing  the  errors  of  Abelard,  it  does 
not  appear  that  his  dominant  idea  was  to  proclaim  the  liberty  of  thought.  He 
has,  it  is  true,  an  overweening  confidence  in  his  own  subtleties ;  but,  beyond 
this,  his  only  fault  is  an  erroneous  and  dogmatizing  spirit  on  points  of  the 
greatest  importance;  a  fault  which  he  had  in  common  with  all  the  heretics  who 
preceded  him. 

All  this  M.  Guizot  ought  to  have  known ;  how  he  can  have  overlooked  it  I 
cannot  imagine,  nor  why  he  attaches  to  these  authors  an  importance  which  they 
really  do  not  deserve.  Perhaps  he  was  anxious  to  furnish  Protestants  with  some 
illustrious  predecessors,  when  he  laid  such  stress  on  the  names  of  Roscelin  and 
Abelard.  These  two,  after  all,  were  not  deficient  in  ability  or  in  erudition, 

51  2i2 


* 

402  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

and  they  lived  precisely  during  the  early  period  of  the  intellectual  movement. 
Probably  M.  Guizot  thought,  that  to  bring  these  two  innovators  upon  the  scene 
would  answer  his  purpose  extremely  well,  as  showing  that,  from  the  very  dawn 
of  intellectual  development,  men  of  the  greatest  fame  had  raised  their  voices  in 
favor  of  freedom  of  thought.  After  all,  had  M.  Guizot  succeeded  in  proving 
that  John  Erigena,  Roscelin,  and  Abelard  aimed  at  nothing  more  than  the 
assertion  of  the  right  of  private  examination  in  matters  of  faith,  it  would  not 
follow  that  these  innovators  had  not  sought  to  effect  a  radical  change  in  mat- 
ters of  doctrine.  In  fact,  what  can  be  more  radical  as  regards  matters  of  faith 
than  that  which  strikes  at  authority,  the  root  of  all  certainty  ?  Neither  would 
it  follow,  that  in  condemning  the  errors  of  these  men  the  Church  had  taken 
alarm  merely  at  their  method;  for  if  this  method  was  to  consist  in  withdrawing 
the  intellect  from  the  yoke  of  authority,  even  in  matters  of  faith,  it  was  itself  a 
very  grievous  error,  combated  at  all  times  by  the  Catholic  Church,  which  never 
would  consent  to  have  her  authority  called  in  question  on  points  of  faith. 

And  yet,  if  these  innovators  had  entered  into  the  contest  chiefly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  contending  against  authority  in  matters  of  faith,  M.  Guizot  would  have 
had  some  reason  to  notice  their  proceedings  as  constituting  a  new  era;  but, 
strange  to  say,  their  propositions  do  not  appear  to  have  been  drawn  up  with  a 
view  to  advocate  the  independence  of  thought,  nor  against  authority  in  matters 
of  faith ;  it  was  not  for  such  an  attempt,  but  for  other  errors,  that  the  Church 
condemned  them.  Where,  then,  are  the  accuracy  and  historical  truth  which 
we  should  expect  from  such  a  man  as  M.  Guizot  ?  How  could  he  venture,  in 
addressing  a  numerous  audience,  thus  to  substitute  his  own  thoughts  for  facts  ? 
The  fact  is,  he  well  knew  that  these  were  matters  generally  treated  very  super- 
ficially ;  that  to  gain  the  sympathy  of  superficial  men  it  would  suffice  to  speak 
in  pompous  terms  of  the  liberty  of  thought,  to  pronounce  certain  names  pro- 
bably heard  by  many  for  the  first  time,  such  as  Erigena  and  Roscelin,  and 
.especially  to  mention  the  unfortunate  lover  of  Heloi'se. 

M.  Guizot,  unable  to  conceal  from  himself  that  his  observations  upon  this 
period  were  somewhat  feeble,  tries  to  apply  a  remedy  by  inserting  a  passage 
from  the  Introduction  to  the  Theology  of  Abelard,  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  very 
far  from  answering  the  purpose  of  the  publicist.  His  object,  in  fact,  is  to  show 
.that  from  that  very  period  a  vigorous  spirit  of  resistance  to  the  authority  of  the 
<Church  in  matters  of  faith  had  sprung  up,  and  that  the  human  mind  was  even 
ihen  longing  to  burst  asunder  the  fetters  in  which  it  had  been  held.  He  would 
have  us  believe  that  Abelard,  yielding  to  the  importunities  of  his  own  disciples, 
had  the  courge  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  authority;  and  that  his  writings  were, 
to  a  certain  extent,  the  expression  of  a  necessity  long  felt,  of  an  idea  with 
which  many  minds  had  long  been  agitated.  The  following  is  the  passage 
referred  to :  "  If  we  seek  the  dominant  feature  of  this  movement,  we  shall 
find  that  it  was  not  a  change  of  opinion,  a  revolt  against  the  system  of  public 
belief;  it  was  simply  the  right  of  reasoning  claimed  for  reason/' 

We  have  already  seen  how  utterly  devoid  of  truth  is  this  assertion  of  the 
publicist.  The  very  attack  upon  authority  was  itself  a  radical  change  in  opin- 
ions, and  a  revolution  in  received  doctrines ;  for  the  authority  of  the  Church 
was  in  itself  a  dogma,  and  formed  the  basis  of  all  religious  belief,  as  experience 
has  satisfactorily  shown,  since  the  appearance  of  Protestantism  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  sixteenth  century.  But  let  us  allow  the  historian  to  proceed : 
"  The  disciples  of  Abelard,  as  he  himself  tells  us  in  his  Introduction  to  Theo- 
loyy,  required  of  him  philosophical  arguments,  and  such  as  would  satisfy  reason, 
requesting  him  to  teach  them  not  merely  to  repeat  his  instructions,  but  to  un- 
derstand them  also ;  for  no  one  can  believe  what  he  does  not  understand,  and 
it  is  ridiculous  to  preach  to  others  things  that  neither  the  teacher  nor  his  pupils 
understand.  'What  object  can  the  study  of  philosophy  have  but  that  of 


*>  Kf»..  •''•>•#>•:• 

PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY.  403 

leading  the  mind  to  the  contemplation  of  God,  to  whom  all  things  are  to  be 
referred  ?  Why  are  the  faithful  allowed  to  read  works  treating  of  worldly 
affairs  and  the  books  of  the  Gentiles,  except  to  prepare  them  to  understand  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  and  to  furnish  them  with  the  skill  necessary  for  their  de- 
fence ? For  this  purpose  alone  we  should  avail  ourselves  of  all  our 

reasoning  powers,  lest,  on  questions  so  difficult  and  complicated  as  those  that 
form  the  object  of  Christian  faith,  the  subtilty  of  our  opponents  should  too 
readily  injure  the  purity  of  our  faith/  " 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that  in  Abelard' s  time  a  lively  curiosity  aroused  men's 
minds  to  employ  all  their  powers  to  be  able  to  give  a  reason  for  what  they  be- 
lieved j  but  it  is  not  true  that  the  Church  threw  any  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
this  movement,  considering  it  as  a  scientific  method,  and  so  long  as  it  did  not 
overstep  legitimate  bounds,  and  attack  or  undermine  the  articles  of  faith.  It 
is  impossible  to  take  a  more  unfavorable  view  of  the  Church  than  M.  Guizot 
has  here  taken  of  her;  nor  could  any  one  more  completely  overlook,  I  will 
even  say  distort,  facts. 

"  The  importance  of  this  first  attempt  at  liberty,"  says  he,  "  of  this  revival 
of  the  spirit  of  inquiry,  was  soon  felt.  The  Church,  though  engaged  in  effect- 
ing her  own  reform,  took  the  alarm  nevertheless,  and  at  once  declared  war 
against  the  reformers,  whose  new  methods  menaced  her  with  more  evils  than 
their  doctrines." 

Thus  is  the  Church  represented  as  conspiring  against  the  progress  of  thought, 
repressing  with  a  strong  arm  the  first  attempts  of  the  mind  to  advance  in  the 
path  of  science,  and  laying  aside  questions  of  doctrine  to  contend  against 
methods ;  and  all  this,  we  are  told,  as  if  it  were  something  new  and  wonderful. 
"  For,"  says  M.  Guizot,  "this  was  the  great  event  which  occurred  at  the  end 
of  the  eleventh  and  beginning  of  the  twelfth  centuries,  at  a  time  when  the 
Church  was  under  theocratic  and  monastic  influence.  It  was  now  that,  for  the 
first  time,  a  serious  struggle  commenced  between  the  clergy  and  the  freethinkers. 
The  quarrels  of  Abelard  and  St.  Bernard,  the  Councils  of  Soissons  and  Sens, 
in  which  Abelard  was  condemned,  merely  give  expression  to  this  event,  which 
has  occupied  so  large  a  space  in  the  history  of  modern  civilization." 

Still  the  same  confusion  of  ideas.  I  have  said  already,  and  must  repeat  here 
that  the  Church  has  condemned  no  method ;  it  was  not  a  method,  but  error,  that 
the  Church  condemned,  unless  by  a  method  be  meant  an  assault  upon  the 
articles  of  faith,  under  pretence  of  breaking  the  fetters  of  authority,  which  is 
not  merely  a  method,  but  an  error  of  the  very  highest  import.  In  reproving 
a  pernicious  doctrine,  subversive  of  all  faith,  and  denying  the  infallibility  of 
the  See  of  St.  Peter  in  matters  of  doctrine,  the  Church  did  not  put  forth  any 
new  pretensions ;  her  conduct  has  always  been  the  same  ever  since  the  time  of 
the  Apostles,  and  is  the  same  still.  The  moment  a  doctrine  is  propagated  that 
appears  in  the  least  degree  dangerous,  the  Church  examines  it,  compares  it  with 
the  sacred  deposit  of  truth  confided  to  her ;  if  the  doctrine  is  not  inconsistent 
with  divine  truth,  she  allows  it  free  circulation,  for  she  is,  not  ignorant  that 
God  has  given  up  the  world  to  the  controversies  of  men  ;  but  if  it  is  opposed  to 
the  faith,  its  condemnation  is  irremissible,  without  concern  or  regret.  Were 
the  Church  to  act  otherwise,  she  would  contradict  herself,  and  cease  to  be  what 
she  is,  the  jealous  depository  of  divine  truth.  If  she  allowed  her  infallible 
authority  to  be  questioned,  that  moment  she  would  forget  one  of  her  most 
sacred  obligations,  and  would  lose  all  claim  on  our  belief;  for,  in  betraying  an 
indifference  for  truth,  she  would  prove  herself  to  be  no  longer  a  religion  de- 
scended from  heaven,  but  a  mere  delusion. 

Precisely  at  the  time  of  which  M.  Guizot  speaks,  we  observe  a  fact  which 
proves  that  the  Church  allows  free  scope  to  the  exercise  of  thought.  The  high 
reputation  which  St.  Anselm  sustained  during  his  whole  career,  and  the  great 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

l 

esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs  of  his  time,  are  well 
known  j  yet  St.  Anselm  philosophised  with  great  freedom.  In  the  introduction 
to  his  Monologue,  he  tells  us  that  some  persons  entreated  him  to  explain  things 
by  reason  alone,  without  the  aid  of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  The  Saint  was  not 
afraid  to  comply  with  their  request,  and  he  accordingly  wrote  the  little  work 
we  have  just  named.  In  other  parts  of  his  works,  too,  St.  Anselrn  adopts  the 
same  method.  Very  few  persons  concern  themselves  now-a-days  about  ancient 
writers,  and  doubtless  very  few  have  read  the  works  of  the  holy  Doctor  of 
whom  we  are  speaking.  They  display,  however,  such  perspicuity  of  thought, 
such  solid  reasoning,  and  above  all  such  a  discreet  and  temperate  judgment, 
that  we  are  surprised  to  find  the  human  mind,  at  the  very  commencement  of 
the  intellectual  movement,  attaining  to  so  high  an  elevation.  In  him  we  find 
the  greatest  freedom  of  thought  combined  with  the  respect  due  to  the  authority 
of  the  Church ;  and  far  from  impairing  the  vigor  of  his  ideas,  this  respect 
augments  their  force  and  perspicuity.  From  his  works  we  learn  that  Abelard 
was  not  the  only  one  who  taught,  not  merely  to  repeat  his  lectures,  but  also  to 
understand  them;  for  St.  Anselm,  some  years  previous,  followed  the  same 
method  with  a  clearness  and  solidity  far  beyond  what  could  be  expected  at  that 
time.  We  there  discover,  also,  that  in  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic  Church  men 
carried  the  operations  of  reason  to  the  greatest  possible  extent,  though  always 
within  the  bounds  prescribed  by  its  own  weakness,  and  with  reverential  regard 
to  the  sacred  veil  that  shrouds  august  mysteries. 

The  works  of  St.  Anselm  prove  that  Abelard  was  not  exactly  the  man  to 
teach  the  world  that  the  end  of  philosophical  studies  is  to  lead  the  mind  to  the 
contemplation  of  God,  to  whom  all  things  should  be  referred ;  and  that  we 
should  avail  ourselves  of  all  our  reasoning  powers,  lest  on  questions  so  difficult 
and  complicated  as  those  that  form  the  object  of  Christian  faith,  the  subtilties 
of  our  opponents  should  too  readily  injure  the  purity  of  our  faith.  But  from 
the  Saint's  profound  submission  to  the  authority  of  the  Church,  frohi  the  can- 
dor and  ingenuousness  with  which  he  acknowledges  the  limits  of  the  human 
mind,  we  see  that  he  was  persuaded  that  it  is  not  impossible  to  believe  what  we 
do  not  comprehend  ;  and,  in  fact,  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the  convic- 
tion that  a  thing  exists,  and  a  clear  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  thing  in 
the  existence  of  which  we  believe. 


CHAPTER  LXXI. 

RELIGION   AND  THE   HUMAN    MIND   IN   EUROPE. 

As  we  are  to  examine  what  was,  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  the 
conduct  of  the  Church  in  reference  to  innovators,  we  will  avail  ourselves  of  the 
excellent  opportunity  afforded  by  this  epoch  for  noticing  the  progress  of  the 
human  mind.  It  has  been  said  that  in  Europe  intellectual  development  was 
exclusively  theological.  This  is  true,  and  necessarily  so;  all  the  faculties  of 
man  receive  their  development  according  to  the  circumstances  that  surround 
him ;  and  as  his  health,  his  temperament,  his  strength,  his  color  even,  and  his 
stature  depend  upon  climate,  food,  mode  of  life,  and  other  circumstances  affect- 
ing him,  so  in  like  manner  his  moral  and  intellectual  faculties  bear  the  stamp 
of  the  principles  which  predominate  in  the  family  and  society  of  which  he 
forms  a  constituent  part.  Now,  in  Europe,  religion  was  the  predominating 
element ;  in  every  thing  religion  made  herself  heard  and  felt ;  nowhere  was 
there  a  principle  of  life  or  action  discoverable  unconnected  with  religion.  It 
was  quite  natural,  therefore,  that  in  Europe  all  the  faculties  of  man  should 
have  their  development  in  a  religious  sense.  A  little  attention  will  show  us 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  405 

that  this  was  the  case  not  with  the  intellect  only,  but  likewise  with  the  heart, 
with  the  passions  even,  and  with  the  whole  moral  man ;  just  as,  in  whatever 
direction  we  go  in  Europe,  we  meet  at  every  step  with  some  monument  of  reli- 
gion ;  so  whatever  faculty  we  examine  in  the  individual  European,  we  find 
upon  it  the  impress  of  religion. 

And  the  case  was  the  same  with  families  and  society  as  with  individuals ; 
religion  was  equally  predominant  in  both.  Wherever  man  has  progressed 
towards  a  state  of  perfection,  we  observe  a  similar  phenomenon ;  and  it  is  an 
invariable  fact  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  that  no  society  ever  entered 
on  the  road  to  civilization,  save  under  the  direction  and  impulse  of  religious 
principles.  True  or  false,  rational  or  absurd,  wherever  man  is  on  the  road  to 
improvement,  these  principles  are  found.  Some  nations,  indeed,  may  well 
excite  our  pity  at  the  monstrous  superstitions  into  which  they  have  fallen ;  but 
we  still  must  acknowledge,  that,  under  these  very  superstitions,  lay  concealed 
germs  of  good  that  did  not  fail  to  produce  considerable  benefits.  The  Egyp- 
tians, Phoenicians,  Greeks,  and  Romans  were  all  extremely  superstitious ;  yet 
the  progress  they  made  in  civilization  and  intellectual  culture  was  such,  that 
their  monuments  and  memorials  strike  us  even  yet  with  admiration.  It  is  easy 
to  smile  at  an  extravagant  observance  or  a  senseless  dogma ;  but  we  should 
remember  that  the  growth  and  preservation  of  certain  moral  principles  cannot 
be  otherwise  secured  than  under  the  protecting  shade  of  religious  belief.  Now, 
these  principles  are  most  indispensably  necessary  to  prevent  individuals  from 
being  monstrously  changed,  and  to  maintain  the  social  and  family  ties  unbroken. 
Much  has  been  said  against  the  immorality  tolerated,  permitted,  and  sometimes 
even  taught  by  certain  forms  of  religion ;  and  certainly  nothing  is  more  lament- 
able than  to  behold  man  thus  led  astray  by  that  which  ought  to  be  his  best 
guide.  Let  us,  however,  look  for  a  reality  beneath  these  shadows,  which 
appear  at  first  so  gloomy,  and  we  shall  soon  discover  some  rays  of  light  that 
may  lead  us  to  regard  false  religions,  not  indeed  with  indulgence,  but  with  less 
horror  than  those  infamous  systems  which  make  matter  self-existent,  and 
pleasure  the  only  divinity. 

To  preserve  the  idea  of  moral  good  and  evil,  an  idea  without  meaning  except 
in  the  supposition  that  there  exists  a  divine  power,  is  itself  an  inestimable 
advantage.  Now  this  advantage  adheres  inseparably  to  every  form  of  religion, 
even  to  those  that  make  the  most  absurd  and  most  criminal  applications  of 
the  idea  of  good  and  evil.  Doubtless,  the  people  of  antiquity,  and  those  of 
our  own  time  who  have  not  received  the  light  of  Christianity,  have  gone  most 
deplorably  astray ;  but,  in  the  midst  of  their  very  wanderings,  there  always 
remains  a  certain  degree  of  light;  and  this  light,  however  dimly  it  shines, 
however  faint  and  feeble  its  rays,  is  incomparably  better  than  the  thick  dark- 
ness of  atheism.  Between  the  nations  of  antiquity  and  those  of  Europe  there 
is  this  very  remarkable  difference,  that  the  former  passed  from  a  state  of  infancy 
to  a  state  of  civilization ;  while  the  latter  advanced  to  this,  in  passing  from  that 
uridefinable  state  which,  in  Europe,  was  the  result  of  the  invasion  of  the  bar- 
barians, of  the  confused  mixture  of  a  young  with  a  decrepit  society,  of  rude 
and  ferocious  nations  with  others  that  were  civilized,  cultivated,  or  rather 
effeminate.  Hence,  amongst  the  ancients  the  imagination  was  developed  before 
the  intellect,  whilst  amongst  Europeans  the  intellect  came  before  the  imagina- 
tion. With  the  former,  poetry  came  first ;  with  the  latter,  whart  is  termed  dia- 
lectics and  metaphysics. 

What  is  the  reason  of  so  striking  a  difference  ?  When  a  people  are  yet  in 
their  infancy,  either  an  infancy  properly  so  called,  or  having  lived  long  in 
ignorance,  in  a  state  similar  to  that  of  an  infant  people,  we  find  them  rich  in 
sensations,  but  very  poor  in  ideas.  Nature,  with  her  majesty,  her  wonders, 
and  her  mysteries,  affects  such  a  people  the  most;  their  language  is  grand, 


. 

406  PROTESTANTISM    COMPARED  WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

picturesque,  and  highly  poetical ;  their  passions  are  not  refined,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  are  very  energetic  and  violent.  Now  an  intellect  that  inge- 
nuously seeks  the  light,  loves  truth  in  its  purity  and  simplicity,  confesses  and 
embraces  it  readily,  lending  itself  neither  to  subtilties,  artifices,  nor  disputes. 
The  least  thing  that  makes  a  vivid  impression  upon  the  senses  or  the  imagina- 
tion of  such  a  people  fills  them  with  surprise  and  wonder ;  you  cannot  inspire 
them  with  enthusiasm  without  setting  before  them  something  heroic  and  sublime. 

On  the  first  glance  at  the  state  of  the  people  of  Europe  in  the  middle  ages, 
we  perceive  in  them  a  certain  resemblance  to  an  infant  people,  but,  at  the  same 
time,  a  very  striking  difference  on  several  points.  Their  passions  are  very 
strong,  they  are  pleased  beyond  every  thing  with  the  wonderful  and  the  extra- 
ordinary, and,  for  want  of  realities,  their  imagination  conjures  up  gigantic 
phantoms.  The  profession  of  arms  is  their  favorite  occupation;  they  rush 
eagerly  into  the  most  perilous  adventures,  and  meet  them  with  incredible 
courage.  All  this  indicates  a  development  of  the  feelings  of  sensibility  and 
imagination,  inasmuch  as  they  produce  intrepidity  and  valor;  but,  strange  to 
say,  together  with  these  dispositions,  we  find  a  singular  taste  for  things  the 
most  purely  intellectual ;  with  the  most  lively,  ardent,  and  picturesque  reality, 
we  find  associated  a  taste  for  the  coldest  and  barest  abstractions.  A  knight, 
with  the  cross  on  his  shoulder,  gorgeously  clad,  covered  with  trophies,  beaming 
with  glory  won  in  a  hundred  combats;  a  subtile  dialectician,  disputing  on  the 
system  of  the  Nominalists,  and  urging  his  subtilely  devised  abstractions  till  he 
becomes  unintelligible; — these  are  certainly  two  characters  very  dissimilar, 
and  yet  they  exist  together  in  the  same  society ;  both  have  their  prestige, 
receive  the  greatest  homage,  and  are  followed  by  enthusiastic  admirers.  Even 
when  we  have  taken  into  account  the  singular  position  of  the  European  nations 
at  that  period,  it  is  not  easy  to  assign  a  cause  for  this  anomaly.  We  can  easily 
understand  how  the  people  of  Europe,  emerging,  for  the  most  part,  from  the 
forests  of  the  North,  and  engaged  for  a  long  time  either  in  intestine  wars  or  in 
conflicts  with  vanquished  tribes,  should  have  preserved,  together  with  their 
warlike  habits,  a  strong  and  lively  imagination  and  violent  passions ;  but  it  is 
not  so  easy  to  account  for  their  taste  for  an  order  of  ideas  purely  metaphysical 
and  dialectical.  When,  however,  we  come  to  look  deeply  into  the  matter,  we 
discover  that  this  apparent  anomaly  had  its  origin  an  the  very  nature  of  things. 
How  is  it  that  a  people  in  their  infancy  have  so  much  imagination  and  sensi- 
bility ?  Because  the  objects  by  which  these  faculties  are  naturally  excited 
abound  around  them ;  because  individuals,  being  continually  exposed  to  the 
influence  of  external  things,  these  objects  operate  upon  them  more  forcibly. 
Man  first  feels  and  imagines ;  later  he  understands  and  reflects :  this  is  the 
natural  order  in  which  his  faculties  begin  to  operate.  Hence,  with  every  peo- 
ple the  development  of  the  imagination  and  of  the  passions  precedes  that  of  the 
intellect;  the  passions  and  the  imagination  finding  their  object  and  aliment 
before  the  intellect.  This  accounts,  also,  for  the  fact  that  the  poetical  always 
precedes  the  philosophical  era.  From  this  it  follows,  that  nations  in  their 
infancy  think  little,  as  they  want  ideas ;  and  this  is  the  chief  distinctive  mark 
between  them  and  the  people  of  Europe  at  the  period  we  are  speaking  of.  In 
fact,  ideas  at  that  time'  abounded  in  Europe  ;  and  hence  the  purely  intellectual 
was  held  in  such  repute  even  amidst  the  most  profound  ignorance.  Hence, 
also,  the  intellect  strove  to  shine  even  before  its  time  appeared  to  have  arrived. 
Sound  ideas  respecting  God,  respecting  man  and  society,  were  already  every- 
where disseminated,  thanks  to  the  incessant  teaching  of  Christianity ;  and  as 
there  still  remained  numerous  traces  of  the  wisdom  of  antiquity,  both  Christian 
and  Pagan,  the  consequence  was,  that  every  man  possessed  of  a  little  learning 
had,  in  fact,  a  great  fund  of  ideas. 

It  is  clear,  however,  that  notwithstanding  these  advantages,  the  minds  of 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  407 

men  could  not,  amidst  the  chaos  of  erudition  and  philosophy  that  then  pre- 
sented itself,  escape  the  confusion  naturally  resulting  from  the  wide-spread 
ignorance,  occasioned  by  a  long  succession  of  revolutions.  They  could  not 
possess  sufficient  discrimination  and  judgment  to  pursue  all  at  once,  and  with 
success,  the  study  of  the  Bible,  of  the  writings  of  the  holy  Fathers,  of  the 
civil  and  canon  law,  of  the  works  of  Aristotle,  and  of  the  Arabian  commen- 
taries. Yet  these  were  all  studied  at  the  same  time ;  on  all  these,  disputes 
were  zealously  maintained ;  and  the  errors  and  extravagances  which  in  such 
a  state  of  things  were  inevitable  were  accompanied  by  the  presumption  that 
is  invariably  inherent  in  ignorance.  To  succeed  in  explaining  certain  passages 
of  the  Bible,  of  the  Fathers,  of  the  codes,  and  of  the  works  of  philosophers, 
great  preparatory  labors  were  necessary,  as  the  experience  of  subsequent  ages 
has  proved.  It  was  necessary  to  study  languages,  to  examine  archives  and 
monuments,  to  collect  together  from  all  parts  an  immense  mass  of  materials ; 
then,  to  reduce  these  to  order,  to  compare  them  together,  and  to  discriminate 
between  them ;  in  a  word,  it  was  necessary  to  possess  a  rich  fund  of  learning, 
enlightened  by  the  torch  of  criticism.  Now  all  this  was  then  wanting,  and 
could  only  be  attained  in  the  course  of  ages.  The  consequence  was  inevitable, 
considering  the  mania  that  existed  for  explaining  every  thing.  If  a  difficulty 
arose,  and  the  facts  and  knowledge  requisite  for  its  solution  were  wanting,  they 
adopted  a  roundabout  way ;  instead  of  seeking  the  support  derivable  from  facts, 
the  disputants  took  their  stand  upon  an  idea ;  substituting  some  subtle  abstrac- 
tion for  solid  reasoning ;  where  they  found  it  impossible  to  form  a  body  of 
sound  doctrine,  they  threw  together  a,  confused  mass  of  ideas  and  words.  Who 
could  repress  a  smile,  or  not  feel  pity  for  Abelard,  for  instance,  promising  his 
disciples  to  explain  to  them  the  prophet  Ezechiel,  with  very  little  time  for  pre- 
paration, and  actually  fulfilling  his  promise  ?  I  would  ask  the  reader  whether, 
in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  an  explanation  of  Ezechiel,  given  with 
only  a  slight  preparation,  could  have  been  successsful  or  interesting  ? 

The  study  of  dialectics  and  metaphysics  was  embraced  with  so  much  ardor, 
that  in  a  short  time  these  branches  of  knowledge  superseded  all  others.  The 
consequences  were  prejudicial  to  the  minds  of  men  ;  their  attention  being  wholly 
engrossed  by  this  object  of  their  choice,  the  pursuit  of  more  solid  learning  was 
regarded  with  indifference — history  was  neglected,  literature  unnoticed,  in  a 
word,  the  mind  was  only  half  developed.  Every  thing  appertaining  to  the 
imagination  and  the  feelings  was  sacrificed  to  the  cultivation  of  the  intellect; 
not,  indeed,  in  its  most  useful  operations, — the  formation  of  a  clear  and  perfect 
perception,  of  a  mature  judgment,  of  a  habit  of  sound  and  accurate  reasoning, 
— but  in  those  which  are  astute,  subtle,  and  extravagant. 

Those  who  would  reproach  the  Church  for  her  conduct  at  that  period  in  re- 
ference to  innovators  have  a  very  imperfect  understanding  of  the  actual  condi- 
tion of  Europe  as  regards  science  and  religion.  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
intellectual  development  was  religious ;  consequently,  even  when  it  deviated 
from  the  right  path,  it  still  retained  this  character,  and  the  oddest  subtilties 
were  applied  to  mysteries  the  most  sublime.  Almost  all  the  heretics  of  the 
time  were  renowned  dialecticians,  and  their  errors  arose  from  an  excess  of 
subtilty.  Roscelin,  one  of  the  leading  dialecticians  of  his  time,  was  the 
founder,  or  at  least  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  sect  of  the  Nominalists.  Abelard 
was  celebrated  for  the  readiness  of  his  talents,  his  skill  in  disputation,  and  his 
address  in  explaining  every  thing  to  suit  his  thesis.  The  abuse  of  his  intel- 
lect led  him  into  the  errors  which  we  have  already  spoken  of— errors  which 
he  would  have  avoided,  had  he  not  proudly  yielded  himself  up  to  his  own  vain 
thoughts.  The  mania  for  subtilising  every  thing  drew  Gilbert  de  la  Poiree 
into  the  most  lamentable  errors  on  the  subject  of  the  Divinity;  Amaury,  an- 
other celebrated  philosopher,  after  the  fashion  of  the  time,  took  up  so  warmly 


408  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

the  question  of  Aristotle's  primordial  matter,  that  he  ended  by  declaring  mat- 
ter to  be  God.  The  Church  strenuously  opposed  these  errors,  which  arose  in 
great  numbers  in  minds  led  astray  by  vain  arguments,  and  puffed  up  with  fool- 
ish pride.  It  would  argue  a  strange  misconception  of  the  true  interests  of 
science,  to  suppose  that  the  Church's  resistance  to  these  raving  innovators  was 
not  most  favorable  to  intellectual  progress. 

These  headstrong  men,  eager  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  and  captivated 
by  the  first  chimera  presented  to  their  imagination,  stood  greatly  in  need  of 
some  discreet  authority  to  restrain  them  within  the  bounds  of  reason  and 
moderation.  The  intellect  had  scarcely  taken  the  first  steps  in  the  career  of 
knowledge,  and  yet  fancied  it  already  knew  every  thing,  "  pretending  to  know 
all  things  except  the  nescio,  I  know  not,"  as  St.  Bernard  reproaches  the  vain 
Abelard.  Why  should  we  not,  for  the  good  of  humanity,  and  the  credit  of 
the  human  intellect,  approve  the  condemnation  pronounced  by  the  Church 
against  the  errors  of  Gilbert,  which  aimed  at  nothing  less  than  the  overthrow 
of  the  ideas  that  we  have  of  God  ?  If  Amaury  and  his  disciple  David  de 
Dinant  are  smitten  by  the  sentence  of  the  Church,  it  is  because  they  destroy 
the  idea  of  the  Divinity  by  confounding  the  Creator  with  primordial  matter. 
Was  it  for  the  advantage  of  Europe  that  its  intellectual  movement  should  be 
commenced  by  precipitating  itself  at  the  very  outset  into  the  abyss  of  pan- 
theism ? 

Had  the  human  intellect  followed  in  its  development  the  way  marked  out 
for  it  "by  the  Church,  European  civilization  would  have  gained  at  least  two 
centuries ;  the  fourteenth  century  would  have  been  as  far  advanced  as  the  six- 
teenth was.  To  convince  ourselves  of  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  we  have  only 
to  compare  writings  with  writings,  and  men  with  men ;  the  men  most  firmly 
attached  to  the  faith  of  the  Church  attained  to  such  eminence  that  they  left 
the  age  in  which  they  lived  far  behind  them.  Roscelin's  antagonist  was  St. 
Anselm  ;  the  latter  always  remained  faithful  to  the  authority  of  the  Church ; 
the  former  rebelled  against  her :  and  who,  let  met  ask,  would  have  the  hardi- 
hood to  compare  the  dialectician  of  Compiegne  with  the  learned  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  ?  How  vast  the  difference  between  the  profound  and  skilful 
metaphysician  who  composed  the  Monologue  and  the  Prosologue,  and  the  fri- 
volous leader  of  the  disputes  of  the  Nominalists !  Have  the  subtilties  and 
cavillings  of  Roscelin  any  weight  whatever  against  the  lofty  thoughts  of  the 
man  who,  in  the  eleventh  century,  to  prove  the  existence  of  God,  could  reject 
all  vain  and  captious  reasonings,  concentrate  himself  within  himself,  consult 
his  own  ideas,  compare  them  with  their  object,  and  demonstrate  the  existence 
of  God  from  the  very  idea  of  God,  thus  anticipating  Descartes  by  five 
hundred  years  ?  Who  best  understood  the  true  interests  of  science  ?  Show 
me  how  the  intellect  of  St.  Anselm  was  degraded  or  shackled  by  the  influence 
of  the  formidable  authority  of  the  Church,  by  any  usurpation  on  the  part  of 
Popes  of  the  rights  of  the  human  mind.  And  can  Abelard  himself  be  com- 
pared, either  as  a  man,  or  as  a  writer,  with  his  Catholic  adversary,  St.  Ber- 
nard ?  Abelard  was  a  perfect  master  of  all  the  subtilties  of  the  schools ;  noisy 
disputes  were  his  amusement ;  he  was  intoxicated  with  the  applause  of  his 
disciples,  who  were  dazzled  by  their  master's  talents  and  courage,  and  still  more 
by  the  learned  follies  of  the  age  j  yet  what  has  become  of  his  works  ?  Who 
reads  them  ?  Who  ever  thinks  of  finding  in  them  a  single  page  of  sound  rea- 
soning, the  description  of  a  single  great  event,  or  a  picture  of  the  manners  of 
the  time,  in  other  words,  the  least  matter  of  interest  to  science  or  history  ? 
On  the  contrary,  what  man  of  learning  has  not  often  sought  this  in  the  im- 
mortal works  of  St.  Bernard  ? 

It  is  impossible  to  find  a  more  sublime  personification  of  the  Church  com- 
bating against  the  heretics  of  his  time  than  the  illustrious  Abbot  of  Clairvaux, 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY.  409 

contending  against  all  innovators,  and  speaking,  if  we  may  use  the  term,  in 
the  name  of  the  Catholic  faith.  No  one  could  more  worthily  represent  the 
ideas  and  sentiments  which  the  Church  endeavored  to  diffuse  amongst  man- 
kind, nor  more  faithfully  delineate  the  course  through  which  Catholicity  would 
have  led  the  human  mind.  Let  us  pause  for  a  moment  in  the  presence  of  this 
gigantic  mind,  which  attained  to  an  eminence  far  beyond  any  of  its  contem- 
poraries. This  extraordinary  man  fills  the  world  with  his  name — upheaves  it 
by  his  words — sways  it  by  his  influence ;  in  the  midst  of  darkness  he  is  its 
light;  he  forms,  as  it  were,  a  mysterious  link,  connecting  the  two  epochs  of 
St.  Jerome  and  St.  Augustine,  of  Bossuet  and  Bourdaloue.  In  the  midst  of 
a  general  relaxation  and  corruption  of  morals,  by  the  strictest  observances  and 
the  most  perfect  purity  he  is  proof  against  every  assault.  Ignorance  prevails 
throughout  all  classes ;  he  studies  night  and  day  to  enlighten  his  mind.  A 
false  and  counterfeit  erudition  usurps  the  place  of  true  knowledge  ;  he  knows 
its  unsoundness,  disdains  and  despises  it ;  and  his  eagle  eye  discovers  at  a  glance 
that  the  star  of  truth  moves  at  an  immense  distance  from  this  false  reflection, 
,  from  this  crude  mass  of  subtilties  and  follies,  which  the  men  of  his  time  termed 
philosophy.  If  at  that  period  there  existed  any  useful  learning,  it  was  to  be 
sought  in  the  Bible,  and  in  the  writings  of  the  holy  Fathers ;  to  the  study  of 
these,  therefore,  St.  Bernard  devotes  himself  unremittingly.  Far  from  con- 
sulting the  vain  babblers  who  are  arguing  and  declaiming  in  the  shools,  St. 
Bernard  seeks  his  inspirations  in  the  silence  of  the  cloister,  or  in  the  august 
sanctuary  of  the  temple ;  if  he  goes  out,  it  is  to  contemplate  the  great  book 
of  nature,  to  study  eternal  truths  in  the  solitude  of  the  desert,  and,  as  he  him- 
self has  expressed  it,  "  in  forests  of  beech-trees." 

Thus  did  this  great  man,  rising  superior  to  the  prejudices  of  his  time,  avoid 
the  evil  produced  in  his  contemporaries  by  the  method  then  prevailing.  By 
this  method  the  imagination  and  the  feelings  were  stifled;  the  judgment 
warped ;  the  intellect  sharpened  to  excess  ;  and  learning  converted  into  a  laby- 
rinth of  confusion.  Read  the  works  of  the  sainted  Abbot  of  Clairvaux,  and 
you  will  find  that  all  his  faculties  go,  as  it  were,  hand  in  hand.  If  you  look 
for  imagination,  you  will  find  the  finest  coloring,  faithful  portraits,  and  splen- 
did descriptions.  If  you  want  feeling,  you  will  learn  how  skilfully  he  finds 
his  way  into  the  heart,  captivates,  subdues,  and  fashions  it  to  his  will.  Now 
he  strikes  a  salutary  fear  into  the  hardened  sinner,  tracing  with  great  force  the 
formidable  picture  of  the  divine  justice  and  the  eternal  vengeance ;  then  he 
consoles  and  sustains  the  man  who  is  sinking  under  worldly  adversity,  the  as- 
saults of  his  passions,  the  recollection  of  his  transgressions,  or  an  exaggerated 
fear  of  the  divine  justice.  Do  you  want  pathos  ?  Listen  to  his  colloquies  with 
Jesus  and  Mary;  hear  him  speaking  of  the  blessed  Virgin  with  such  enrap- 
turing sweetness,  that  he  seems  to  exhaust  all  the  epithets  that  the  liveliest 
hope  and  the  most  pure  and  tender  love  can  suggest.  Would  you  have  vigor 
and  vehemence  of  style,  and  that  irresistible  torrent  of  eloquence  which  no- 
thing can  resist,  which  carries  the  mind  beyond  itself,  fires  it  with  enthusiasm, 
compels  it  to  enter  upon  the  most  arduous  paths,  and  to  undertake  the  most 
heroic  enterprises  ?  See  him  with  his  burning  words  inflaming  the  zeal  of  the 
people,  nobles,  and  kings ;  moving  them  to  quit  their  homes,  to  take  up  arms, 
and  to  unite  in  numerous  armies  that  pour  into  Asia  to  rescue  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
This  extraordinary  man  is  every  where  met  with,  every  where  heard.  Entirely 
free  from  ambition,  he  possesses,  nevertheless,  a  leading  influence  in  the  great 
affairs  of  Europe :  though  fond  of  solitude  and  retirement,  he  is  continually 
obliged  to  quit  the  obscurity  of  the  cloister  to  assist  in  the  councils  of  kings 
and  popes.  He  never  flatters,  never  betrays  the  truth,  never  dissembles  the 
sacred  ardor  which  burns  within  his  breast;  and  yet  he  is  every  where  lis- 
tened to  with  profound  respect ;  his  stern  voice  is  heard  in  the  cottages  of  the 

52  2K 


410  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

poor  and  in  the  palaces  of  kings ;  he  admonishes  with  terrible  severity  the 
most  obscure  monk  and  the  Sovereign  Pontiff. 

In  the  midst  of  so  much  ardor  and  activity,  his  mind  loses  none  of  its 
clearness  or  precision.  Jlis  exposition  of  a  point  of  doctrine  is  remarkable 
for  ease  and  lucidity ;  his  demonstrations  are  vigorous  and  conclusive  ;  his  rea- 
soning is  conducted  with  a  force  of  logic  that  presses  close  upon  his  adversary, 
and  leaves  him  no  means  of  escape :  in  defence,  his  quickness  and  address  are 
surprising.  In  his  answers  he  is  clear  and  precise ;  in  repartee,  quick  and 
penetrating;  and  without  dealing  in  the  subtilties  of  the  schools,  he  displays 
wonderful  tact  in  disentangling  truth  from  error,  sound  reason  from  artifice  and 
fraud.  Here  is  a  man  formed  entirely  and  exclusively  under  the  influence  of 
Catholicity ;  a  man  who  never  strayed  from  the  pale  of  the  Church,  who  never 
dreamed  of  setting  his  intellect  free  from  the  yoke  of  authority ;  and  yet  he 
rises  like  a  mighty  pyramid  above  all  the  men  of  his  time. 

To  the  eternal  honor  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  utterly  to  disprove  the 
accusation  brought  against  her,  of  exerting  an  influence  hostile  to  the  freedom 
of  the  human  mind,  I  must  observe  that  St.  Bernard  was  not  the  only  man  who 
rose  superior  to  the  age,  and  pointed  out  the  way  to  genuine  progress.  It  is 
unquestionably  certain,  that  the  most  distinguished  men  of  that  period,  those 
least  influenced  by  the  evils  that  so  long  kept  the  human  mind  in  pursuit  of 
mere  vanities  and  shadows,  were  precisely  the  men  most  devotedly  attached  to 
'Catholicity.  These  men  set  an  example  of  what  was  necessary  to  be  done  for 
the  advancement  of  learning ;  an  example  that  for  a  long  time  had,  it  is  true, 
but  few  followers,  but  which  found  some  in  subsequent  ages  :  now  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  the  progress  of  learning  was  due  to  the  credit  obtained  by  this 
method — I  speak  of  the  study  of  antiquity. 

The  sacred  sciences  were  the  chief  object  of  attention  at  this  period;  as  the 
intellect  was  theologically  developed,  dialectics  and  metaphysics  were  studied 
with  a  view  to  their  application  to  theology.  With  Roscelin,  Abelard,  Gilbert 
de  la  Poiree,  and  Amaury,  the  phrase  was :  "  Let  us  reason,  subtilise,  and 
apply  our  systems  to  all  sorts  of  questions ;  let  our  reason  be  our  rule  and 
guide,  without  which  knowledge  is  impossible."  With  St.  Bernard,  St.  An- 
selm,  Hugh  and  Richard  de  St.  Victor,  Peter  Lombard,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  : 
"  Let  us  see  what  antiquity  teaches ;  let  us  study  the  works  of  the  holy  Fa- 
thers ;  let  us  analyse  and  compare  their  texts ;  we  cannot  place  our  dependence 
exclusively  on  arguments,  which  are  sometime  dangerous  and  sometimes  futile." 
Which  of  these  two  judgments  has  been  actually  confirmed?  Which  of  these 
methods  was  adopted  when  real  progress  was  to  be  made  ?  Was  not  recourse 
had  to  an  unremitting  study  of  ancient  works  ?  Was  it  not  found  necessary 
to  throw  aside  the  cavils  of  the  dialecticians  ?  Protestants  themselves  boast 
of  having  taken  this  way ;  their  theologians  consider  it  an  honor  to  be  versed 
in  antiquity;  and  would  be  offended  if  treated  as  mere  dialecticians.  On  which 
side,  then,  was  reason  ?  With  the  heretics,  or  with  the  Church  ?  Who  best 
understood  the  method  most  favorable  to  intellectual  progress  ?  The  heretical 
dialectician,  or  the  orthodox  doctor  ?  To  these  questions  there  can  only  be  one 
reply.  These  are  not  mere  opinions — they  are  facts ;  not  an  empty  theory, 
but  the  actual  history  of  learning,  as  known  by  all  the  world,  and  as  represented 
to  us  in  irrefragable  documents.  Unless  prepossessed  by  the  authority  of  M. 
G-uizot,  the  reader  certainly  cannot  complain  that  I  have  eschewed  questions  of 
history,  or  claimed  his  belief  on  my  own  bare  word. 

Unhappily,  mankind  seemed  doomed  never  to  find  the  true  road  without 
going  a  long  way  round ;  thus  the  intellect,  taking  the  very  worst  way  of  all, 
went  in  pursuit  of  subtilties  and  cavils,  forsaking  the  beaten  track  of  reason 
and  good  sense.  At  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century  the  evil  had  reached 
to  such  a  height,  that  to  apply  a  remedy  was  no  slight  undertaking ;  nor  is  it 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH   CATHOLICITY.  411 

easy  to  say  how  far  matters  might  have  gone,  nor  what  evils  would  have  ensued 
in  various  ways,  had  not  Providence,  who  never  abandons  the  care  of  the  moral, 
any  more  than  of  the  physical  universe,  raised  up  an  extraordinary  genius,  who, 
rising  to  an  immense  height  above  the  men  of  his  age,  reduced  the  chaos  to 
order.  Out  of  the  undigested  mass,  by  retrenching  here,  adding  there,  clas- 
sifying and  explaining,  this  man  collected  a  fund  of  real  learning.  Persons  ac- 
quainted with  the  history  of  learning  at  that  time  will  readily  understand  that 
I  speak  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  Rightly  to  appreciate  the  extraordinary 
merit  of  this  great  Doctor,  we  must  view  him  in  connection  with  the  times  and 
circumstances  of  which  we  are  treating.  Beholding  in  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
one  of  the  most  luminous,  most  comprehensive,  and  most  penetrating  intellects 
that  have  ever  adorned  the  human  race,  we  are  almost  tempted  to  think  that 
his  appearance  in  the  thirteenth  century  was  inopportune ;  we  regret  that  he 
did  not  live  in  a  more  recent  age,  to  enter  the  lists  with  the  most  illustrious 
men  of  whom  modern  Europe  can  boast.  But,  upon  further  reflection,  we  find 
that  the  human  mind  owes  so  much  to  him,  we  see  so  clearly  the  reason  why 
his  appearance  at  the  time  when  Europe  received  his  lectures  was  most  oppor- 
tune, that  we  have  no  other  feeling  left  than  one  of  profound  admiration  of 
the  designs  of  Providence. 

What  was  the  philosophy  of  his  time  ?  Amidst  the  strange  compound  of 
Greek  and  Arabian  philosophy  and  of  Christian  ideas,  what  would  have  become 
of  dialectics,  metaphysics,  and  morality  ?  We  have  already  seen  what  sort  of 
fruit  began  to  grow  out  of  such  combinations,  favored  by  a  degree  of  ignorance 
unable  to  distinguish  the  real  nature  of  things,  and  encouraged  by  pride  that 
pretended  to  a  knowledge  of  every  thing.  And  yet  the  evil  was  only  begin- 
ning ;  its  further  development  would  have  been  attended  with  symptoms  still 
more  alarming.  Fortunately,  this  great  man  appeared;  the  first  touch  of  his 
powerful  hand  advanced  learning  two  or  three  centuries.  He  could  not  root 
out  the  evil,  but  at  least  he  applied  a  remedy ;  owing  to  his  indisputable  supe- 
riority, his  method  and  his  learning  soon  won  their  way  everywhere.  He 
became,  as  it  were,  the  centre  of  a  grand  system,  round  which  all  other  scho- 
lastic writers  were  forced  to  revolve ;  he  thus  prevented  a  multitude  of  errors 
that  without  his  intervention  would  have  been  almost  inevitable.  He  found 
the  schools  in  a  state  of  complete  anarchy ;  he  reduced  them  to  order ;  and  on 
account  of  his  angelic  intellect,  and  his  eminent  sanctity,  was  looked  up  to  as 
their  sublime  dictator.  This  is  the  view  I  take  of  the  mission  of  St.  Thomas ; 
it  will  be  viewed  in  the  same  light  by  all  those  who  study  his  works,  and  do 
not  content  themselves  with  a  hasty  perusal  of  a  biographical  article  respect- 
ing him. 

Now  this  man  was  a  Catholic,  and  the  Catholic  Church  venerates  him  upon 
her  altars,  and  I  do  not  see  that  his  mind  was  shackled  by  authority  in  mat- 
ters of  faith ;  it  goes  abroad  freely  amongst  all  the  branches  of  knowledge ;  he 
unites  in  his  person  such  extensive  and  profound,  acquirements  as  to  appear  a 
prodigy  for  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  We  observe  in  St.  Thomas,  notwith- 
standing the  purely  scholastic  method  which  he  adopted,  the  same  characteristic 
that  we  discover  in  all  the  eminent  Catholic  writers  of  the  times.  He  reasons 
much ;  but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  he  does  not  trust  entirely  to  his  reason,  but 
proceeds  with  that  wise  diffidence  which  is  an  unequivocal  sign  of  real  learning. 
He  avails  himself  of  the  doctrines  of  Aristotle  ;  but  evidently  would  have  made 
less  use  of  them,  and  more  of  the  Fathers,  but  for  his  leading  idea,  which  was, 
to  make  the  philosophy  of  his  time  subservient  to  the  defence  of  religion.  The 
reader  must  not  suppose  that  his  metaphysics  and  moral  philosophy  are  a  con- 
geries of  inexplicable  enigmas,  as  a  knowledge  of  the  period  at  which  he  wrote 
might  lead  us  to  apprehend.  Nothing  of  the  kind ;  and  any  one  who  entertains 
such  an  idea  has  evidently  not  spent  much  time  in  the  study  of  his  writings. 


412  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED   WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

His  metaphysical  works,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  make  us  perfectly  acquainted 
with  the  dominant  ideas  of  the  time  j  but  it  is  equally  undeniable,  that  in  every 
page  we  meet  with  the  most  luminous  passages  on  the  most  complicated  ques- 
tions of  ideology,  ontology,  cosmology,  and  psychology ;  so  much  so,  that  we 
almost  imagine  we  are  reading  the  works  of  a  philosopher  who  wrote  after  the 
fullest  development  of  the  sciences  had  been  attained. 

What  his  political  ideas  were,  we  have  already  seen ;  were  it  necessary,  and 
did  the  nature  of  the  present  work  permit,  I  might  here  produce  many  frag- 
ments from  his  Treatise  on  Laws  and  on  Justice,  distinguished  for  such  solid 
principles,  such  lofty  views,  so  profound  a  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  society, 
that  they  would  occupy  an  honorable  position  amongst  the  best  works  on  legis- 
lation written  in  modern  times.  His  treatises  on  virtues  and  vices,  whether 
considered  generally,  or  in  detail,  exhaust  the  subject,  and  defy  all  subsequent 
writers  to  produce  a  single  idea  of  any  importance  that  has  not  been  already 
either  developed,  or  at  least  suggested  in  them.  Above  all,  his  works  are 
remarkable  for  moderation  and  extreme  reserve  in  doctrinal  expositions,  in 
which  respect  they  are  eminently  conformable  to  the  spirit  of  Catholicity ;  and 
assuredly  if  all  writers  had  followed  in  his  footsteps,  the  field  of  science  would 
have  presented  us  with  an  assembly  of  sages,  and  would  not  have  been  con- 
verted into  a  blood-stained  arena  for  furious  combatants.  Such  is  his  modesty, 
that  he  does  not  relate  a  single  incident  in  his  life,  private  or  public ;  from 
him  we  hear  nothing  but  the  language  of  enlightened  reason,  calmly  dispensing 
its  treasures :  the  man,  with  his  fame,  his  misfortunes,  his  labors,  and  all  his 
vain  pretensions,  with  which  other  writers  are  wont  to  weary  us,  never  appears 
for  an  instant.  (41) 


CHAPTER  LXXIL 

ON  THE  PROGRESS  OP  THE  HUMAN  MIND  FROM  THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY  TO 

THE  PRESENT  TIME. 

I  THINK  I  have  satisfactorily  vindicated  the  Catholic  Church  from  the 
reproaches  cast  upon  her  by  her  enemies,  for  her  conduct  during  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries  in  reference  to  the  development  of  the  human  mind.  Let 
us  now  take  a  rapid  survey  of  the  march  of  intellect  up  to  our  own  times,  and 
see  what  titles  Protestantism  can  produce  to  the  gratitude  of  the  friends  of  pro- 
gress in  human  knowledge. 

If  I  mistake  not,  the  following  are  the  phases  through  which  the  human 
mind  has  passed,  since  the  revival  of  learning  in  the  eleventh  century.  First 
came  the  epoch  of  subtilties,  with  its  heaps  of  crude  erudition }  then  the  age  of 
criticism,  with  appropriate  attempts  at  grave  controversies  on  the  meaning  of 
records  and  monuments ;  and  finally  came  the  reflecting  age,  and  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  philosophical  period.  The  eleventh  and  succeeding  centuries,  to 
the  sixteenth,  were  characterized  by  a  fondness  for  dialectics  and  erudite 
trifles ;  criticism  and  controversy  formed  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  the 
sixteenth,  and  part  of  the  seventeenth  centuries;  the  philosophical  spirit  began 
to  prevail  towards  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth,  and  continued  to  our  own 
time.  Now  of  what  advantage  was  Protestantism  to  learning  ?  None ;  Pro- 
testantism found  learning  already  accumulated — this  I  can  easily  prove — 
Erasmus  and  Louis  Vives  shone  in  the  time  of  Luther. 

Did  Protestantism  promote  the  study  of  criticism  ?  Yes ;  just  as  an  epidemic 
that  decimates  nations  aids  the  progress  of  the  medicinal  art.  But  we  must 
not  suppose  that  the  taste  for  this  kind  of  literary  labor  would  not  have  been 
disseminated  without  the  aid  of  the  pseudo-Reformation.  As  monuments  came 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY.  413 

to  light,  as  a  knowledge  of  languages  became  more  general,  as  the  public 
acquired  clearer  and  more  correct  notions  of  history,  people  would  naturally 
set  themselves  to  discriminate  between  the  apocryphal  and  the  authentic.  The 
necessary  documents  were  at  hand,  and  were  studied  unremittingly ;  for  this 
was  the  favorite  taste  of  the  epoch.  Under  such  circumstances,  how  is  it  pos- 
sible there  should  have  existed  no  desire  to  examine  to  what  author,  and  to 
what  age,  such  documents  severally  belonged ;  to  investigate  how  far  ignorance 
or  dishonesty  had  falsified  them,  had  taken  from,  or  added  to  them  ?  On  this 
subject,  I  need  only  relate  what  took  place  relative  to  the  famous  decretals  of 
Isidore  Mercator.  These  decretals  had  been  received,  without  opposition, 
during  the  centuries  anterior  to  the  fifteenth,  owing  to  the  want  of  antiquarian 
and  critical  research ;  but  the  moment  that  knowledge  and  facts  began  to  accu- 
mulate, the  edifice  of  imposture  gave  way.  As  early  as  the  fifteenth  century, 
Cardinal  Cusa  challenged  the  authenticity  of  certain  decretals  that  had  been 
supposed  to  be  anterior  to  Pope  Siricius ;  and  the  reflections  of  the  learned 
Cardinal  led  the  way  to  other  attacks  of  a  similar  kind.  A  serious  discussion 
arose,  in  which  Protestants  naturally  took  part ;  but  it  would  unquestionably 
have  been  engaged  in  all  the  same,  if  Catholic  writers  had  been  left  entirely 
to  themselves.  When  the  learned  came  to  read  the  codes  of  Theodosius  and 
Justinian,  the  works  of  antiquity,  and  collections  of  ecclesiastical  records,  they 
could  not  possibly  fail  to  observe  that  the  spurious  decretals  contained  sen- 
tences and  fragments  belonging  to  an  era  posterior  to  the  time  to  which  they 
were  referred ;  and  when  once  such  doubts  had  arisen,  error  was  sure  to  be 
promptly  exposed. 

We  may  say  of  controversy,  what  we  have  just  said  of  criticism.  There 
would  have  been  no  want  of  controversy,  even  if  the  unity  of  the  faith  had 
never  been  violated.  In  support  of  this  assertion,  the  recollection  of  what 
occurred  amongst  the  different  schools  of  Catholics  is  quite  conclusive.  These 
schools  were  engaged  in  controversy  amongst  themselves,  in  the  presence  even 
of  the  common  opponent :  and  we  may  rest  assured  that,  if  their  attention  had 
not  been  partially  diverted  by  that  enemy,  their  polemical  discussions  would 
have  been  maintained  only  with  the  greater  energy  and  warmth.  Protestants 
have  no  more  the  advantage  over  Catholics,  as  regards  controversy  than  as 
regards  criticism.  However  true  it  be  that  some  of  our  theologians  did  not 
see  the  necessity  of  opposing  the  enemy  with  arms  superior  to  those  taken  from 
the  arsenal  of  Aristotelian  philosophy,  it  is  quite  certain  that  a  great  number 
of  them  took  up  a  sufficiently  lofty  position,  and  were  thoroughly  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  the  crisis,  and  urged  the  introduction  of  very  great 
modifications  into  the  course  of  theological  studies.  Bellarmin,  Melchior  Cano, 
Petau,  and  many  others,  were  no  way  inferior  to  the  most  skilful  Protestants, 
whatever  may  have  been  the  boasted  scientific  merits  of  the  defenders  of  error. 

The  knowledge  of  the  learned  languages  must  have  contributed  in  an  extra- 
ordinary degree  to  the  progress  of  critical  and  controversial  learning.  Now  I 
do  not  see  that  Catholics  were  behind  others  in  the  knowledge  of  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew.  Anthony  de  Nebrija,  Erasmus,  Louis  Vives,  Lawrence  Villa, 
Leonardus  Aretinus,  Cardinal  Bembo,  Sadolet,  Poggio,  Melchior  Cano,  and 
many  others,  too  numerous  to  mention ;  were  they,  I  ask,  trained  in  Protest- 
antism ?  Did  not  the  Popes,  moreover,  take  the  lead  in  this  literary  movement  ? 
Who  patronized  the  learned  with  greater  liberality  ?  Who  supplied  them  with 
more  abundant  resources  ?  Who  incurred  greater  expenses  in  the  purchase  of 
the  best  manuscripts  ?  Nor  let  it  be  forgotten,  that  such  was  the  taste  for  pure 
Latinity,  that  some  among  the  learned  objected  to  read  the  Vulgate,  for  fear 
of  acquiring  inelegant  phrases. 

As  regards  Greek,  we  need  only  bear  in  mind  the  causes  that  led  to  its  dif- 
fusion in  Europe,  to  be  convinced  that  the  progress  made  in  the  knowledge  of 

2K2 


414  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

this  language  owes  nothing  whatever  to  the  pseudo-Reformation.  It  is  well 
known  that,  after  the  taking  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks,  the  literary 
remains  of  that  unfortunate  nation  were  brought  to  the  coasts  of  Italy.  In 
Italy  the  study  of  Greek  was  first  seriously  commenced ;  from  .Italy  it  spread 
to  France,  and  to  the  other  European  states.  Half  a  century  before  the 
appearance  of  Protestantism,  this  language  was  taught  in  Paris  by  the  Italian 
Gregory  de  Tiferno.  At  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  and  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth centuries,  Germany  itself  could  boast  of  the  celebrated  John  Reuchlin, 
who  taught  Greek  with  great  applause,  first  at  Orleans  and  Poictiers,  and  after- 
wards at  Ingolstadt.  Reuchlin,  being  on  one  occasion' at  Rome,  so  felicitously 
explained,  and  read  with  so  pure  an  accent,  a  passage  from  Thucydides,  in  the 
presence  of  Argyropilus,  that  the  latter,  filled  with  admiration,  exclaimed : 
"  Grcecia  nostra  exilio  transvolavit  Alpes;  our  exiled  Greece  has  crossed  the 
Alps." 

Respecting  Hebrew,  I  will  transcribe  a  passage  from  the  Abbe  Goujet : 
"  Protestants,"  says  he,  "  would  fain  have  it  thought  that  they  effected  the 
revival  of  this  language  in  Europe ;  but  they  are  forced  to  acknowledge,  that 
whatever  they  know  of  Hebrew  they  owe  to  the  Catholics,  who  were  their 
teachers,  and  the  sources  whence,  even  to  this  day,  is  obtained  all  that  is  most 
valuable  in  Oriental  literature.  John  Reuchlin,  who  lived  the  greater  part  of 
his  time  in  the  fifteenth  century,  was  unquestionably  a  Catholic,  and  one  of  the 
most  skilful  Hebrew  scholars,  and  was  also  the  first  Christian  who  reduced  the 
teaching  of  that  language  to  a  system.  John  Weissel  of  Groningen  had  taught 
him  the  elements  of  this  language,  and  had  himself  pupils  in  whom  he  had 
awakened  a  love  for  this  study.  In  like  manner,  it  was  by  the  exertions  of 
Picus  de  Mirandula,  who  was  a  strict  Catholic,  that  a  taste  for  the  study  of 
Hebrew  was  revived  in  the  West.  At  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  most 
of  the  heretics  who  then  knew  that  language  had  learned  it  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Church  they  had  forsaken ;  and  their  vain  subtilties  respecting  the  meaning  of 
the  sacred  text  excited  the  faithful  to  still  greater  assiduity  in  the  study  of  a 
language  so  well  calculated  to  insure  their  own  triumph  and  the  defeat  of  their 
opponents.  In  devoting  themselves  to  this  branch  of  study,  moreover,  they 
were  only  following  out  the  intentions  of  Pope  Clement  V.,  who,  as  early  as 
the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  had  ordained  that  Greek,  and  Hebrew, 
and  even  Arabic  and  Chaldean,  should  be  publicly  taught,  for  the  benefit  of 
foreigners,  at  Rome,  at  Paris,  at  Oxford,  at  Bologna,  and  at  Salamanca.  The 
design  of  this  Pope,  who  so  well  knew  the  advantages  resulting  from  well-con- 
ducted studies,  was,  to  augment  the  learning,  of  the  Church  by  the  study  of 
languages,  and  to  raise  up  doctors  capable  of  defending  her  against  every  form 
of  error.  By  means  of  these  languages,  and  more  especially  of  Hebrew,  he 
intended  to  renew  the  study  of  the  sacred  books,  that  the  latter,  when  read  in 
the  original,  might  appear  more  worthy  of  the  Holy  Spirit  who  inspired  them, 
and  by  their  combined  grandeur  and  simplicity,  when  better  known,  awaken 
greater  reverence  for  them ;  and  that,  without  derogating  from  the  respect  due 
to  the  Latin  version,  it  might  be  felt  that  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
originals  was  peculiarly  serviceable  in  confirming  the  faith  of  believers,  and 
confuting  heretics."  (I/ Abbe  Goujet,  Discours  sur  le  renouvellemcnt  des 
Etudes,  et  principalement  des  Etudes  ecclesiastiques  depuis  le  quatorzieme  siecle.} 

One  of  the  causes  which  contributed  the  most  to  the  development  of  the 
human  mind  was  the  creation  of  great  centres  of  instruction,  collecting  the 
most  illustrious  talents  and  learning,  and  diffusing  rays  of  light  in  all  direc- 
tions. I  know  not  how  men  could  forget  that  this  idea  was  not  due  to  the  pre- 
tended Reformation,  seeing  that  most  of  the  universities  of  Europe  were  estab- 
lished long  before  the  birth  of  Luther.  That  of  Oxford  was  established  in  895; 
Cambridge  in  1280 ;  that  of  Prague,  in  Bohemia,  in  1358 ;  that  of  Louvain,  in 


PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY.  415 

Belgium,  in  1425 ;  that  of  Vienna,  in  Austria,  in  1365 ;  that  of  Ingolstadt,  in 
Germany,  in  1372 ;  that  of  Leipsic  in  1408 ;  that  of  Basle,  in  Switzerland,  in 
1469  ;  that  of  Salamanca  in  1200 ;  that  of  Alcala  in  1517.  It  would  be  super- 
fluous to  notice  the  antiquity  of  the  universities  of  Paris,  of  Bologna,  of  Fer- 
rara,  and  of  a  great  many  others,  which  attained  the  highest  renown  long  before 
the  advent  of  Protestantism.  The  Popes,  it  is  well  known,  took  an  active  part 
in  the  establishment  of  universities,  granting  them  privileges,  and  bestowing, 
upon  them  the  highest  honors  and  distinctions.  How  can  any  one,  then,  ven- 
ture to  assert,  that  Rome  has  opposed  the  progress  of  learning  and  the  sciences, 
in  order  to  keep  the  people  in  darkness  and  ignorance  ?  As  if  Divine  Provi- 
dence had  intended  to  confound  these  future  calumniators  of  His  Church, 
Protestantism  made  its  appearance  precisely  at  the  time  when,  under  the 
auspices  of  a  renowned  Pope,  the  progress  in  the  science,  in  literature  and  the 
arts  was  most  active.  Posterity,  judging  of  our  disputes  with  impartiality, 
will  undoubtedly  pass  a  severe  sentence  upon  those  pretended  philosophers, 
who  are  constantly  endeavoring  to  prove  from  history,  that  Catholicity  has 
impeded  the  progress  of  the  human  mind,  and  that  scientific  progress  has  been 
all  owing  to  the  cry  of  liberty  raised  in  central  Germany.  Yes  ]  sensible  men 
in  future  ages,  like  those  of  our  own  times,  will  form  a  correct  judgment  upon 
this  subject,  when  they  reflect  that  Luther  began  to  propagate  his  errors  in  the 
age  of  Leo  X. 

Certainly,  the  court  of  Rome  could  not  at  that  time  be  reproached  with 
obscurantism.  Rome  was  at  the  head  of  all  progress,  which  she  urged  onwards 
with  the  most  active  zeal,  the  most  ardent  enthusiasm ;  so  much  so,  indeed, 
that  if  she  were  censurable  at  all — if  there  were  in  her  conduct  any  thing  of 
which  history  should  disapprove — it  was  rather  that  her  march  was  too  quick 
than  too  slow.  Had  another  St.  Bernard  addressed  Leo  X.,  he  would  assuredly 
not  have  blamed  him  for  abusing  his  authority  to  impede  the  march  of  the 
human  intellect  and  the  progress  of  learning.  "The  Reformation/'  says  M. 
de  Chateaubriand,  "  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  its  founder — a  coarse 
and  jealous  monk — declared  itself  the  enemy  of  the  arts.  By  prohibiting  the 
exercise  of  the  imaginative  faculties,  it  clipped  the  wings  of  genius,  and  made 
her  plod  on  foot.  It  raised  an  outcry  against  certain  alms  destined  for  the 
erection  of  the  basilica  of  St.  Peter  for  the  use  of  the  Christian  world.  Would 
the  Greeks  have  refused  the  assistance  solicited  from  their  piety  for  the  build- 
ing of  a  temple  to  Minerva  ?  Had  the  Reformation  been  completely  successful 
from  the  beginning,  it  would  have  established,  for  a  time  at  least,  another 
species  of  barbarism  :  viewing  as  superstition  the  pomp  of  divine  worship  j  as 
idolatry  the  chefs-d'oeuvre  of  sculpture,  of  architecture,  and  of  painting,  its  ten- 
dency was  to  annihilate  lofty  eloquence  and  sublime  poetry — to  degrade  taste, 
by  repudiating  its  models — to  introduce  a  dry,,  cold,  and  captious  formality  into 
the  operations  of  the  mind — to  substitute  in  society  affectation  and  materialism 
in  lieu  of  ingenuousness  and  intellectuality,  and  to  make  machinery  take  the 
place  of  manual  and  mental  operations.  These  are  truths  confirmed  by  every- 
day experience. 

"Amongst  the  various  branches  of  the  reformed  religion,  their  approxima- 
tion to  the  beautiful  and  sublime  is  always  found  to  be  proportioned  to  the 
amount  of  Catholic  truth  they  have  retained.  In  England,  where  an  eccle- 
siastical hierarchy  has  been  upheld,  literature  has  had  its  classic  era.  Luther- 
anism  preserves  some  sparks  of  imagination,  which  Calvinism  aims  at  utterly 
extinguishing  j  and  so  on,  till  we  come  to  Quakerism,  which  would  reduce 
social  life  to  unpolished  manners  and  the  practice  of  trades.  -Shakspeare,  in 
all  probability,  was  a  Catholic ;  Milton  has  evidently  imitated  some  parts  of 
the  poems  of  St.  Avitus  and  Masenius ;  Klopstock  has  borrowed  very  largely 
from  the  faith  of  Rome.  In  our  own  days,  in  Germany,  the  high  imaginative 


416  PROTESTANTISM   COMPARED   WITH   CATHOLICITY. 

powers  have  been  put  forth  only  when  the  spirit  of  Protestantism  had  begun 
to  decline.  It  was  in  treating  Catholic  subjects  that  the  genius  of  Goethe  and 
Schiller  was  manifested ;  Rousseau  and  Madame  de  Stae'l  are,  indeed,  illus- 
trious exceptions  to  this  rule ;  but  were  they  Protestants  after  the  model  of 
the  first  disciples  of  Calvin  ?  At  this  very  day,  painters,  architects,  and  sculp- 
tors, of  all  the  conflicting  creeds,  go  to  seek  inspiration  at  Rome,  where  they 
find  universal  toleration.  Europe,  nay,  the  whole  world,  is  covered  with  monu- 
ments of  the  Catholic  religion.  To  it  we  are  indebted  for  that  Gothic  archi- 
tecture, which  rivals  in  its  details,  and  eclipses  in  its  magnificence,  the  monu- 
ments of  Greece.  It  is  now  three  centuries  since  Protestantism  arose, — it  is 
powerful  in  England,  in  Germany,  in  America, — it  is  professed  by  millions  of 
men, — and  what  has  it  erected  ?  It  can  show  only  the  ruins  it  has  made ;  on 
which  perhaps,  it  has  planted  gardens  or  built  factories.  Rebelling  against  the 
authority  of  tradition,  the  experience  of  centuries,  and  the  venerable  wisdom 
of  ages,  Protestantism  let  go  its  hold  on  the  past,  and  planted  a  society  with- 
out roots.  Acknowledging  for  their  founder  a  German  monk  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  reformers  renounced  the  wonderful  genealogy  that  unites  Catho- 
lics, through  a  succession  of  great  and  holy  men,  with  Jesus  Christ  Himself, 
and,  through  Him,  with  the  patriarchs  and  the  earliest  of  mankind.  The  Pro- 
testant era,  from  the  first  hours  of  its  existence,  refused  all  relationship  with 
the  era  of  that  Leo  who  protected  the  civilized  world  against  Attila,  and  also 
with  the  era  of  that  other  Leo,  at  whose  coming  barbarism  vanished,  and 
society,  now  no  longer  in  need  of  defence,  put  on  the  ornaments  of  civiliza- 
tion." (Etud.  Histor.,  Francois  I.) 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  author  of  such  noble  sentiments,  who  so 
accurately  describes  the  effects  of  Protestantism  on  literature  and  the  arts, 
should  have  said,  that  "  the  Reformation  was,  properly  speaking,  philosophic 
truth,  under  the  guise  of  Christianity,  attacking  religious  truth/'  (Etud. 
ffistor.,  Preface.)  What  is  the  meaning  of  these  words  ?  We  shall  best  un- 
derstand them  from  the  illustrious  author's  own  explanation.  "  Religious 
truth/'  says  he,  "  is  the  knowledge  of  one  God  manifested  in  a  form  of  worship. 
Philosophic  truth  is  the  threefold  knowledge  of  things  intellectual,  moral,  and 
natural."  (Etud.  Histor.,  Exposition.)  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  any 
one  who  admits  the  truth  of  the  Catholic  religion,  and,  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence, the  falsehood  of  Protestantism,  can  define  the  latter  to  be,  philoso- 
phic truth  at  war  with  religious  truth.  In  the  natural,  as  well  as  in  the  super- 
natural, order  of  things,  in  philosophy  as  in  religion,  all  truths  come  from 
God,  all  end  in  Him.  There  cannot,  therefore,  be  any  antagonism  between 
truths  of  one  order  and  truths  of  another  order ;  between  religious  and  true 
philosophy,  between  nature  and  grace,  no  antagonism  is  possible.  Truth  is 
that  which  is  ;  for  truth  resides  in  beings  themselves  ;  we  should  rather  say, 
it  consists  of  beings  themselves  such  as  they  exist,  such  as  they  are  in  their 
substance ;  and  hence  it  is  quite  incorrect  to  say  that  philosophic  truth  has 
ever  stood  in  antagonism  to  religious  truth. 

According  to  the  same  author  "  Philosophic  truth  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  the  independence  of  the  human  mind ;  its  tendency  being  to  make  dis- 
coveries, and  lead  to  perfection  in  the  three  sciences  that  come  within  its  sphere, 
viz.  the  intellectual,  the  moral,  and  the  natural.  But  philosophic  truth,"  he 
continues,  "  looking  forwards  to  the  future,  has  stood  in  opposition  to  religious 
truth,  which  adheres  to  the  past,  owing  to  the  immovable  nature  of  the  eternal 
principle  upon  which  it  is  founded."  (Etud.  Histor.,  Exposition.)  With  all 
the  respect  due  to  the  immortal  author  of  the  Genie  du  Christiamsme  and  of 
the  Martyrs,  I  must  take  the  liberty  to  observe,  that  we  find  here  a  lamentable 
confusion  of  ideas.  The  philosophic  truth  of  which  M.  de  Chateaubriand  here 
treats,  must  be  either  science  itself,  considered  as  an  aggregate  of  truths,  or  a 


PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY.  417 

general  knowledge,  in  which  truth  and  error  are  commingled ;  or,  in  fine,  the 
whole  body  of  men  of  learning,  considered  as  constituting  a  very  influential 
class  in  society.  In  the  first  case,  it  is  impossible  for  philosophic  truth  to  be 
in  antagonism  to  religious  truth, — that  is,  to  Catholicity ;  in  the  second  case, 
the  alleged  opposition  is  nothing  extraordinary,  for  error  being  in  this  case 
mixed  up  with  truth,  will  on  some  points  be  found  to  be  opposed  to  Catholic 
faith ;  and,  finally,  as  regards  the  third  hypothesis,  it  is  unfortunately  too  true, 
that  many  men,  distinguished  by  their  talents  and  erudition,  have  been  opposed 
to  Catholicity ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  as  great  a  number  of  men  equally 
eminent  have  triumphantly  maintained  the  truth  of  Catholicity ;  hence  it  would 
be  extremely  illogical  to  affirm  that  philosophic  truth,  even  in  this  sense,  is  op- 
posed to  religious  truth. 

It  is  not  my  wish  to  give  an  unfavorable  interpretation  to  the  words  of  the 
illustrious  writer j  I  rather  incline  to  think,  that,  in  his  mind,  philosophic  truth 
is  nothing  but  a  spirit  of  independence  considered  in  a  general,  vague,  and  un- 
defined sense,  and  not  as  applied  to  any  object  in  particular.  This  is  the  only 
way  to  reconcile  assertions  so  different  j  for  it  is  quite  clear,  that,  after  he  had 
so  severely  condemned  the  Protestant  Reformation,  the  writer  could  not  pro- 
ceed to  admit  that  this  same  Reformation  carried  with  it  philosophic  truth, 
properly  so  called,  wherein  it  became  opposed  to  Catholic  doctrines.  But,  in 
this  case,  the  language  of  the  illustrious  author  is  unquestionably  wanting  in 
precision ;  this,  however,  need  not  surprise  us,  as,  upon  reflection,  we  shall  find 
that,  in  treating  historico-philosophical  subjects,  precision  is  not  to  be  expected 
from  writers  whose  genius  has  been  wont  to  soar  into  the  highest  regions  on 
the  wings  of  a  sublime  poetry. 

It  was  not  either  in  Germany  or  in  England,  but  in  Catholic  France,  that 
the  philosophical  movement  advanced  with  the  greatest  freedom  and  daring. 
Descartes,  the  founder  of  a  new  era  in  philosophy,  that  superseded  the  Aris- 
totelian, and  gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  study  of  logic,  of  physics,  and  meta- 
physics, was  a  Frenchman  and  a  Catholic.  The  greater  part  of  his  most  dis- 
tinguished followers  were  also  in  communion  with  the  Roman  Church.  Philo- 
sophy, then,  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word,  owes  nothing  to  Protestantism. 
Before  Leibnitz,  G-ermany  could  scarcely  reckon  a  single  philosopher  of  any  note ; 
and  the  English  shools  that  attained  to  any  thing  like  celebrity  arose  after 
Descartes'  time.  We  shall  find,  upon  reflection,  that  France  was  the  centre  of 
the  philosophical  movement  from  the  end  bf  the  sixteenth  century ;  and  at 
that  period  all  the  Protestant  countries  were  so  backward  in  this  kind  of  study, 
that  the  active  progress  of  philosophy  amongst  the  Catholics  was  scarcely  no- 
ticed by  them.  In  like  manner,  it  was  in  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic  Church 
that  the  taste  arose  for  profound  meditations  on  the  secrets  of  the  heart,  and 
on  the  relations  of  the  human  mind  to  God  and  nature,  and  that  sublime  ab- 
straction which  concentrates  man's  faculties,  sets  him  free  from  the  body,  and 
elevates  him  to  those  exalted  regions  that  appear  destined  to  be  visited  ex- 
clusively by  celestial  spirits.  Is  not  mysticism,  in  its  pursest,  most  refined, 
and  most  elevated  form,  found  in  our  Catholic  writers  of  the  golden  age  ?  Since 
that  time,  what  has  been  published  that  may  not  be  met  with  in  the  works  of 
St.  Teresa,  in  those  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  in  the  venerable  Avilar  in  Louis 
de  Grenada,  and  in  Louis  de  Leon  ? 

And  Pascal,  that  man  of  thought,  one  of  the  most  vigorous  geniuses  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  who  was  unhappily  deceived  for  some  time  by  a  hypocri- 
tical and  canting  sect,  was  he  a  Protestant  ?  Was  it  not  he  who  laid  the  basis 
of  that  philosophico-religious  school,  whose  investigations,  directed  at  one  time 
to  the  deepest  questions  of  religion,  at  another  to  those  of  nature,  or  to  the 
mysteries  of  the  human  heart,  have  surrounded  truth  with  a  flood  of  light  ? 
Do  not  the  apologists  of  Christianity,  whether  Protestants  or  Catholics,  when 
53 


418  PROTESTANTISM  COMPARED  WITH  CATHOLICITY. 

engaged  in  combating  indifference  or  incredulity,  avail  themselves  by  prefer- 
ence of  his  Pemees?  Authors  who  have  written  on  the  philosophy  of  history 
have  perhaps  surpassed  all  others  in  their  eagerness  to  vilify  the  Church  as  the 
enemy  of  enlightenment,  whilst  they  represent  Protestantism  as  the  great  bul- 
wark of  the  rights  of  the  mind.  Now,  gratitude  alone  should  have  induced 
them  to  proceed  more  circumspectly ;  they  should  not  forget  that  the  real 
founder  of  the  philosophy  of  history  was  a  Catholic,  and  that  the  first  and 
best  work  ever  written  on  this  subject  came  from  the  pen  of  a  Catholic  Bishop. 
It  was  Bossuet,  in  his  immortal  Discours  sur  V  Histoire  Universelle,  who  first 
taught  our  modern  thinkers  to  take  a  lofty  survey  of  the  human  race ;  to  em- 
brace at  one  view  all  the  events  that  have  marked  the  course  of  ages,  contem- 
plating them  in  all  their  vastness  and  intimate  connection,  with  all  their  phases, 
effects,  and  causes,  and  to  draw  from  them  salutary  lessons  for  the  instruction 
both  of  princes  and  people.  Now,  Bossuet  was  a  Catholic,  and,  moreover,  one 
of  the  most  trenchant  adversaries  of  the  Protestant  Reformation.  His  fame 
is  heightened  too  by  another  work,  in  which  he  completely  overthrows  the  doc- 
trines of  the  innovators,  by  proving  their  continual  variations,  and  demonstrat- 
ing that  theirs  must  be  the  way  of  error,  seeing  that  variation  is  incompatible 
with  truth.  We  may  ask  the  abettors  of  Protestantism,  if  the  Eagle  of  Meaux 
feels  in  his  flight  the  fetters  of  the  Catholic  religion,  when,  glancing  at  the 
origin  and  destiny  of  mankind,  at  the  fall  of  our  first  parents  and  its  conse- 
quences, on  the  revolutions  of  the  East  and  West,  he  traces  with  such  wonder- 
ful sublimity  the  designs  of  Divine  Providence  ? 

As  regards  the  literary  movement,  I  might  almost  consider  myself  relieved 
from  all  necessity  of  combating  the  reproaches  cast  upon  Catholicity  by  its 
enemies.  What,  in  fact,  was  the  literature  of  all  the  Protestant  countries 
together,  at  the  time  when  Italy  produced  those  orators  and  poets,  who,  in  suc- 
ceeding ages,  have  been  universally  received  as  models  ?  Various  descriptions 
of  literature  were  already  quite  common  in  Catholic  countries,  that  were  not 
even  known  in  England  or  Germany ;  and  when,  at  a  later  period,  an  attempt 
was  made  to  fill  up  the  hiatus,  no  better  means  could  be  found  for  the  purpose 
than  to  take  for  models  the  Spanish  writers,  who  had  been  subject  to  Catholic 
obscurantism  and  the  fires  of  the  Inquisition. 

Neither  the  mind,  the  heart,  nor  the  imagination  of  man  owes  any  thing  to 
Protestantism.  Before  the  Reformation  these  were  all  in  graceful  and  vigorous 
progress ;  after  the  Reformation,  this  progress  continued  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Catholic  Church  as  successfully  as  before.  Catholicity  displays  a  bright  array 
of  illustrious  men  crowned  with  the  glories  they  have  won  amidst  the  unani- 
mous plaudits  of  all  civilized  nations.  Whatever  has  been  said  of  the  tendency 
of  our  religion  to  enslave  and  hoodwink  the  mind,  is  but  calumny.  No ;  that 
which  is  born  of  light,  cannot  produce  darkness ;  that  which  is  the  work  of 
truth  itself,  need  not  fly  from  the  sun's  rays  to  conceal  itself  in  the  bowels  of 
the  earth.  The  daughter  of  heaven  may  walk  in  the  brightness  of  day,  may 
dare  discussion,  may  gather  around  her  all  the  brightest  intellects ;  well  assured 
that  the  more  closely  and  attentively  they  see  and  contemplate  her,  the  more 
pure,  the  more  beauteous  and  enrapturing  will  she  appear. 


419 
CHAPTER   LXXIH. 

SUMMARY.      DECLARATION   OP   THE  AUTHOR. 

HAVING  reached  the  end  of  my  difficult  enterprise,  let  me  be  allowed  to  take 
a  retrospective  view  of  the  vast  space  over  which  I  have  but  just  passed,  like 
the  traveller  who  rests  after  his  labor.  The  fear  of  seeing  religious  schism 
introduced  into  my  country ;  the  sight  of  the  efforts  which  were  made  to  incul- 
cate Protestant  errors  amongst  us ;  the  perusal  of  certain  writings,  wherein  it 
was  stated  that  the  pretended  Reformation  had  been  favorable  to  the  progress 
of  nations, — such  were  the  motives  which  inspired  me  with  the  idea  of  under- 
taking this  work.  My  object  was,  to  show  that  neither  individuals  nor  society 
owe  any  thing  to  Protestantism,  either  in  a  religious,  social,  political,  or  lite- 
rary point  of  view.  I  undertook  to  examine  what  history  tells  us,  and  what 
philosophy  teaches  us,  on  this  point.  I  was  not  ignorant  of  the  immense  extent 
of  the  questions  which  I  had  to  enter  upon ;  I  was  far  from  flattering  myself 
that  I  was  able  to  clear  them  up  in  a  becoming  manner;  nevertheless  I  set  forth 
upon  my  journey,  with  that  courage  which  is  inspired  by  the  love  of  truth,  and 
the  confidence  that  one  is  defending  its  cause. 

When  considering  the  birth  of  Protestantism,  I  have  endeavored  to  take  as 
lofty  a  view  as  possible.  I  have  rendered  to  men  that  justice  which  is  due  to 
them ;  I  have  attributed  a  large  portion  of  the  evil  to  the  wretched  condition 
of  mankind,  to  the  weakness  of  our  minds,  and  to  that  inheritance  of  perverse- 
ness  and  ignorance  which  has  been  transmitted  to  us  by  the  fall  of  our  first 
parent.  Luther,  Calvin,  and  Zuinglius  have  disappeared  from  my  eyes  \  placed 
in  the  immense  picture  of  events,  they  have  been  viewed  by  me  as  small 
imperceptible  figures,  whose  individuality  was  far  from  deserving  the  import- 
ance which  was  given  to  them  at  other  periods.  Honest  in  my  convictions, 
and  unreserved  in  my  words,  I  have  acknowledged  with  candor,  but  with  sor- 
row, that  there  existed  certain  abuses,  and  that  these  abuses  were  taken  as 
pretexts  when  it  was  wished  to  break  the  unity  of  the  faith.  I  have  allowed 
that  a  portion  of  the  blame  shall  also  fall  upon  men ;  but  I  have  also  pointed 
out,  that  the  more  you  here  lay  stress  upon  the  weakness  and  wickedness  of 
man,  the  more  do  you  illustrate  the  providence  of  Him  who  has  promised  to 
be  with  His  Church  till  the  consummation  of  ages. 

By  the  aid  of  reasoning  and  irrefragable  experience,  I  have  proved  that  the 
fundamental  dogmas  of  Protestantism  show  little  knowledge  of  the  human 
mind,  and  were  a  fruitful  source  of  errors  and  catastrophes.  Then,  turning 
my  attention  to  the  development  of  European  civilization,  I  have  made  a  con- 
tinued comparison  between  Protestantism  and  Catholicity ;  and  I  believe  that 
I  may  assert,  that  I  have  not  hazarded  any  proposition  of  importance  without 
having  supported  it  by  the  evidence  of  historical  facts.  I  have  found  it  neces- 
sary to  take  a  survey  of  all  ages,  dating  from  the  commencement  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  to  observe  the  different  phases  under  which  civilization  has 
appeared ;  without  this,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  give  a  complete  vin- 
dication of  the  Catholic  religiom 

The  reader  may  have  observed  that  the  prevailing  idea  of  the  work  is  this : 
"  Before  Protestantism  European  civilization  had  reached  all  the  development 
which  was  possible  for  it ;  Protestantism  perverted  the  course  of  civilization, 
and  produced  immense  evils  in  modern  society  j  the  progress  which  has  been 
made  since  Protestantism,  has  been  made  not  by  it,  but  in  spite  of  it."  I  have 
only  consulted  history,  and  I  have  taken  extreme  care  not  to  pervert  it ;  I  have 
borne  in  mind  this  passage  of  holy  writ :  "  Has  Grod,  then,  need  of  thy  false- 
hood ?"  The  documents  to  which  I  refer  are  there ;  they  are  to  be  found  in  all 
libraries,  ready  to  answer;  read  them,  and  judge  for  yourselves. 


420  PEOTESTANTISM    COMPARED    WITH    CATHOLICITY. 

I  am  not  aware,  in  the  multitude  of  questions  which  have  presented  them- 
selves to  me,  and  which  it  has  been  indispensable  for  me  to  examine,  that  I 
have  resolved  any  in  a  manner  not  in  conformity  with  the  dogmas  of  the  reli- 
gion which  I  was  desirous  of  defending.  I  am  not  aware  that,  in  any  passage 
of  my  book,  I  have  laid  down  erroneous  propositions,  or  expressed  myself  in 
ill-sounding  terms.  Before  publishing  my  work,  I  submitted  it  to  the  exami- 
nation of  ecclesiastical  authority ;  and  without  hesitation,  I  complied  with  the 
slightest  hint  on  its  part,  purifying,  correcting,  and  modifying  what  had  been 
pointed  out  as  worthy  of  purification,  correction,  or  modification.  Notwith- 
standing that,  I  submit  my  whole  work  to  the  judgment  of  the  Catholic, 
Apostolic,  and  Roman  Church ;  as  soon  as  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  the  Vicar 
of  Jesus  Christ  upon  earth,  shall  pronounce  sentence  against  any  one  of  my 
opinions,  I  will  hasten  to  declare  that  I  consider  that  opinion  erroneous,  and 
cease  to  profess  it. 


NOTES. 


NOTE  1,  p.  26. 

THE  History  of  the  Variations  is  one  of  those 
works  which  exhaust  their  subject,  and  which 
do  not  admit  of  reply  or  addition.  If  this  im- 
mortal chef-d'ceuvre  be  read  with  attention,  the 
cause  of  Protestantism,  with  respect  to  faith,  is 
forever  decided :  there  is  no  middle  way  left 
between  Catholicity  and  infidelity.  Gibbon 
read  it  in  his  youth,  and  he  became  a  Catholic, 
abandoning  the  Protestant  religion  in  which 
he  had  been  brought  up.  When,  at  a  later 
period,  he  left  the  Catholic  Church,  he  did  not 
become  a  Protestant,  but  an  unbeliever.  My 
readers  will  perhaps  like  to  learn  from  the 
mouth  of  this  famous  writer  what  he  thought 
of  the  work  of  Bossuet,  and  the  effect  which 
was  produced  on  him  by  its  perusal.  These 
are  his  words  :  "  In  the  History  of  the  Varia- 
tions, an  attack  equally  vigorous  and  well- 
directed,"  says  he,  "  Bossuet  shows,  by  a  happy 
mixture  of  reasoning  and  narration,  the  errors, 
mistakes,  uncertainties,  and  contradictions  of 
our  first  reformers,  whose  variations,  as  he 
learnedly  maintains,  bear  the  marks  of  error ; 
while  the  uninterrupted  unity  of  the  Catholic 
Church  is  a  sign  and  testimony  of  infallible 
truth.  I  read,  approved,  and  believed."  (Gib- 
bon's Memoirs.) 

NOTE  2,  p.  27. 

It  has  been  wished  to  represent  Luther  to  us 
as  a  man  of  lofty  ideas,  of  noble  and  generous 
feelings,  and  as  a  defender  of  the  rights  of  the 
human  race.  Yet  he  himself  has  left  us  in  his 
writings  the  most  striking  testimony  of  the 
violence  of  his  character,  of  his  disgusting 
rudeness,  and  his  savage  intolerance.  Henry 
VIIL,  king  of  England,  undertook  to  refute 
the  book  of  Luther  called  De  Captivitate  Baby- 
lonica  ;  and  behold  the  latter,  irritated  by  such 
boldness,  writes  to  the  king,  and  calls  him 
sacrilegious,  mad,  senseless,  the  grossest  of  all 
pigs  and  of  all  asses.  It  is  evident  that  Luther 
paid  but  little  regard  to  royalty ;  he  did  the 
same  with  respect  to  literary  merit.  Erasmus, 
who  was  perhaps  the  most  learned  man  of  his 
age,  or  who  at  least  surpassed  all  others  in  the 
variety  of  his  knowledge,  in  the  refinement  and 
eclat  of  his  mind,  was  not  better  treated  by  the 
furious  innovator,  in  spite  of  all  the  indulgence 
for  which  the  latter  was  indebted  to  him.  As 
soon  as  Luther  saw  that  Erasmus  did  not  think 
proper  to  be  enrolled  in  the  new  sect,  he  at- 
tacked him  with  so  much  violence,  that  the 
latter  complained  of  it,  saying,  "that  in  his 
old  age  he  was  compelled  to  contend  against  a 
savage  beast,  a  furious  wild  boar."  Luther 
did  not  confine  himself  to  mere  words;  he 
proceeded  to  acts.  It  was  at  his  instigation 
that  Carlostad  was  exiled  from  the  states  of 


the  Duke  of  Saxony,  and  was  reduced  to  such 
misery,  that  he  was  compelled  to  carry  wood, 
and  do  other  similar  things,  to  gain  his  liveli- 
hood. In  his  many  disputes  with  the  Zwing- 
lians,  Luther  did  not  belie  his  character;  he 
called  them  damned,  fools,  blasphemers.  As 
he  lavished  such  epithets  on  his  dissenting 
companions,  we  cannot  be  astonished  that  he 
called  the  doctors  of  Louvain  beasts,  pigs,  Pa- 
gans, Epicureans,  Atheists  ;  and  that  he  makes 
use  of  other  expressions  which  decency  will 
not  allow  us  to  cite ;  and  that,  launching  forth 
against  the  Pope,  he  says,  "  He  is  a  mad  wolf, 
against  whom  every  one  ought  to  take  arms,  with- 
out waiting  even  for  the  order  of  the  magistrates  ; 
in  this  matter  there  can  be  no  room  left  for  repent- 
ance,  except  for  not  having  been  able  to  bury 
the  sword  in  his  breast;"  adding,  "that  all 
those  who  followed  the  Pope  ought  to  be  pur- 
sued like  bandit-chiefs,  were  they  kings  or 
emperors."  Such  was  the  spirit  of  tolerance 
which  animated  Luther.  And  let  it  not  be 
imagined  that  this  intolerance  was  confined  to 
him ;  it  extended  to  all  the  party  of  the  inno- 
vators, and  its  efifects  were  cruelly  felt.  We 
have  an  unexceptionable  witness  of  this  truth 
in  Melancthon,  the  beloved  disciple  of  Luther, 
and  one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  that 
Protestantism  has  had.  "  I  find  myself  under 
such  oppression,"  wrote  Melancthon  to  his 
friend  Camerarius,  "  that  I  seem  to  be  in  the 
cave  of  the  Cyclops;  it  is  almost  impossible 
for  me  to  explain  to  you  my  troubles;  and 
every  moment  I  feel  myself  tempted  to  take 
flight."  "These  are,"  he  says,  in  another 
letter,  "  ignorant  men,  who  know  neither  piety 
nor  discipline ;  behold  what  they  are  who  com- 
mand, and  you  will  understand  that  I  am  like 
Daniel  in  the  lions'  den."  How,  then,  can  it 
be  maintained  that  such  an  enterprise  was 
guided  by  a  generous  idea,  and  that  it  was 
really  attempted  to  free  the  human  mind? 
The  intolerance  of  Calvin,  sufficiently  shown 
by  the  single  fact  mentioned  in  the  text,  is 
manifested  in  his  works  at  every  page,  by  the 
manner  in  which  he  treats  his  adversaries. 
Wicked  men,  rogues,  drunkards,  fools,  mad- 
men, furies,  beasts,  bulls,  pigs,  asses,  dogs,  and 
vile  slaves  of  Satan.  Such  are  the  polite  terms 
which  abound  in  the  writings  of  the  famous 
reformer.  And  how  many  wretched  things 
of  the  same  kind  could  I  not  relate,  if  I  did 
not  fear  to  disgust  my  readers ! 

NOTE  3,  p.  27. 

The  Diet  of  Spires  had  made  a  decree  con- 
cerning the  change  of  religion  and  worship; 
fourteen  towns  of  the  empire  refused  to  submit 
to  it,  and  presented  a  Protest;  hence  men  be- 
gan to  call  the  dissenters  Protestants.  As 
this  name  is  a  condemnation  of  the  separated 
churches,  they  have  several  times  attempted 


2L 


421 


422 


NOTES. 


to  assume  others,  but  always  in  vain  ;  the 
names  which  they  took  were  false,  and  false 
names  do  not  last.  What  was  their  meaning 
when  they  called  themselves  Evangelicals? 
That  they  adhered  to  the  Gospel  alone  ?  In 
that  case  they  ought  rather  to  call  themselves 
Biblicals ;  for  it  was  not  to  the  Gospel  that 
they  professed  to  adhere,  but  to  the  Bible. 
They  are  also  sometimes  called  Reformers; 
and  many  people  have  been  accustomed  to  call 
Protestantism,  reformation  ;  but  it  is  enough  to 
pronounce  this  word,  to  feel  how  inappropriate 
it  is ;  religious  revolution  would  be  much  more 
proper. 

NOTE  4,  p.  27. 

Count  de  Maistre,  in  his  work  Du  Pape,  has 
developed  this  question  of  names  in  an  inimi- 
table manner.  Among  his  numerous  observa- 
tions, there  is  one  very  just  one :  it  is,  that 
the  Catholic  Church  alone  has  a  positive  and 
proper  name,  which  she  gives  to  herself,  and 
which  is  given  to  her  by  the  whole  world.  The 
separated  Churches  have  invented  many,  but 
without  the  power  of  appropriating  them. — 
"Each  one  was  free  to  take  what  name  he 
pleased,"  says  M.  de  Maistre  j  "  Lais,  in  person, 
might  be  able  to  write  upon  her  door,  Hotel 
d'Artemise.  The  great  point  is,  to  compel 
others  to  give  us  a  particular  name,  which  is 
not  so  easy  as  to  take  it  of  our  own  authority." 

Moreover,  it  must  not  be  imagined  that 
Count  de  Maistre  was  the  inventor  of  this 
argument ;  a  long  time  before  him  St.  Jerome 
and  St.  Augustin  had  used  it.  "  If  you,"  says 
St.  Jerome,  "hear  them  called  Marcionites, 
Valentinians,  Montanists,  know  that  they  are 
not  the  Church  of  Christ,  but  the  synagogue 
of  Antichrist. — Si  audieris  nuncupari  Marci- 
onitas,  Yalentinianos,  Montanenses,  scito,  non 
Ecclesiam  Christi,  sed  Antichristi  esse  syna- 
gogam."  (Hieron.  lib.  Adversus  Luciferianos.) 
"  I  am  retained  in  the  Church,"  says  St.  Au- 
gustin, "  by  her  very  name  of  Catholic ;  for  it 
was  not  without  a  cause  that  she  alone,  amid 
so  many  heresies,  obtained  that  name.  All  the 
heretics  desire  to  be  called  Catholics  :  y  «•  t  if  a 
stranger  asks  them  which  is  the  church  of  the 
Catholics,  none  of  them  venture  to  point  out 
their  church  or  house. — Tenet  me  in  Ecclesia 
ipsum  Catholicae  nomen,  quod  non  sine  causa 
inter  tarn  multas  haereses,  sic  ipsa  sola  obtinu- 
it,  ut  cum  omnes  haeretici  se  Catholicos  dici 
velint,  quaerenti  tamen  peregrino  alicui,  ubi  ad 
Catholic-am  conveniatur,  nullus  haereticorum, 
vel  basilicam  suam  vel  domum  audeat  osten- 
dere."  (St.  Augustin.)  What  St.  Augustin 
observed  of  his  time  is  again  realized  with 
respect  to  the  Protestants.  I  appeal  to  the 
testimony  of  those  who  have  visited  the  coun- 
tries where  different  communions  exist.  An 
illustrious  Spaniard  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
who  had  lived  a  long  time  in  Germany,  tells 
us,  "  They  all  wish  to  be  called  Catholic  and 
Apostolical ;  but  notwithstanding  this  preten- 
sion, they  are  called  Lutherans,  or  Calvinists. 
— Singuli  volunt  Catholici  et  Apostolici,  sed 
volunt,  et  ab  aliis  non  hoc  praetenso  illis  no- 
mine, sed  Luterani  potius  aut  Calviniani  nomi- 
nantur."  (Caramuel.)  "  I  have  dwelt  in  the 
towns  of  heretics,"  continues  the  same  writer, 
"and  I  have  seen  with  my  eyes  and  heard  with 
my  ears  a  thing  on  which  the  heterodox  should 


reflect :  it  is,  that  with  the  exception  of  the  Pro- 
testant preacher,  and  a  few  others,  who  desire 
to  know  more  of  the  thing  than  is  necessary,  all 
the  crowd  of  heretics  gave  the  name  of  Catholics 
to  the  Romans. — Habitavi  in  haereticorum  civi- 
tatibus ;  et  hoc  propriis  oculis  vidi,  propriis 
audivi  auribus,  quod  deberet  ab  haeterodoxis 
ponderari,  prceter  prcedicantem,  et  pauculos  qui 
plus  sapiunt  quam  oportet  sapere,  totum  hcereti- 
corum  vulgus  Catholicos  vocat  Romanos."  Such 
is  the  force  of  truth.  The  ideologists  know 
well  that  these  phenomena  have  deep  causes, 
and  that  these  arguments  are  something  more 
than  subtilties. 


NOTE  5,  p.  38. 

So  much  has  been  said  of  abuses,  the  in- 
fluence which  they  may  have  had  on  the 
disasters  which  the  Church  suffered  during  the 
last  centuries  has  been  so  much  exaggerated, 
and  at  the  same  time  so  much  care  has  been 
taken,  by  hypocritical  praise,  to  exalt  the  purity 
of  manners  and  strictness  of  discipline  in  the 
primitive  Church,  that  some  people  have  at 
last  imagined  a  line  of  division  between  ancient 
and  modern  times.  These  persons  see  in  the 
early  times  only  truth  and  sanctity ;  they 
attribute  to  the  others  only  corruption  and 
falsehood;  as  if,  in  the  early  ages  of  the 
Church,  all  the  faithful  were  angels— as  if  the 
Church,  at  all  times,  had  not  errors  to  correct 
and  passions  to  control.  With  history  in  our 
hands,  it  would  be  easy  to  reduce  these  exag- 
gerated ideas  to  their  just  value,  to  which 
Erasmus  himself,  certainly  little  disposed  to 
exculpate  his  contemporaries,  does  justice.  He 
clearly  shows  us,  in  a  parallel  between  his 
own  times  and  those  of  the  early  ages  of  the 
Church,  how  puerile  and  ill-founded  was  the 
desire,  then  so  widely  diffused,  of  exalting 
antiquity  at  the  expense  of  the  present  time. 
We  find  a  fragment  of  this  parallel  in  the 
works  of  Marchetti,  among  his  observations 
on  Fleury's  history.  « 

It  would  not  be  less  curious  to  pass  in  review 
the  regulations  made  by  the  Church  to  check 
all  kinds  of  abuses.  The  collections  of  councils 
would  furnish  us  with  so  many  materials  there- 
upon, that  many  volumes  would  not  suffice  to 
make  them  known ;  or  rather,  these  collections 
themselves,  with  alarming  bulk,  from  one  end 
to  the  other,  are  nothing  but  an  evident  proof 
of  these  two  truths :  1st,  that  there  have  been 
at  all  times  many  abuses  to  be  corrected,  an 
effect,  in  some  measure  necessary,  of  the  weak- 
ness and  corruption  of  human  nature ;  2dly, 
that  at  all  periods  the  Church  has  labored  to 
correct  these  abuses,  so  that  it  may  be  affirmed 
without  hesitation,  that  you  cannot  point  out 
one  without  immediately  finding  a  canonical 
regulation  by  its  side  to  check  or  punish  it. 
These  observations  clearly  show  that  Protest- 
antism was  not  caused  by  abuses,  but  that  it 
was  a  great  calamity,  as  it  were,  rendered 
unavoidable  by  the  fickleness  of  the  human 
mind,  and  the  condition  in  which  society  was 
placed.  In  the  same  sense  Jesus  Christ  has 
said,  that  it  was  necessary  that  there  should  be 
scandal;  not  that  any  one  in  particular  is 
forced  to  give  it,  but  because  such  is  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  human  heart,  that  the  natural 
course  of  things  must  necessarily  bring  it 


NOTES. 


423 


NOTE  6,  p.  42. 

This  concert  and  unity,  which  are  found  in 
Catholicity,  are  things  which  ought  to  fill  every 
sensible  man  with  admiration  and  astonish- 
ment, whatever  his  religious  ideas  may  be. 
If  we  do  not  suppose  that  the  finger  of  God  is 
here,  how  can  we  explain  or  understand  the 
continuance  of  the  centre  of  unity  in  the  see 
of  Rome  ?  So  much  has  been  said  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  Pope,  that  it  is  very  difficult 
to  add  any  thing  new ;  but  perhaps  our  readers 
will  not  be  displeased  to  see  a  passage  of  St. 
Francis  de  Sales,  where  the  various  remarkable 
titles  given  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  and  to  his 
see,  by  the  Church  in  ancient  times,  are  col- 
lected. This  work  of  the  holy  Bishop  is  worthy 
of  being  introduced,  not  only  because  it  in- 
terests the  curiosity,  but  also  because  it  fur- 
nishes matter  for  grave  reflection,  which  we 
leave  to  the  reader. 

TITLES  OF  THE  POPE. 
Most  Holy  Bishop  of  the  Catholic  Church— Council 

of  Soissons,  of  300  Bishops. 
Most  Holy  and   Blessed  Patriarch  —  Ibid.,   t.   viL, 

Council. 

Most  Blessed  Lord— St.  Augustine,  Ep.  95. 
Universal  Patriarch— St.  Leo,  P.,  Ep.  62. 
Chief  of  the  Church  in  the  World— Innoc.  ad  P.  P. 

Concil.  Milevit. 
The  Bishop  elevated  to  the  Apostolic  eminence — St. 

Cyprian,  Kp.  3,  12. 

Father  of  Fathers— Council  of  Chalcedon,  Sess.  iii. 
Sovereign  Pontiff  of  Bishops--Id..  in  praef. 
Sovereign  Priest — Council  of  Chalcedon,  Sess.  xvi. 
Prince  of  Priests — Stephen,  Bishop  of  Carthxge. 
Prefect  of  the  House  of  God  and  Guardian  of  the 

Lord's   Vineyard— Council  of  Carthage,  Ep.  to 

Damasus. 
Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  Confirmer  of  the  Faith  of 

Christians — St.  Jerome,  prasf.  in  Evang.  ad  Da- 

masum. 
High-Priest  — Valentinlan,  and  all  antiquity  with 

him. 
The   Sovereign  Pontiff— Council  of  Chalcedon,  in 

Epist.  ad  Theodos.  Imper. 
The  Prince  of  Bishops— Ibid. 

The  Heir  of  the  Apostles— St.  Bern.,  lib.  de  Consid. 
Abraham  by  the  Patriarchate— St.   Ambrose,   in  1 

Tim   iii. 
Melchisedech   by  ordination — Council  of  Chalcedon, 

Epist.  ad  Leonem. 

Moses  by  authority — St.  Bernard,  Epist.  190. 
Samuel  by  jurisdiction— Id.  ib.,  et  in  lib.  de  Con- 
sider. 

Peter  by  power — Ibid. 
Christ  by  unction — Ibid. 
The  Shepherd  of  the  Fold  of  Jesus  Christ— Id.  lib 

ii.  de  Consider. 

Key- Hearer  of  the  House  of  God— Id.  ibid.  c.  viii. 
Th*  Shepherd  of  all  Shepherds— Ibid. 
The  Pontiff  called  to  the  plentitude  of  power — Ibid 
St.  Peter  was  the  Mouth  of  Jesus  Christ— St.  Chry- 

sost.  Horn,  ii.,  in  Div.  Serm. 
The   Mouth  and   Head  of   the  Apostleship — Orig., 

Horn.  Iv.  in  Matth. 
The  Cathedra  and  Principal  Church— St.  Cypr.,  Ep 

Iv.  ad  Cornel. 

The  Source  of  Sacerdotal  Unity— Id.,  Epist.  iii.  2. 
The  Bond  of  Unity— Id.  ibid.  iv.  2. 
The  Church  where  resides  the  chief  power    (potentior 

principalitas)—U.  ibid.  iii.  8. 
The  Church  the  Root  and  Mother  of  all  the  others— 

St.  Anaclet.  Papa,  Epist.  ad  omnes  Episc.  et 

Fideles. 
The  See  on  which  our  Lord  has  built  the  Universal 

Church— St  Damasus,  Epist.  ad  Univ.  Episcop. 
The  Cardinal  Point  and  Head  of  all   the  Churches— 

St.  Marcellinus,  R.  Epist.  ad  Episc.  Antioch. 
The   Refuge  of    Bishops— Cone.     Alex.,    Epist.    ad 

Felic.  P. 

The  Supreme  Apostolic  See— St.  Athanasius. 
The  Presiding  Church— Emperor  Justin,  in  lib.  viii. 

Cod.de  Sum.  Trinit. 


The  Supreme  See  which  cannot  be  judged  by  any 

other— St.  Leo,  in  Nat.  SS.  Apost. 
The  Church  set  over  and  preferred  to  all  the  others 

—Victor  d'Utiq,  in  lib.  de  Perfect. 
The  first  of  all  tUe  Sees— St.  Prosper,  in  lib.  de  In- 

grat. 
The  Apostolic    Fountain— St.  Ignatius,  Epist.  ad 

Rom.  in  Subscript. 
The  most  secure  Citadel  of  all  Catholic  Communion 

— Council  of  Rome  under  St.  Gelasius. 

NOTE  7,  p.  45. 

I  have  said  that  the  most  distinguished  Pro- 
testants have  felt  the  void  which  is  found  in 
all  sects  separated  from  the  Catholic  Church. 
I  am  about  to  give  proofs  of  this  assertion, 
which  perhaps  some  persons  may  consider  ha- 
zardous. Luther,  writing  to  Zwinglius,  said, 
If  the  world  lasts  for  a  long  time,  it  will  be 
again  necessary,  on  account  of  the  different 
interpretations  which  are  now  given  to  the 
Scriptures,  to  receive  the  decrees  of  Councils, 
and  take  refuge  in  them,  in  order  to  preserve 
the  unity  of  the  faith.— Si  diutius  steterit 
mundus,  iterum  erit  necessarium,  propter  di- 
versas  Scripturae  interpretationes  quae  nunc 
sunt,  ad  conservandam  fidei  unitatem,  ut  con- 
ciliorum  decreta  recipiamus,  atque  ad  ea  con- 
fugiamus." 

Melancthon,  deploring  the  fatal  results  of 
the  want  of  spiritual  jurisdiction,  said,  "  There 
will  result  from  it  a  liberty  useless  to  the 
world ;"  and  in  another  place  he  utters  these 
remarkable  words  :  "  There  are  required  in  the 
Church  inspectors,  to  maintain  order,  to  ob- 
serve attentively  those  who  are  called  to  the 
ecclesiastical  ministry,  to  watch  over  the  doc- 
trine of  priests,  and  pronounce  ecclesiastical 
judgments ;  so  that  if  bishops  did  not  exist, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  create  them.  The 
monarchy  of  the  Pope  would  be  of  great  utility 
to  preserve  among  such  various  nations  uniform- 
ity of  doctrine  " 

Let  us  hear  Calvin :  "  God  has  placed  the 
seat  of  his  worship  in  the  centre  of  the  earth, 
and  has  placed  there  only  one  Pontiff,  whom 
all  may  regard,  the  better  to  preserve  unity. — 
Cultus  sui  sedem  in  medio  terras  collocavit,  illi 
unum  Antisticem  praefecit,  quern  omnes  respi- 
cerent,  quo  melius  in  imitate  continerentur." — 
(Calvin,  Inst.  6,  g  US) 

"  I  have  also,"  says  Beza,  "  been  long  and 
greatly  tormented  by  the  same  thoughts  which 
you  describe  to  me.  I  see  our  people  wander 
at  the  mercy  of  every  wind  of  doctrine,  and 
after  having  been  raised  up,  fall  sometimes  on 
one  side,  and  sometimes  on  the  other.  What 
they  think  of  religion  to-day  you  may  know ; 
what  they  will  think  of  it  to-morrow  you  can- 
not affirm.  On  what  point  of  religion  are  the 
Churches  which  have  declared  war  against  the 
Pope  agreed  ?  Examine  all,  from  beginning  to 
end,  you  will  hardly  find  one  thing  affirmed  by 
the  one  which  the  other  does  not  directly  cry  out 
against  as  impiety. — Exercuerunt  me  diu  et 
inultum  illae  ipsae  quas  describis  cogitationes. 
Video  nostros  palantes  omni  doctrinae  vento, 
et  in  altum  sublatos,  modo  ad  hanc,  modo  ad 
illam  partem  deferri.  Horum,  quae  sit  hodie 
de  religione  sententia  scire  fortasse  possis  ;  sed 
quas  eras  de  eadem  futura  sit  opinio,  neque  tu 
certo  affirmare  queas.  In  quo  tandem  reli- 
gionis  capite  congruunt  inter  se  Ecclesiae,  quae 
Romano  Pontifici  bellum  indixerunt?  A  ca- 
pite ad  calcem  si  percurras  omnia,  nihil  prope- 


424 


NOTES. 


modum  reperias  ab  uno  affirmari,  quod  alter 
statim  non  impium  esse  clamitet."  (Th.  Bez. 
Epist.  ad  Andream  Dudit.) 

Grotius,  one  of  the  most  learned  of  Protest- 
ants, also  felt  the  weakness  of  the  foundation 
on  which  the  separated  sects  repose.  Many 
people  have  believed  that  he  died  a  Catholic. 
The  Protestants  accused  him  of  having  the 
intention  of  embracing  the  Roman  faith ;  and 
the  Catholics,  who  had  relations  with  him  at 
Paris,  thought  the  same  thing.  It  is  said  that 
the  celebrated  Petau,  the  friend  of  Grotius,  at 
the  news  of  his  death,  said  mass  for  him ;  an 
anecdote  the  truth  of  which  I  do  not  guaran- 
tee. It  is  certain  that  Grotius,  in  his  work 
entitled  De  Antichristo,  does  not  think,  with 
other  Protestants,  that  the  Pope  is  Antichrist. 
It  is  certain  that,  in  his  work  entitled  Votum 
pro  Pace  Ecclesice,  he  says,  without  circumlo- 
cution, "that  without  the  supremacy  of  the 
Pope,  it  is  impossible  to  put  an  end  to  dis- 
putes;" and  he  alleges  the  example  of  the 
Protestants  :  "  as  it  happens,"  says  he,  "  among 
the  Protestants."  It  is  certain  that,  in  his 
posthumous  work,  Rivetiani  Apologetici  Dis- 
cussio,  he  openly  lays  down  the  fundamental 
principle  of  Catholicity,  namely,  that  "the 
dogmas  of  faith  should  be  decided  by  tradition 
and  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  not  by 
the  holy  Scriptures  only." 

The  conversion  of  the  celebrated  Protestant 
Papin,  which  made  so  much  noise,  is  another 
proof  of  what  we  are  endeavoring  to  show. 
Papin  reflected  on  the  fundamental  principle 
of  Protestantism,  and  on  the  contradiction 
which  exists  between  this  principle  and  the 
intolerance  of  Protestants,  who,  relying  only 
on  private  judgment,  yet  have  recourse  to 
authority  for  self-preservation.  He  reasoned 
as  follows  :  "  If  the  principle  of  authority, 
which  they  attempt  to  adopt,  is  innocent  and 
legitimate,  it  condemns  their  origin,  wherein 
they  refused  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the 
Catholic  Church ;  but  if  the  principle  of  pri- 
vate judgment,  which  they  embraced  in  the 
beginning,  was  right  and  just,  this  is  enough 
to  condemn  the  principle  of  authority  invented 
by  them  for  the  purpose  -of  avoiding  its  ex- 
cesses ;  for  this  principle  opens  and  smooths 
the  way  to  the  greatest  disorders  of  impiety." 

Puffendorf,  who  will  certainly  not  be  accused 
of  coldness  when  attacking  Catholicity,  could 
not  help  paying  his  tribute  also  to  the  truth, 
when,  in  a  confession  for  which  all  Catholics 
ought  to  thank  him,  he  says,  "The  suppres- 
sion of  the  authority  of  the  Pope  has  sowed 
endless  germs  of  discord  in  the  world:  as 
there  is  no  longer  any  sovereign  authority  to 
terminate  the  disputes  which  arise  on  all  sides, 
we  have  seen  the  Protestants  split  among  them- 
selves, and  tear  their  bowels  with  their  own 
hands."  (Puffendorf,  de  Monarch.  Pont.  Ro- 
man.) 

Leibnitz,  that  great  man,  who,  according  to 
the  expression  of  Fontenelle,  advanced  all 
sciences,  also  acknowledged  the  weakness  of 
Protestantism,  and  the  organizing  power  which 
belongs  to  the  Catholic  Church.  We  know 
that,  far  from  participating  in  the  anger  of 
Protestants  against  the  Pope,  he  regarded  the 
religious  supremacy  of  Rome  with  the  most 
lively  sympathy.  He  openly  avows  the  supe- 
riority of  the  Catholic  over  the  Protestant  mis- 


sions; the  religious  communities  themselves, 
the  objects  of  so  much  aversion  to  so  many 
people,  were  to  him  highly  respectable.  These 
anticipations  with  respect  to  the  religious  ideas 
of  this  great  man  have  been  more  and  more 
confirmed  by  one  of  his  posthumous  works, 
published  for  the  first  time  at  Paris  in  1819. 
The  Exposition  of  the  Doctrine  of  Leibnitz  on 
Religion,  followed  by  Thoughts  extracted  from 
the  writings  of  the  same  Author,  by  M.  Emery, 
formerly  General  Superior  of  St.  Sulpice,  con- 
tains the  posthumous  work  of  Leibnitz,  where- 
of the  title,  in  the  original  manuscript,  is, 
Theological  System.  The  commencement  of 
this  work,  remarkable  for  its  seriousness  and 
simplicity,  is  certainly  worthy  of  the  great 
soul  of  this  distinguished  thinker.  It  is  this  : 
"After  having  long  and  profoundly  studied 
religious  controversies,  after  having  implored 
the  divine  assistance,  and  laid  aside,  as  far  as 
it  is  possible  for  man,  all  spirit  of  party,  I 
have  considered  myself  as  a  neophyte  come 
from  the  new  world,  and  one  who  had  not  yet 
embraced  an  opinion ;  behold,  therefore,  the 
conclusions  at  which  I  have  arrived,  and  what 
appeared  to  me,  out  of  all  that  I  have  exam- 
ined, worthy  to  be  received  by  all  unprejudiced 
men,  as  what  is  most  conformable  to  the  holy 
Scriptures  and  respectable  antiquity;  I  will 
even  say,  to  right  reason  and  the  most  certain 
historical  facts." 

Leibnitz  afterwards  lays  down  the  existence 
of  God,  the  Incarnation,  the  Trinity,  and  the 
other  dogmas  of  Christianity ;  he  adopts  with 
candor,  and  defends  with  much  learning,  the 
doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  on  tradition, 
the  sacraments,  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  the 
respect  paid  to  relics  and  holy  images,  the 
Church  hierarchy,  and  the  supremacy  of  the 
Pope.  He  adds,  "In  all  cases  which  do  not 
admit  the  delay  of  the  convocation  of  a  gen- 
eral Council,  or  which  do  not  deserve  to  be 
considered  therein,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
the  first  of  the  Bishops,  or  the  Sovereign 
Pontiff,  has  the  same  power  as  the  whole 
Church." 

NOTE  8,  p.  49. 

Some  persons  may  suppose  that  what  we 
have  said  with  respect  to  the  emptiness  of 
human  knowledge  and  the  weakness  of  our 
intellect,  has  been  said  only  for  the  purpose  of 
making  the  necessity  of  a  rule  in  matters  of 
faith  more  sensibly  felt.  It  is  not  so.  It 
would  be  easy  for  me  to  insert  here  a  long  list 
of  texts,  drawn  from  the  writings  of.  the  most 
illustrious  men  of  ancient  and  modern  times, 
who  have  insisted  upon  this  very  point.  I  will 
only  quote  here  an  excellent  passage  from  an 
illustrious  Spaniard,  one  of  the  greatest  men 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  Louis  Vives.  "Jam 
mens  ipsa,  suprema  animi  et  celsissima  pars, 
videbit  quantopere  sit  turn  natura  sua  tarda  ac 
prcepedita,  turn  tenebris  peccati  cceca,  et  a  doc- 
trina,  usu,  ac  solertia  imperita  et  rudis,  ut  ne 
ea  quidem  quce  videt,  quceque  manibus  contrectat, 
cujusmodi  sint,  aut  quidfiant  assequatur,  nedum 
ut  in  abdito  ilia  natures,  arcana  possit penetrare  / 
sapienterque  ab  Aristotele  ilia  est  posita  senten- 
tia :  Mentem  nostram  ad  manifestissima  naturae 
non  aliter  habere  se,  quam  noctuce  oculum  ad 
lumen  solis.  Ea  omnia,  quae  universum  homi- 


NOTES. 


425 


mum  genus  novit,  quota  sunt  pars  eorum  q 
ignoramus  ?  Nee  solum  id  in  universitate  ar- 
Uuni  est  verum,  sed  in  singulis  earum,  in 
quarum  nulla  tantum  est  humanUm  ingenium 
progressum,  ut  ad  medium  pervenerit,  etiam  in 
infimis  illis  ac  villissimis ;  ut  nihil  existimetur 
terius  esse  dictum  ab  Academicis  quam  Scire 
nihil."  (Ludovic.  Vives,  de  Concordia  et  Dis- 
cordia,  lib.  iv.  c.  iii.)  So  thought  this  great 
man,  who,  to  vast  erudition  in  sacred  and  pro 
fane  things,  added  profound  meditation  on  the 
human  intellect  itself;  who  followed  the  pro- 
gress of  the  sciences  with  an  observant  eye, 
and  undertook  to  regenerate  them,  as  his  writ- 
ings prove.  I  regret  that  I  cannot  copy  his 
words  at  length,  as  well  those  in  the  passage 
which  I  have  just  cited,  as  those  of  his  im- 
mortal work  on  the  causes  of  the  decline  of 
the  arts  and  sciences,  and  on  the  manner  of 
teaching  them.  If  any  one  complain  that  I 
have  told  some  truths  as  to  the  weakness  of 
our  minds,  and  fear  lest  this  should  impede  the 
progress  of  knowledge  by  checking  its  flights, 
I  will  remind  him  that  the  best  way  of  promot- 
ing the  progress  of  our  minds  is,  to  give  them 
a  knowledge  of  themselves.  On  this  point, 
the  profound  sentence  of  Seneca  may  be  quot- 
ed:  "I  know  that  many  persons  would  have 
attained  to  wisdom,  if  they  had  not  presumed 
that  they  already  possessed  it."  "  Puto  multos 
ad  sapientiam  protuisse  pervenire,  nisi  se  jam 
crederent  pervenisse." 

NOTE  9,  p.  53. 

Dense  clouds  surround  the  intellect  as  soon 
as  it  approaches  the  first  principles  of  the 
sciences.  I  have  said  that  even  the  mathe- 
matics, the  clearness  and  certainty  of  which 
have  become  proverbial,  are  not  exempted  from 
this  universal  rule.  The  infinitesimal  calcula- 
tion, which,  in  the  present  state  of  science, 
may  be  said  to  play  the  leading  part,  never- 
theless depends  on  a  few  ideas  which,  up  to 
this  time,  have  not  been  well  explained  by  any 
one — ideas  with  respect  to  limits.  I  do  not 
wish  to  throw  any  doubt  on  the  certainty  of 
this  calculation :  I  only  wish  to  show,  that,  if 
it  were  attempted  to  examine  the  ideas  which 
are  as  it  were  the  elements  of  it,  before  the 
tribunal  of  metaphysical  philosophy,  the  con- 
sequence would  be,  that  shades  would  be  cast 
upon  their  certainty.  Without  going  further 
than  the  elementary  part  of  science,  we  might 
discover  some  points  which  would  not  bear  a 
continued  metaphysical  and  ideological  analy- 
sis Without  injury :  a  thing  which  it  would  be 
very  easy  to  prove  by  example,  if  the  nature 
of  this  work  allowed  it.  We  may  recommend 
to  the  reader  on  this  subject,  the  valuable 
letter  addressed  by  the  Spanish  Jesuit,  Exim- 
eno,  a  distinguished  philosopher  and  mathe- 
matician, to  his  friend,  Juan  Andres ;  he  will 
there  find  some  appropriate  observations  made 
by  a  man  who  certainly  will  not  be  rejected  on 
the  ground  of  incompetency.  It  is  in  Latin, 
and  is  called  Epistola  ad  clarissimum  virum 
Joannem  Andresium. 

As  to  the  other  sciences,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  say  much  to  prove  that  their  first  principles 
are  surrounded  with  darkness ;  and  it  may  be 
said  that  the  brilliant  reveries  of  the  most 
illustrious  men  have  had  no  other  source  than 
this  very  obscurity.  Led  away  by  the  feeling 

54  2i.2 


of  their  own  strength,  these  men  pursued  truth 
even  to  the  abyss ;  there,  to  use  the  expression 
of  an  illustrious  contemporary  poet,  the  torch 
was  extinguished  in  their  hands;  lost  in  an 
obscure  labyrinth,  they  were  then  abandoned 
to  the  mercy  of  their  fancies  and  inspirations ; 
it  was  thus  that  reality  gave  place  to  the  beau- 
tiful dreams  of  their  genius. 

NOTE  10,  p.  54. 

Nothing  is  better  for  understanding  and  ex- 
plaining the  innate  ^weakness  of  the  human 
mind,  than  to  survey  the  history  of  heresies ; 
a  history  which  we  owe  to  the  Church,  to  the 
extreme  care  which  she  has  taken  to  define  and 
classify  errors.  From  Simon  Magus,  who  called 
himself  the  legislator  of  the  Jews,  the  reno- 
vator of  the  world,  and  the  paraclete,  while 
paying  a  worship  of  latria  to  his  mistress 
Helena,  under  the  name  of  Minerva,  down  to 
Hermann,  preaching  the  massacre  of  all  the 
priests  and  all  the  magistrates  of  the  world, 
and  affirming  that  he  was  the  real  son  of  God ; 
a  vast  picture,  very  unpleasant  to  behold,  I 
acknowledge,  if  it  were  only  on  account  of  the 
extravagances  with  which  it  abounds,  presents 
itself  to  the  observer,  and  suggests  to  him 
very  grave  and  profound  reflections  on  the 
real  character  of  the  human  mind ;  there  it  is 
easy  to  see  the  wisdom  of  Catholicity,  in  at- 
tempting, in  certain  cases,  to  subject  this  in- 
constant spirit  to  rule. 

NOTE  11,  p.  57. 

If  any  persons  find  difficulty  in  persuading 
themselves  that  illusion  and  fanaticism  are,  as 
it  were,  in  their  proper  element  among  Pro- 
testants, behold  the  irresistible   testimony  of 
facts  in   aid  of  our  assertion.     This   subject 
would  furnish  large  volumes;  but  I  must  be 
content  with   a  rapid  glance.     I  begin  with 
Luther.     Is  it  possible  to  carry  raving  further 
than  to  pretend  to  have  been  taught  by  the 
devil,  to  boast  of  it,  and  to  found  new  doc- 
trines on  so  powerful  an  authority  ?     Yet  this 
was  the  raving  of  Luther  himself,  the  founder 
of  Protestantism,  who  has  left  us  in  his  works 
the  evidence  of  his   interview  with   Satan. — 
Whether  the  apparition  was  real,  or  produced 
by  the  dreams  of  a  night  agitated  by  fever,  it 
is  impossible  to  carry  fanaticism  further  than 
to  boast  of  having  had  such  a  master.     Luther 
tells  us  himself  that  he  had  many  colloquies 
with  the  devil ;  but  what  is  above  all  worthy 
of  attention   is,  the   vision   in   which,  as   he 
relates  in  the  most  serious  manner,  Satan,  by 
his   arguments,   compelled    him   to   proscribe 
private  masses.     He  gives  us  a  lively  descrip- 
tion of  this  adventure.     He  wakes  in  the  mid- 
dle  of  the   night;  Satan   appears   to   him. — 
Luther  is  seized  with  horror;  he   sweats,  he 
trembles ;  his  heart  beats  in  a  fearful  manner. 
Nevertheless   the  discussion   begins,  and   the 
devil,  like  a  good   disputant,  presses  him  so 
lard  with  his  arguments,  that  he  leaves  him 
without  reply.     Luther  is  conquered;  which 
night  not  to  astonish  us,  since  he  tells  us  that 
;he  logic  of  the  devil  was  accompanied  by  a 
roice  so  alarming,  that  the  blood  froze  in  his 


eins.  "  I  then  understood,"  says  this  wretch- 
3d  being,  "  how  it  often  happens  that  people 
die  at  the  break  of  day  ;  it  is  because  the  deyil 


426 


NOTES. 


IB  able  to  kill  or  suffocate  men ;  and  without 
going  so  far  as  that,  when  he  disputes  with 
them,  he  places  them  in  such  embarrassment, 
that  he  can  thus  occasion  their  death.  I  have 
often  experienced  this  myself."  This  passage 
is  certainly  curious. 

The  phantom  which  appeared  to  Zwinglius, 
the  founder  of  Protestantism  in  Switzerland, 
affords  us  another  example  of  extravagance  no 
less  absurd.  This  heresiarch  wished  to  deny 
the  real  presence  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Eucha- 
rist; he  pretended  that  what  exists  under 
the  consecrated  species  is  only  a  sign.  As  the 
authority  of  the  sacred  text,  which  clearly  ex- 
presses the  contrary,  embarrassed  him,  behold, 
suddenly,  at  the  moment  when  he  imagined 
that  he  was  disputing  with  the  secretary  of  the 
town,  a  white  or  black  phantom,  so  he  tells  us 
himself,  appeared  to  him,  and  showed  him  a 
means.  This  pleasant  anecdote  we  have  from 
Zwinglius  himself. 

Who  does  not  regret  to  see  such  a  man  as 
Melancthon  also  given  up  to  the  prejudices  and 
manias  of  the  most  ridiculous  superstition, 
stupidly  credulous  with  respect  to  dreams,  ex- 
traordinary phenomena,  and  astrological  prog- 
nostics? Read  his  letters,  which  are  filled 
with  such  pitiful  things.  At  the  time  when 
the  diet  of  Augsburg  was  held,  Melancthon 
regarded  as  favourable  presages  for  the  new 
gospel  an  inundation  of  the  Tiber,  the  birth  at 
Rome  of  a  monstrous  mule  with  a  crane's  foot, 
and  that  of  a  calf  with  two  heads  in  the  terri- 
tory of  Augsburg, — events  which  to  him  were 
the  undoubted  announcements  of  a  change  in 
the  universe,  and  particularly  of  the  approach- 
ing ruin  of  Rome  by  the  power  of  schism.  He 
himself  makes  the  horoscope  of  his  daughter, 
and  he  trembles  for  her  because  Mars  presents 
an  alarming  aspect ;  he  is  not  the  less  alarmed 
at  the  tail  of  a  comet  appearing  within  the 
limits  of  the  north.  The  astrologers  had  pre- 
dicted that  in  autumn  the  stars  would  be  more 
favorable  to  ecclesiastical  disputes ;  this  prog- 
nostic sufficed  to  console  him  for  the  slowness 
of  the  conferences  of  Augsburg  on  the  subject 
of  religion :  we  see,  moreover,  that  his  friends 
— that  is,  the  leaders  of  the  party — allowed 
themselves  to  be  ruled  by  the  same  powerful 
reasons.  As  if  he  had  not  troubles  enough, 
it  is  predicted  that  Melancthon  will  be  ship- 
wrecked in  the  Baltic;  he  avoids  sailing  on 
those  fatal  waters.  Certain  Franciscans  had 
prophesied  that  the  poWer  of  the  Pope  was 
about  to  decline,  and  then  to  fall  for  ever ;  also 
that,  in  the  year  1600,  the  Turks  were  to  be- 
come masters  of  Italy  and  Germany ;  Melanc- 
thon boasts  of  having  the  original  prophecy  in 
his  possession;  moreover,  the  earthquakes 
which  occur  confirm  him  in  his  belief. 

The  human  mind  had  but  just  set  itself  up 
as  the  only  judge  of  faith,  when  the  atrocities 
of  the  most  furious  fanaticism  already  inun- 
dated Germany  with  blood.  Mathias  Harlem, 
the  Anabaptist,  at  the  head  of  a  ferocious  troop, 
orders  the  churches  to  be  sacked,  the  sacred 
ornaments  to  be  broken  in  pieces,  and  all 
books,  except  the  Bible,  to  be  burnt,  as  impi- 
ous or  useless.  Established  at  Munster,  which 
he  calls  Mont  Sion,  he  causes  all  the  gold, 
silver,  and  precious  stones  possessed  by  the 
inhabitants  to  be  brought  to  him,  and  places 
them  in  a  common  treasury,  and  names  deacons 


to  distribute  them.  All  his  disciples  are  com- 
pelled to  eat  in  common,  to  live  in  perfect 
equality,  and  to  prepare  for  the  war  which  they 
would  have  to  undertake,  quitting  Mount  Sion, 
as  he  himself  said,  to  subject  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth  to  his  power.  He  at  length  dies  in  a 
rash  attempt,  wherein,  like  another  Gideon, 
he  undertook  nothing  less  than  to  exterminate 
the  army  of  the  impious  with  a  handful  of 
men.  Mathias  immediately  found  an  heir  to 
his  fanaticism  in  Becold,  perhaps  better  known 
under  the  name  of  John  of  Leyden.  This 
fanatic,  a  tailor  by  trade,  ran  naked  through 
the  streets  of  Munster,  crying  out,  "  Behold,  the 
king  of  Sion  comes."  He  returned  to  his  house, 
shut  himself  up  there  for  three  days;  and 
when  the  people  came  to  inquire  for  him,  he 
pretended  that  he  could  not  speak ;  like  another 
Zachary,  he  made  signs  that  he  wanted  writ- 
ing materials,  and  wrote  that  it  had  been  re- 
vealed to  him  by  God,  that  the  people  should 
be  governed  by  judges,  in  imitation  of  the 
people  of  Israel.  He  named  twelve  judges, 
choosing  the  men  who  were  the  most  attached 
to  himself;  and  until  the  authority  of  the  new 
magistrates  had  been  acknowledged,  he  took 
the  precaution  not  to  allow  himself  to  be  seen 
by  any  body.  Already  was  the  authority  of 
the  new  prophet  secured  in  a  certain  manner; 
but  not  content  with  the  real  command,  he 
desired  to  surround  himself  with  pomp  and 
majesty;  he  proposed  nothing  less  than  to 
have  himself  proclaimed  king.  Now  the  blind* 
ness  of  the  sectarian  fanatics  was  so  great, 
that  it  was  not  difficult  for  him  to  complete  his 
mad  enterprise ;  it  was  enough  for  him  to  play 
off  a  gross  farce.  A  goldsmith  who  had  an 
understanding  with  the  aspirant  to  royalty, 
and  was  also  initiated  in  the  art  of  prophecy, 
presented  himself  before  the  judges  of  Israel, 
and  spoke  to  them  thus  :  "  Behold,  this  is  the 
will  of  the  Lord  God,  the  Eternal :  as  in  other 
times  I  established  Saul  over  Israel,  and  after 
him  David,  who  was  only  a  simple  shepherd, 
so  I  now  establish  my  prophet  Becold  king  of 
Sion."  The  judges  would  not  resolve  on  ab- 
dication ;  but  Becold  assured  them  that  he  also 
had  had  the  same  vision,  that  he  had  concealed 
it  from  humility,  but  that  God  having  spoken 
by  another  prophet,  it  was  necessary  for  him 
to  resign  himself  to  mount  the  throne,  and 
accomplish  the  orders  of  the  Mont  High.  The 
judges  persisted  in  wishing  to  call  the  people 
together ;  they  assembled  in  the  market-place  ; 
there  a.  prophet,  on  the  part  of  God,  presented 
to  Becold  a  drawn  sword,  as  a  sign  of  the 
power  of  justice,  which  was  conferred  on  him 
over  all  the  earth,  to  extend  to  the  four  quarters 
of  the  world  the  empire  of  Sion ;  he  was  pro- 
claimed king  with  the  most  boisterous  joy,  and 
solemnly  crowned  on  the  24th  of  June,  1534. 
As  he  had  espoused  the  wife  of  his  predeces- 
sor, he  raised  her  to  the  royal  dignity;  but 
while  reserving  to  her  the  exclusive  privilege 
of  being  queen,  he  continued  to  have  seven- 
teen wives,  in  conformity  with  the  holy  liberty 
which  he  had  proclaimed  in  this  matter.  The 
orgies,  assassinations,  atrocities,  and  ravings 
of  all  kinds  which  followed  cannot  be  related ; 
it  may  be  affirmed  that  the  sixteen  months  of 
the  reign  of  this  madman  were  only  a  series 
of  crimes.  The  Catholics  cried  out  against 
such  horrible  excesses.  The  Protestants  cried 


NOTES. 


427 


out  also ;  but  who  was  to  blame  ?    Was  it  not 

they  who,  after  having  proclaimed  resistance  NOTE  12,  p.  60. 

to  the  authority  of  the  Church,  had  thrown  Nothing  is  more  palpable  than  the  difference 

the   Bible   into  the  midst  of  these   wretched  which  exists  on  this  point  between  Protestants 

men,  at  the  risk  of  their  heads  being  turned  an(j  Catholics.    On  both  sides  there  are  persons 

by   the   ravings  of  individual   interpretation,  who  consider  themselves  to  be  favored  with 

and   of   precipitating   them   into   projects   as  heavenly   visions ;    but  these   visions   render 

criminal  as  they  were  senseless  ?     The  Ana-  Protestants  proud,  turbulent,  and  raving  mad, 

baptists   were   well  aware   of  this ;  and  they  while  among  Catholics  they  increase  the  spirit 

were  exceedingly  indignant  with  Luther,  who  Of  humility,  peace,  and  love.    Even  in  that  very 

condemned  them  in  his  writings ;  and  indeed,  sixteenth  century,  in  which  the  fanaticism  of 


what  right  had  he,  who  had  established  the 
principle,  to  desire  to  check  its  consequences  ? 
If  Luther  found  in  the  Bible  that  the  Pope 
was  Antichrist,  if  he  arrogated  to  himself,  of 
his  own  authority,  the  mission  of  destroying 


the  Protestants  agitated  and  stained  Europe 
with  blood,  there  lived  in  Spain  a  woman  who, 
in  the  judgment  of  unbelievers  and  Protes- 
tants, is  certainly  one  of  those  who  have  been 
the  most  deeply  infected  with  illusion  and 


the  reign  of  the  Pope,  by  exhorting  all   the  fanaticism ;  but  has  the  supposed  fanaticism  of 

world  to  conspire  against  him,  why  could  not  ^is  woman  ever  caused  the  spilling  of  a  drop 

the  Anabaptists  say,  in  their  turn,  that  they  had  of  blood,  or  the   shedding  of  a  tear  ?     Were 

intercourse  with  God,  and  had  received  the  order  jjer  visions,  like   those  of  Protestants,  orders 

to  exterminate  all  the  wicked,  and  to  establish  from  heaven  for  the   extermination   of  men  ? 

a  new  kingdom,  in  which  were  to  be  seen  only  After  tne  desolate  and  horrible  picture  which 

wise,  pious,  and  innocent  men,  having  become  i  have  given  in  the  preceding  note,  perhaps 

the  masters  of  all  things.  the  reader  will  be  glad  to    let    his  eyes  rest 

Hermann  preaching  the  massacre  of  all  the  Up0n  a  spectacle  as  peaceful  as  it  is  beautiful, 

priests  and  all  the  magistrates  of  the  world ;  it  is  St.  Theresa  writing  her  own  life  out  of 

David  George  proclaiming  that  his   doctrine  pure  obedience,  and  relating  to  us  her  visions 


worship  as  useless,  treading  under   foot   the  hand,  an  angel   in  a  corporeal   form ;  this  is 

fundamental  precepts  of  morality,  and  teaching  what  I  do  not  usually  see,  except  by  a  prodigy  j 

that  it  was  good  to  continue  in  sin,  that  grace  although  angels   often  present  themselves  to 

might  abound ;   Hacket  pretending   that  the  me  without  my  seeing  them,  as  I  have  said  in 

spirit  of  the  Messiah  had  descended  upon  him,  the  preceding  vision.     In  this  the  Lord  willed 

and  sending  two  of  his  disciples  to  cry  out  in  that  I  should  see  him  in  the  following  manner  : 

the  streets  of  London,  "  Behold  Christ  coming  he  was  not  tall,  but  small  and  very  beautiful, 

here  with  a  vase  in  his  hand  !"     Hacket  him-  his  face  all  in  a  flame,  and  he  seemed  to  be  one 

self  crying  out,  at  the  sight  of  the  gibbet,  and  Of  the  angels  very  high  in  the  hierarchy,  who 

in  the  agony  of  punishment,  "Jehovah!  Je-  I           —  *.»_  -   -  -«    —  /:—      \sr:^ — *  ^~,,K*  i,« 


hovah  !  do  you  not.  see  that  the  heavens  open, 


apparently  are  all  on  fire.     Without  doubt,  he 
was  one  of  those  who  are  called  seraphim. — 


and  that  Jesus  Christ  comes  to  deliver  me?"    These  angels  do  not  tell  me  their  names ;  but 


are  not  all  these  deplorable  spectacles,  and  a 
hundred  others  that  I  might  mention,  proofs 
sufficiently  evident  that  the  Protestant  system 
nourishes  and  inflames  a  fearful  fanaticism? 
Venner,  Fox,  William  Simpson,  J.  Naylor, 
Count  Zinzendorf.  Wesley,  Baron  Swedenborg, 
and  other  similar  names,  are  sufficient  to  re- 
mind us  of  an  assemblage  of  sects  so  extrava- 
gant, and  a  series  of  crimes  such  as  would  fill 


I  clearly  see  that  there  is  so  great  a  difference 
among  the  angels,  between  some  and  others, 
that  I  do  not  know  how  to  express  it.  I  saw 
in  his  hands  a  long  dart  of  gold,  which  ap- 
peared to  me  to  have  some  fire  at  the  end  of 
the  point.  It  seemed  to  me  that  the  angel 
buried  this  dart  from  time  to  time  in  my  heart, 
and  made  it  penetrate  to  my  bowels,  and  that 
hen  withdrawing  it,  he  carried  them  away, 


volumes,  which  would  afford  us  the  most  ridi-  leaving  me  all  inflamed  with  a  great  love  of 
culous  and  the  most  odious  pictures,  the  greatest  |  G0d."  (Vie  de  St.  Therese,  c.  xxix.  no.  11.) 

Another  example  :  "At  this  moment  I  see  on 
my  head  a  dove%very  different  from  those  of 
earth ;  for  this  one  had  no  feathers,  but  wings 
as  it  were  of  the  shell  of  mother  of  pearl, 
which  shone  brightly.  It  was  larger  than  a 
dove  ;  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  heard  the  noise 
of  its  wings.  It  moved  them  almost  for  the 
time  of  an  Ave  Maria.  The  soul  was  already 
in  such  a  condition  that,  herself  swooning 

and  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  this  abundant  awaV)  she  also  lost  sight  of  this  divine  dove, 
source  of  illusion  and  fanaticism  has  been  rphe  mind  grew  tranquil  with  the  presence  of 
exhausted  in  the  course  of  ages  ;  it  does  not  such  a  guest,  although  it  seemed  to  me  that  so 
seem  that  it  is  yet  near  being  dried  up,  and  wonderful  a  favor  ought  to  fill  it  with  per- 
Europe  appears  condemned  to  hear  the  recital  turbation  and  alarm ;  but  as  the  soul  began  to 
of  visions,  such  as  those  of  Baron  Swedenborg  enjoy  it,  fear  departed,  repose  came  with  en- 
in  the  inn  in  London ;  and  we  shall  still  see  joyment,  and  the  mind  remained  in  ecstacy." 
passports  for  heaven  with  three  seals  given  out,  /  yie,  c.  xxviii.  no.  7.)  It  would  be  difficult 
like  those  of  Johanna  Southcote.  I  to  find  any  thing  more  beautiful,  expressed  in 

more  lively  colors,  and  with  a  more  amiable 
simplicity.  It  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  copy 


miseries  and  the  most  deplorable  errors  of  the 
human  mind.  I  have  not  invented  or  exag- 
gerated. Open  history,  consult  authors — I  do 
not  mean  Catholics,  but  Protestants,  or  what- 
ever they  may  be — and  you  will  every  where 
find  a  multitude  of  witnesses  who  depose  to 
the  truth  of  these  facts  ;  notorious  facts,  which 
have  taken  place  in.  the  light  of  day,  in  great 
capitals,  and  in  times  bordering  on  our  own  ; 


428 


NOTES. 


here  two  other  passages  of  a  different  kind, 
which,  while  they  enforce  what  we  wish  to 
show,  may  contribute  to  awaken  the  taste  of 
our  nation  for  a  certain  class  of  Spanish 
writers,  who  are  every  day  falling  into  obliv- 
ion with  us,  while  foreigners  seek  for  them 
with  eagerness,  and  publish  handsome  editions 
of  them.  "  I  was  once  at  office  with  all  the 
rest ;  my  soul  was  suddenly  fixed  in  attention, 
and  it  seemed  to  me  to  be  entirely  as  a  clear 
mirror  without  reverse  or  side,  neither  high 
nor  low,  but  shining  every  where.  In  the 
midst  of  it,  Christ  our  Saviour  presented  him- 
self to  me,  as  I  am  accustomed  to  see  Him. 
He  appeared  to  me  to  be  at  once  in  all  parts 
of  my  soul.  I  saw  Him  as  in  a  clear  mirror, 
and  this  mirror  also  (I  cannot  say  how)  was 
entirely  imprinted  on  our  Lord  himself,  by  a 
communication  which  I  cannot  describe — a 
communication  full  of  love.  I  know  that  this 
vision  has  been  of  great  advantage  to  me  every 
time  that  I  recollect  it,  principally  when  I 
have  just  received  communion.  I  was  given 
to  understand  that  when  a  soul  is  in  a  state  of 
mortal  sin,  this  mirror  is  covered  with  great 
darkness,  and  is  extremely  obscure,  so  that  our 
Lord  cannot  appear  or  be  seen  therein,  although 
He  is  always  present  as  giving  being ;  as  to 
heretics,  it  is  as  if  the  mirror  were  broken, 
which  is  much  worse  than  if  it  were  obscured. 
There  is  a  great  difference  between  seeing  this 
and  telling  it ;  it  is  difficult  to  make  such  a 
thing  understood.  I  repeat,  that  this  has  been 
very  profitable  to  me,  and  also  very  afflicting, 
on  account  of  the  view  of  the  various  offences 
by  which  I  have  obscured  my  soul,  and  have 
been  deprived  of  seeing  my  Lord."  ( Vie,  c. 
xi.  no.  4.) 

In  another  place  she  explains  a  manner  of 
seeing  things  in  God;  she  represents  the  idea 
by  an  image  so  brilliant  and  sublime,  that  we 
appear  to  be  reading  Malebranche,  when  de- 
veloping his  famous  system. 

"We  say  that  the  Divinity  is  like  a  bright 
diamond,  infinitely  larger  than  the  world;  or 
rather  like  a  mirror,  as  I  have  said  of  the  soul 
in  another  vision ;  except  that  here  it  is  in  a 
manner  so  sublime,  that  I  know  not  how  to 
exalt  it  sufficiently.  All  that  we  do  is  seen  in 
this  diamond,  which  contains  all  in  itself;  for 
there. is  nothing  which  is  not  comprised  in  so 
great  a  magnitude.  It  was  alarming  to  me  to 
see  in  so  short  a  time  so  many  things  assembled 
in  this  bright  diamond ;  and  I  am  profoundly 
afflicted  every  time  that  I  think  that  things  so 
shocking  as  my  sins  appealed  to  me  in  this 
most  pure  brightness."  (  Vie,  c.  xl.  no.  7.) 

Let  us  now  suppose,  with  Protestants,  that 
all  these  visions  were  only  pure  illusions :  at 
least  it  is  evident  that  they  do  not  pervert  ideas, 
corrupt  morals,  or  disturb  public  order;  and 
assuredly,  had  they  served  only  to  inspire  these 
beautiful  pages,  we  should  not  know  how  to 
regret  the  illusion.  This  is  a  confirmation  of 
what  I  have  said  of  the  salutary  effects  which 
the  Catholic  principle  produces  in  souls,  by 
preventing  them  from  being  blinded  by  pride, 
or  throwing  themselves  into  dangerous  courses. 
This  principle  confines  them  to  a  sphere  where 
it  is  impossible  for  them  to  injure  any  one";  but 
it  does  not  deprive  them  of  any  of  their  force 
or  energy  to  do  good,  supposing  that  the  in- 
spiration is  real.  Although  it  would  have  been 


easy  for  me  to  cite  a  thousand  examples,  I  was 
compelled,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  to  confine 
myself  to  one,  when  selecting  St.  Theresa  as 
one  of  those  who  are  the  most  distinguished  in 
this  respect,  and  because  she  was  contemporary 
with  the  great  aberrations  of  Protestantism.  In 
fine,  as  she  was  a  daughter  of  Spain,  I  seized 
the  opportunity  of  recalling  her  to  the  memo- 
ries of  Spaniards,  who  begin  too  much  to  forget 
her. 

NOTE  13,  p.  64. 

Some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Reformation  have 
left  suspicions  that  they  taught  with  insincerity, 
that  they  did  not  themselves  believe  what  they 
preached,  and  that  they  had  no  other  object 
than  to  deceive  their  proselytes.  As  I  am  un- 
willing to  have  it  imputed  to  me  that  I  have 
made  this  accusation  rashly,  I  will  adduce 
some  proofs  in  support  of  my  assertion.  Let 
us  hear  Luther  himself.  "Often,"  he  says, 
"do  I  think  within  myself  that  I  scarcely 
know  where  I  am,  and  whether  I  teach  the 
truth  or  not  (Ssepe  sic  mecum  cogito,  prope- 
modum  nescio,  quo  loco  sim,  et  utrum  verita- 
tem  doceam,  necne)."  (Luther,  Col.  Isleb.  de 
Christo.)  And  it  is  the  same  man  who  said: 
"  It  is  certain  that  I  have  received  my  dogmas 
from  heaven.  I  will  not  allow  you  to  judge  of 
my  doctrine,  neither  you  nor  even  the  angels 
of  heaven  (Certum  est  dogmata  mea  habere 
me  de  ccelo.  Non  sinam  vel  vos  vel  ipsos 
angelos  de  coelo  de  mea  doctrina  judicare)." 
(Luther,  contra  Reg.  Ang.)  John  Matthei,  the 
author  of  many  writings  on  the  life  of  Luther, 
and  who  is  not  scanty  in  eulogies  on  the 
heresiarch,  has  preserved  a,very  curious  anec- 
dote touching  the  convictions  of  Luther.  It 
is  this:  "A  preacher  called  John  Musa  re- 
lated to  me  that  he  one  day  complained  to 
Luther  that  he  could  not  prevail  on  himself  to 
believe  what  he  taught  to  others :  'Blessed  be 
God  (said  Luther)  that  the  same  thing  happens 
to  others  as  to  myself:  I  believed  till  now  that 
THAT  was  a  thing  which  happened  only  to  me.' " 
(Johann.  Matthesius,  cone.  12.) 

The  doctrines  of  infidelity  were  not  long  de- 
layed; but  would  it  be  believed  that  they  are 
found  expressed  in  various  parts  of  Luther's 
own  works?  "It  is  likely,"  says  he,  speaking 
of  the  dead,  "that,  except  a  few,  they  all  sleep 
deprived  of  feeling."  "  I  think  that  the  dead 
are  buried  in  so  ineffable  and  wonderful  a  sleep, 
that  they  feel  or  see  less  than  those  who  sleep 
an  ordinary  sleep."  "  The  souls  of  the  dead 
enter  neither  into  purgatory  nor  into  hell." 
"  The  human  soul  sleeps ;  all  its  senses  buried." 
"There  is  no  suffering  in  the  abode  of  the 
dead."  ("  Verisimile  est,  exceptis  paucis,  om- 
nes  dormire  insensibiles."  "  Ego  puto  mortuos 
sic  ineffabili  et  miro  somno  sopitos,  ut  minus 
sentiant  aut  videant,  quam  hi  qui  alias  dormi- 
unt."  "Animae  mortuorum  non  ingrediun tw- 
in purgatorium  nee  infernum."  "Anima  hu- 
mana  dormit,  omnibus  sensibus  sepultis." 
"  M ortuorum  locus  cruciatus  nullos  habet.") 
Tom.  ii.  Epist.  Lat.  Mel.  fol.  44;  t.  vi.  Lat. 
Wittenberg,  in  cap.  ii.,  cap.  xxiii.,  c.  xxv.,  c. 
xlii.  et  xlix.  Genes,  et  t.  iv.  Lat.  Wittenberg, 
fol.  109.)  Persons  were  not  wanting  ready 
to  receive  such  doctrines;  and  this  teaching 
caused  such  ravages,  that  the  Lutheran  Brent- 


NOTES. 


429 


zen,  disciple  and  successor  of  Luther,  hesitates 
not  to  say :  "Although  no  one  among  us  public- 
ly professes  that  the  soul  perishes  with  the  body, 
and  that  there  is  no  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
nevertheless  the  impure  and  wholly  prof  ane  lives 
which  they  for  the  most  part  lead,  show  very 
clearly  that  they  do  not  believe  that  there  is 
another  life.  Some  even  allow  words  of  this 
kind  to  escape  them,  not  only  in  the  intoxication 
of  libations,  but  even  when  fasting,  in  their  fa- 
miliar intercourse.  (Et  si  inter  nos  nulla  sit 
publica  professio  quod  anima  simul  cum  cor- 
pore  intereat,  et  quod  non  sit  mortuorum 
resurrectio,  tamen  impurissima  et  profanissima 
ilia  vita,  quam  maxima  pars  hominum  sectatur, 
perspicue  indicat  quod  non  sentiat  vitam  post 
hanc.  Nonnullis  etiam  tales  voces,  tarn  ebriis 
inter  pocula,  quam  sobriis  in  familiaribus  col- 
loquiis.)"  (Brentius,  Horn.  35,  in  cap.  20,  Luc.) 
There  were  in  this  same  sixteenth  century 
some  men  who  cared  not  to  give  their  names 
to  this  or  that  sect,  but  who  professed  infidelity 
and  scepticism  without  disguise.  We  know 
that  the  famous  Gruet  paid  with  his  head  for 
his  boldness  in  this  way ;  and  it  was  not  the 
Catholics  who  cut  it  off,  but  the  Calvinists, 
who  were  offended  that  this  unhappy  man  had 
taken  the  liberty  to  paint  the  character  and 
conduct  of  Calvin  in  their  true  colors.  Gruet 
had  also  committed  the  crime  of  posting  up 
placards  at  Geneva,  in  which  he  charged  the 
pretended  reformers  with  inconsistency,  on 
account  of  the  tyranny  which  they  attempted 
to  exercise  over  consciences,  after  having 
shaken  off  the  yoke  of  authority  on  their  own 
account.  This  took  place  soon  after  the  birth  of 
Protestantism,  as  the  sentence  on  Gruet  was 
executed  in  1549. 

Montaigne,  who  has  been  pointed  out  as  one 
of  the  first  sceptics  who  acquired  reputation  in 
Europe,  carries  the  thing  so  far,  that  he  does 
not  even  admit  the  natural  law.  "  They  are 
not  serious  (he  says)  when,  to  give  some  certainty 
to  laws,  they  say  that  there  are  any  laws  fixed, 
perpetual,  and  immutable,  which  they  call  natu- 
ral, which  are  impressed  on  the  human  race  by 
the  condition  of  their  peculiar  essence."  (Mon- 
taigne, Ess.  L  ii.  c.  12.) 

We  have  already  seen  what  Luther  thought 
of  death,  or  at  least  the  expression  which 
escaped  him  on  this  subject;  and  we  cannot 
be  astonished  after  that,  that  Montaigne  wished 
to  die  like  a  real  unbeliever,  and  that  he  says, 
speaking  of  the  terrible  passage  :  "  /  plunge 
my  head,  -insensibly  sunk  in  death,  without  con- 
sidering or  observing  it,  as  in  a  silent  and  ob- 
scure depth,  which  swallows  me  up  at  once, 
stifles  me  in  a  moment  with  powerful  sleep  full 
of  insipidity  and  indolence."  (Montaigne,  1. 
iii.  c.  9.)  But  this  man,  who  wished  that  death 
should  find  him  planting  his  cabbages,  and 
without  thinking  of  it  (Je  veux  que  la  mort  me 
trouve  plantant  mes  choux,  mais  sans  me  soucier 
d'elle],  was  not  of  the  same  opinion  in  his  last 
moments.  When  he  was  near  breathing  his 
last,  he  wished  that  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass  should  be  celebrated  in  his  apartment, 
and  he  expired  while  making  an  effort  to  raise 
himself  on  his  bed,  in  the  act  of  adoring  the 
sacred  Host.  We  see  that  he  had  profited  in 
his  heart  by  some  of  his  ideas  with  respect  to 
the  Christian  religion.  "  It  is  pride,"  he  had 
said,  "  that  leads  man  out  of  the  common  path, 


and  urges  him  to  embrace  novelties,  loving 
rather  to  be  the  chief  of  a  wandering  and  un- 
disciplined band,  than  to  be  a  disciple  of  the 
school  of  truth."  In  another  place,  at  once 
condemning  all  the  dissenting  sects,  he  had 
said,  "  In  religious  matters  it  is  necessary  to 
adhere  to  those  who  are  the  established  judges 
of  doctrine,  and  who  have  legitimate  authority, 
not  to  the  most  learned  and  the  cleverest." 

From  all  that  I  have  just  said,  it  is  clear 
that  if  I  accuse  Protestantism  of  having  been 
one  of  the  principal  causes  of  infidelity  in 
Europe,  I  do  not  accuse  it  without  reason. 
I  repeat  here,  that  it  is  by  no  means  my  inten- 
tion to  overlook  the  efforts  of  some  Protestants 
to  oppose  infidelity  ;  I  do  not  assail  persons, 
but  things,  and  I  honor  merit  wherever  I  find 
it.  In  fine,  I  will  add,  that  if  at  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century  a  considerable  number 
of  Protestants  displayed  a  tendency  towards 
Catholicity,  we  must  seek  the  reason  for  it  in 
the  progress  which  they  saw  infidelity  making, 
— a  progress  which  it  was  impossible  to  check, 
at  least  without  holding  fast  to  the  anchor  of 
authority  which  the  Catholic  Church  offered  to 
the  whole  world.  I  cannot,  without  exceeding 
the  limits  which  I  have  marked  out  for  myself, 
give  a  circumstantial  detail  of  the  correspon- 
dence between  Molanus  and  the  Bishop  of 
Tyna,  of  Leibnitz  and  Bossuet.  Readers  who 
desire  to  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
that  affair,  may  examine  it  partly  in  the  works 
of  Bossuet  himself,  and  partly  in  the  interest- 
ing work  of  M.  de  Beausset,  prefixed  to  some 
editions  of  Bossuet. 

NOTE  14,  p.  86. 

In  order  to  form  an  idea  of  the  state  of 
knowledge  at  the  time  of  the  appearance  of 
Christianity,  and  become  convinced  that  there 
was  nothing  to  be  expected  from  the  human 
mind  abandoned  to  its  own  strength,  it  is 
enough  to  recall  to  mind  the  monstrous  sects 
which  every  where  abounded  in  the  first  ages 
of  the  Church,  the  doctrines  whereof  formed 
the  most  shapeless,  extravagant,  and  immoral 
compound  that  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  The 
names  of  Cerinthus,  Menander,  Ebion,  Satur- 
ninus,  Basilides,  Nicolas,  Carpocrates,  Valen- 
tinus,  Marcion,  Montanus,  and  so  many  others, 
remind  us  of  the  sects  in  which  delirium  was 
connected  with  immorality.  When  we  throw 
a  glance  over  these  philosophico-religious  sects, 
we  see  that  they  were  capable  neither  of  con- 
ceiving a  philosophical  system  with  any  degree 
of  concert,  nor  of  imagining  a  collection  of 
doctrines  and  practices  to  which  the  name  of 
religion  can  be  applied.  These  men  overturned, 
mixed,  and  confounded  all;  Judaism,  Chris- 
tianity, and  the  recollections  of  the  ancient 
schools,  were  all  amalgamated  in  their  deluded 
heads  ;  what  they  never  forgot  was,  to  give  a 
loose  rein  to  all  kinds  of  corruption  and  ob- 
scenity. 

In  the  spectacle  of  these  ages,  a  wide  field 
is  opened  to  the  conjectures  of  true  philosophy. 
What  would  have  become  of  human  knowl- 
edge, if  Christianity  had  not  come  to  enlighten 
the  world  with  her  celestial  doctrines ;  if  that 
divine  religion,  confounding  the  foolish  pride 
of  man,  had  not  come  to  show  him  how  vain 
and  senseless  were  his  thoughts,  and  how  far 


430 


NOTES. 


he  was  removed  from  the  path  of  truth  ?  It 
is  remarkable  that  these  same  men,  whose 
aberrations  make  us  shudder,  gave  themselves 
the  name  of  Gnostics,  on  account  of  the 
superior  knowledge  with  which  they  supposed 
themselves  to  be  endowed.  We  see  that  man 
is  at  all  times  the  same. 

.  NOTE  15,  p.  115. 

I  have  thought  that  it  would  not  be  useless 
to  transcribe  here,  word  for  word,  the  canons 
which  I  have  mentioned  in  the  text.  My 
readers  may  thereby  acquire  for  themselves  a 
complete  knowledge  of  what  is  found  there  ; 
and  there  will  be  no  room  left  to  suppose  that 
the  real  sense  of  the  regulations  has  been 
perverted  in  the  extracts  which  I  have  given. 

CANONS     AND    OTHER   DOCUMENTS, 

Which  show  the  solicitude  of  the  Church  to 
improve  the  lot  of  slaves,  and  the  various 
means  she  has  used  to  accomplish  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery  : 


A  penance  is  imposed  on  the  mistress  who 
maltreats  her  slave  (ancillam). 

(Concilium  Eliberitanum,  anno  305.) 
"  Si  qua  domina  furore  zeli  accensa  flagris 
verberaverit  ancillam  suam,  ita  ut  in  tertiuni 
diem  animam  cum  cruciatu  effundat  ;  eo  quod 
incertum  sit,  voluntate  an  casu  occiderit;  si 
voluntate,  post  septem  annos,  si  casu,  post 
quinquennii  tempora,  acta  legitima  poenitentia, 
ad  communionem  placuit  admitti.  Quod  si 
infra  tempora  constituta  fnerit  infirmata,  acci- 
piat  communionem."  (Canon  5.) 

It  must  be  observed,  that  the  word  '  ancil- 
lam '  means  a  slave  properly  so  called,  and 
not  any  kind  of  servant  This  appears,  indeed, 
from  the  words  flagris  verberaverit,  which  ex- 
press a  chastisement  reserved  for  slaves. 

They  excommunicate  the  master  who,  of  his  own 
authority,  beats  his  slave  to  death. 

(Concilium  Epaoense,  anno  517.) 
"  Si  quis  servum  proprium  sine  conscientia 
judicis    occiderit,  excommunicatione    biennii 
effusionem  sanguinis  expiabit."  (Canon  34.) 

This  same  regulation  is  repeated  in  the  15th 
canon  of  the  17th  Council  of  Toledo,  held  in 
694  ;  even  the  words  of  the  Council  of  Epaon 
are  there  copied  with  very  slight  change. 

(Ibid.)  The  slave  guilty  of  an  atrocious  crime 
was  to  escape  corporeal  punishments  by  taking 
refuge  in  a  church. 

"  Servus  reatu  atrociore  culpabilis  si  ad  ec- 
clesiam  confugerit,  a  corporabilibus  tantum 
suppliciis  excusetur.  De  capillis  vero,  vel 
quocumque  opere,  placuit,  a  dominis  juramenta 
non  exigi."  (Canon  39.) 

Very  remarkable  precautions  to  prevent  masters 
from  maltreating  the  slaves  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  churches. 

(Concilium  Aurelianense  quintum,  anno  549.) 
"  De  servis  vero,  qui  pro  qualibet  culpa  ad 
ecclesiae  septa  confugerint,  id  statuimus   ob- 
servandum,  ut,  sicut  in  antiquis  constitutioni- 


bus  tenetur  scriptum,  pro  ooncessa  culpa  datis 
a  domino  sacramentis,  quisquis  ille  fuerit,  ex- 
pediatur  de  venia  jam  securus.  Enim  vero  si 
immemor  fidei  dominus  trascendisse  convinci- 
tur  quod  juravit,  ut  is  qui  veniam  acceperat, 
probetur  postmodum  pro  ea  culpa  qualicumque 
supplicio  cruciatus,  dominus  ille  qui  immemor 
fuit  datae  fidei,  sit  ab  omnium  communione 
suspensus.  Iterum  si  servus  de  promissione 
veniae  datis  sacramentis  a  domino  jam  securus 
exire  noluerit,  ne  sub  tali  contumacia  requirens 
locum  fugae,  domino  fortasse  dispereat,  egredi 
nolentem  a  domino  eum  liceat  occupari,  ut 
nullam,  quasi  pro  retentatione  servi,  quibusli- 
bet  modis  molestiain  aut  calumniam  patiatur 
ecclesia  :  fidem  tamen  dominus,  quam  pro  con- 
cessa  venia  dedit,  nulla  temeritate  transcendat. 
Quod  si  aut  gentilis  dominus  fuerit,  aut  alterius 
sectae,  qui  a  conventu  ecclesiae  probatur  ex- 
traneus,  is  qui  servum  repetit,  personas  requirat 
bonae  fidei  Christianas,  ut  ipsi  in  persona 
domini  servo  praebeant  sacramenta  :  quia  ipsi 
possunt  servare  quod  sacrum  est,  qui  pro  trans- 
gressione  ecclesiasticum  metuunt  disciplinam." 
(Canon  22.) 

It  is  difficult  to  carry  solicitude  for  the  lot 
of  slaves  further.  This  document  is  very 
durious. 

They  forbid  bishops  to  mutilate  their  slaves  : 
they  order  that  the  duty  of  chastising  them 
should  be  left  to  the  judge  of  the  town,  who, 
nevertheless,  could  not  cut  off  their  hair,  a 
punishment  which  was  considered  too  ignomi- 
nious. 

(Concilium  Emeritense,  anno  666.) 
"  Si  regalis  pietas  pro  salute  omnium  suarum 
legum  dignata  est  ponere  decreta,  cur  religio 
sancta  per  sancti  concilii  ordinem  non  habeat 
instituta,  quae  omnino  debent  esse  cavenda? 
Ideoque  placuit  huic  sancto  concilio,  ut  omnia 
potestas  episcopalis  modum  suae  ponat  irae ; 
nee  pro  quolibet  excessu  cuilibet  ex  fainilia, 
ecclesiae  aliquod  corporis  membrorum  sua 
ordinatione  praesumat  extirpare  aut  auferre. 
Quod  si  tails  emerserit  culpa,  advocate  judice 
civitatis,  ad  examen  ejus  deducatur  quod  fac- 
tum  fuisse  asseritur.  Et  quia  omnino  justum 
est,  ut  pontifex  saevissimam  non  impendat  vin- 
dictam  ;  quidquid  coram  judice  verius  patuerit, 
per  disciplinae  severitatem  absque  turpi  decal- 
vatione  maneat  emendatum."  (Canon  15.) 

Priests  are  forbidden  to  have  their  slaves 

mutilated. 

(Concilium  Toletanum  undecimum,  anno  675.) 
"  His  a  quibus  domini  sacramenta  tractanda 
sunt,  judicium  sanguinis  agitare  non  licet :  et 
ideomagnoperetalium  excessibus  prohibendum 
est,  ne  indiscretee  praesumptionis  motibus  agi- 
tati,  aut  quod  morte  plectendum  est,  sententia 
propria  judicare  praesumant,  aut  truncationes 
quaslibet  membrorum  quibusljbet  personis  aut 
per  se  inferant,  aut  inferendas  praecipiant. 
Quod  si  quisquam  horum  immemor  praecepto- 
rum,  aut  ecclesiae  suae  familiis,  aut  in  quibusli- 
bet  personis  tale  quidfecerit,  et  concessi  ordinis 
honore  privatus,  et  loco  suo,  perpetuo  damna- 
tionis  teneatur  religatus  ergastulo  :  cui  tamen 
communio  exeunti  ex  hac  vita  non  neganda 
est,  propter  domini  misericordiam,  qui  non  vult 
peccatoris  mortem,  sed  ut  convertatur  et  vivat." 
(Canon  6.) 


NOTES. 


431 


It  should  be  remarked,  that  the  word  fami- 
lia,  employed  in  the  two  last  canons  which 
we  have  just  cited,  should  be  understood  of 
slaves.  The  real  meaning  of  this  word  is 
clearly  shown  us  by  the  74th  canon  of  the  4th 
Council  of  Toledo. 

"  De  familiis  ecclesiae  constituere  presbyte- 

ros  et  diaconos  per  parochias  liceat ea 

tamen  ratione  ut  antea  manumissi  libertatem 
status  sui  percipiant. 

We  see  this  word  employed  in  the  same 
sense  by  Pope  St.  Gregory.  (Epist  xliv.  1.  4.) 

A  penance  is  imposed  on  the  master  who  kills 
his  slave  of  his  own  authority. 

(Concilium  Wormatiense,  anno  868.) 
"Si  quis  servum  proprium  sine  conscientia 
judicum  qui  tale  quid  commiserit,  quod  morte 
sit  dignum,  occiderit,  excommunicatione  vel 
poenitentia  biennii,  reatum  sanguinis  emenda- 
bit."  (Canon  38.) 

"  Si  qua  femina  furore  zeli  accensa,  flagris 
verberaverit  ancillam  suam,  ita  ut  intra  terti- 
um  diem  animam  suam  cum  cruciatu  effundat, 
eo  quod  incertum  sit  voluntate,  an  casu  occi- 
derit ;  si  voluntate,  septem  annos,  si  casu,  per 
quinque  annorum  tempora  legitimam  peragat 
poenitentiam."  (Canon  39.) 

They  check  the  violence  of  those  who,  to  revenge 
themselves  for  the  asylum  granted  to  slaves, 
take  possession  of  the  goods  of  the  Church. 

(Concilium  Arausicanum  primum,  anno  441.) 
"Si   quis   autem   mancipia   clericorum    pro 
suis  mancipiis  ad  ecclesiam  fugientibus  credi- 
derit  occupanda,  per  omnes  ecclesias  districtis- 
sima  damnatione  feriatur."  (Canon  6.) 

§11. 

(Ibid.)  They  check  all  attempts  made  against 
the  liberty  of  slaves  enfranchised  by  the 
Church,  or  who  have  been  recommended  to  her 
by  will. 

"  In  ecclesia  manumissos,  vel  per  testamen- 
tum  ecclesiae  commendatos,  si  quis  in  servitu- 
tem,  vel  obsequium,  vel  ad  colonariam  conditio- 
nem  imprimere  tentaverit,  animadversione  ec- 
clesiastica  coerceatur."  (Canon  7.) 

They  secure  the  liberty  of  those  who  have  re- 
ceived the  benejlt  of  manumission  in  the 
Churches.  The  latter  are  enjoined  to  take 
upon  themselves  the  defence  of  the  enfran- 
chised. 

(Concilium  quintum  Aurelianense,  anno  549.) 
"  Et  quia  plurimorum  suggestione  comperi- 
mus,  eos  qui  in  ecclesiis  juxta  patrioticam 
consuetudinem  a  servitiis  fuerunt  absoluti,  pro 
libito  quorumcumqtie  iterum  ad  servitium  revo- 
cari,  impium  esse  tractavimus,  ut  quod  in  ec- 
clesia Dei  consideratione  a  vinculo  servitutis 
absolvitur,  irritum  habeatur.  Ideo  pietatis 
causa  communi  concilio  placuit  observandum, 
ut  quaecumque  mancipia  ab  ingenuis  dominis 
servitute  laxantur,  in  ea  libertate  maneant, 
quam  tune  a  dominis  perceperunt.  Hujus- 
modi  quoque  libertas  si  a  quocumque  pulsata 
fuerit,  cum  justitia  ab  ecclesiis  defendatur, 
praeter  eas  culpas,  pro  quibus  leges  collatas 
servis  revocare  jusserunt  libertates."  (Canon 


The  Church  is  charged  with  the  defence  of  the 
enfranchised,  whether  they  have  been  emanci- 
pated within  her  enclosure,  whether  they  have 
been  so  by  letter  or  testament,  or  have  gained 
their  liberty  by  prescription.  They  restrain 
the  arbitrariness  of  the  judges  towards  these 
unfortunate  persons.  It  is  decided  that  the 
Bishops  shall  take  cognizance  of  these  causes. 

(Concilium  Matisconense  secundum,  anno  585.) 
"  Quse  dum  postea  universe  coetui  secundum 
consuetudinem  recitata  innotescerent,  Praetex- 
tatus  et  Pappulus  viri  beatissimi  dixerunt; 
Decernat  itaque,  et  de  miseris  libertis  vestraa 
auctoritatis  vigor  insignis,  qui  ideo  plus  a  ju- 
dicibus  affliguntur,  quia  sacris  suntcommendati 
ecclesiis :  ut  si  quas  quispiam  dixerit  contra 
eos  actiones  habere,  non  audeat  eos  magistra- 
tus  contradere ;  sed  in  episcopi  tantum  judicio, 
in  cujus  praesentia  litem  contestans,  quae  sunt 
justitiae  ac  veritatis  audiat-  Indignum  est 
enim,  ut  hi  qui  in  sacrosancta  ecclesia  jure 
noscuntur  legitimo  manumissi,  aut  per  episto- 
lam,  aut  per  testamentum,  aut  per  longinqui- 
tatem  temporis  libertatis  jure  fruuntur,  a  quo- 
libet  injustissime  inquietentur.  'Universa  sa- 
cerdotalis  Congregatio  dixit:  Justum  est,  ut 
contra  calumniatorum  omnium  versutias  de- 
fendantur,  qui  patrocinium  immortalis  ecclesiae 
concupiscunt.  Et  quicumque  a  nobis  de  libertis 
latum  decretum,  superbiae  ausu  praevaricare 
tentaverit,  irreparabili  damnationis  suae  sen- 
tentia  feriatur.  Sed  si  placuerit  episcopo 
ordinarium  judicem,  aut  quemlibet  alium  saecu- 
larem,  in  audientiam  eorum  accersiri,  cum 
libuerit  fiat,  et  nullus  alius  audeat  causas 
pertractare  libertorum  nisi  episcopus  cujus 
interest,  aut  is  cui  idem  audiendum  tradiderit." 
(Canon  7.) 

The  defence  of  the  freed  is  confided  to  the  priests. 
(Concilium  Parisiense  quintum,  anno  614.) 

"Liberti  quorumcumque  ingenuorum  a  sacer- 
dotibus  defensentur,  nee  ad  publicum  ulterius 
revocentur.  Quod  si  quis  ausu  temerario  eos 
imprimere  voluerit,  aut  ad  publicum  revocare, 
et  admonitus  per  pontificem  ad  audientiam 
venire  neglexerit,  aut  emendare  quod  perpe- 
travit  distulerit,  communione  privetur."  (Ca- 
non 5.) 

The  enfranchised  recommended  to  the  Churches 
shall  be  protected  by  the  Bishops. 

(Concilium  Toletanum  tertium,  anno  589.) 

"  De  libertis  autem  id  Dei  praecipiunt  sacer- 
dotes,  ut  si  qui  ab  episcopis  facti  sunt  secundum 
modum  quo  can  ones  antiqui  dantlicentiam,sint 
liberi ;  et  tantum  a  patrocinio  ecclesiae  tarn  ipsi 
quam  ab  eis  progeniti  non  recedant.  Ab  aliis 
quoque  libertati  traditi,  et  ecclesiis  commen- 
datir  patrocinio  episcopali  tegantur,  a  principe 
hoc  episcopus  postulet."  (Canon  6.) 

The  Church,  undertakes  to  defend  the  liberty 
and  the  property  acquired  by  industry  of  the 
enfranchised  who  have  been  recommended  to 
her. 

(Concilium  Toletanum  quartum,  anno  633.) 

"  Liberti  qui  a  quibuscumque  manumissi  sunt, 
atque  ecclesiae  patrocinio  commendati  existunt, 
sicut  regulae  antiquorum  patrum  constituerunt^ 


432 


NOTES. 


sacerdotal!  defensione  a  cujuslibet  insolentia 
protegantur  ;  sive  in  statu  libertatis  eorum,  seu 
in  peculio  quod  habere  noscuntur."  (Cap.  72.) 

The  Church  will  defend  the  enfranchised  :  a  re- 
gulation which  does  not  distinguish  whether 
they  have  been  recommended  to  her  or  not. 

(Concilium  Agathense,  anno  506.) 

"  Libertos  legitime  a  dominis  suis  factos  ec- 
clesia,  si  necessitas  exegerit,  tueatur ;  quod  si 
quis  ante  audientiam,  aut  pervadere,  aut  expo- 
liare  praesumpserit,  ab  ecclesia  repellatur." 
(Canon  29.) 

§  III. 

The  Church  shall  regard  the  ransom  of  captives 
as  her  first  care  ;  she  shall  give  their  interests 
the  preference  over  her  own,  however  bad  may 
be  the  state  of  her  affairs. 

"  Sicut  omnino  grave  est,  frustra  ecclesiastica 
ministeria  venundare,  sic  iterum  culpa  est,  im- 
minente  hujusmodi  necessitate,  res  maxime  de- 
solatae  Ecclesise  captivis  suis  praeponere,  et  in 
eorum  redemptione  cessare."  (Caus.  xii.  q.  2, 
canon  16.) 

Remarkable  words  of  St.  Ambrose  touching  the 
ransom  of  captives.  To  perform  this  pious 
duty,  the  holy  Bishop  breaks  up  and  sells  the 
sacred  vessels. 

(S.  Ambrosius  de  Off.  lib  ii.  cap.  15.) 

(g  70.)  "  Summa  etiam  liberalitas  captos  redi- 
mere,  eripere  ex  hostium  manibus,  subtrahere 
neci  homines,  et  maxime  feminas  turpidini,  red- 
dere  parentibus  liberos,  parentes  liberis,  cives 
patriaa,  restituere.  Nota  sunt  haec  nimis  II- 
lyriae  vastitate  et  Thraciae :  quanti  ubique 
venales  erant  captivi  orbe  .... 

Ibid.  (§71.)  "  Praecipua  est  igitur  liberalitas, 
redimere  captivos  et  maxime  ab  hoste  barbaro, 
qui  nihil  deferat  humanitatis  ad  misericordiam, 
nisi  quod  avaritia  reservaverit  ad  redemp- 
tionem." 

Ib.  1.  ii.  c.  2  (g  13.)  "  Ut  nos  aliquando  in 
invidiam  incidimus,  quod  confregerimus  vasa 
mystica,  ut  captivos  redimeremus,  quod  Arianis 
displicere  potuerat,  nee  tarn  factum  displiceret, 
quam  ut  esset  quod  in  nobis  reprehenderetur." 
,  These  noble  and  charitable  sentiments  were 
not  those  of  St.  Ambrose  only  ;'  his  words  are 
but  the  expression  of  the  feelings  of  the  whole 
Church.  Without  referring  to  numberless  proofs 
which  I  might  adduce  here,  and  before  I  pass 
to  the  canons  which  I  mean  to  insert,  I  will 
copy  some  passages  from  a  touching  letter  of 
St.  Cyprian,  which  contains  the  motives  which 
animated  the  Church  in  her  pious  enterprise, 
and  gives  a  lively  description  of  her  zeal  and 
charity  in  these  admirable  efforts. 

"  Cyprianus  Januario,  Maximo,  Proculo, 
Victori,  Modiano,  Nemeslano,  Nampulo,  et 
Honorato,  fratribus  salutem.  Cum  maximo 
animi  nostri  gemitu  et  non  sine  lacrymis  legi- 
mus  litteras  vestras,  fratres  carissimi,  quas 
ad  nos  pro  dilectionis  vestrse  sollicitudine  de 
fratrum  nostrorum  et  sororum  captivitate  fe- 
cistis.  Quis  enim  non  doleat  in  ejusmodi 
casibus,  aut  quis  non  dolorem  fratris  sui 
suum  proprium  computet  cum  loquatur  apos- 
tolus  Paulus  et  dicat :  Si  patitur  unum  mem- 


brum,  compatiuntur  et  ccetera  membra :  si  Ice- 
tatur  membrum  unum,  collcetantur  et  eastern 
membra.  (1  ad  Cor.  xii.  26.)  Et  alio  loco  :  Quis 
infirmatur,  inquit,  et  non  ego  infirmor  ?  (2  ad 
Cor.  xi.  29.)  Quare  nunc  et  nobis  capti vitas 
fratrum  nostra  captivitas  computanda  est,  et 
periclitantium  dolor  pro  nostro  dolore  nume- 
randus  est,  cum  sit  scilicet  adunationis  nostrae 
corpus  unum,  et  non  tantum  dilectio  sed  et 
religio  instigare  nos  deb  eat  et  confortare  ad 
fratrum  membra  redimenda.  Nam  cum  denuo 
apostolus  Paulus  dicat :  Nescitis  quia  templum 
Dei  estis,  et  Spiritus  Dei  habitat  invobis?  (1 
ad  Cor.  iii.  16),  etiamsi  charitas  nos  minus 
adigeret  ad  opem  fratribus  ferendam,  consider- 
andum  tamen  hoc  in  loco  fuit,  Dei  templum 
esse  quae  capta  sunt,  nee  pati  nos  longa  cessa- 
tione  et  neglecto  dolore  debere,  ut  diu  Dei 
templa  capti  vasint;  sed  quibus  possumus  viri- 
bus  elaborare  et  velociter  gerere  ut  Christum 
judicem  et  Dominum  et  Deum  nostrum  pro- 
mereamur  obsequiis  nostris.  Nam  cum  dicat 
Paulus  apostolus,  Quotquot  in  Christo  baptizati 
estis,  Christum  induistis  (ad  (Jal.  iii.  27,)  in 
captivis  fratribus  nostrus  contemplandus  est 
Christus  et  redimendus  de  periculo  captivitatis, 
qui  nos  de  diaboli  faucibus  exuit,  nunc  ipse  qui 
manet  et  habitat  in  nobis  de  barbarorum  mani- 
bus exuatur,  et  redimatur  nummaria  quantitate 
qui  nos  cruce  redemit  et  sanguine. 


Quantus  vero  communis  omnibus  nobis  inoeror 
atque  cruciatus  est  de  periculo  virginum  quae 
illic  tenentur  ?  pro  quibus  non  tantum  liberta- 
.tis,  sed  et  pudoris  jactura  plangenda  est,  nee 
tarn  vincula  barbarorum  quam-  lenonum  et  lu- 
panarium  stupra  deflenda  sunt,  ne  membra 
Christo  dicata  et  in  aeternum  continentise  hono- 
rum  pudiaa  virtute  devota,  insultantium  libidine 
et  contagione  foedentur  ?  Quae  omnia  istic  se- 
cundum  litteras  vestras  fraternitas  nostra  co- 
gitans  et  dolenter  examinans,  prompte  omnes 
et  libenter  ac  largiter  subsidia  nummaria  fratri- 
bus contulerunt. 


Misimus  autem  sestertia  centum  millia  num- 
morum,  quae  istic  in  ecclesia  cui  de  Domini 
indulgentia  praesumus,  cleri  et  plebis  apud  nos 
consistentis  collatione,  collecta  sunt,  quae  vos 
illic  pro  vestra  diligentia  dispensabitis. 

Si  tamen  ad  explorandam  nostri  anima  chari- 
tatem,  et  examinandi  nostri  pectoris  fidem  tale 
aliquid  acciderit,  nolite  cunctari  nuntiare  hasc 
nobis  litteris  vestris,  pro  certo  habentes  eccle- 
siam  nostram  et  fraternitatem  istic  universam, 
ne  hsec  ultra  fiant  precibus  orare,  si  facta 
fuerint,  libenter  et  largiter  subsidia  praestare." 
(Epist.  60.) 

Thus  the  zeal  for  the  redemption  of  captives, 
a  zeal  which  was  exerted  with  so  much  ardor 
in  later  ages,  had  appeared  in  the  earliest  times 
of  the  Church  ;  this  zeal  was  founded  on  grand 
and  sublime  motives,  which  render  this  work 
in  some  measure  divine,  and  secure  to  those 
who  devote  themselves  to  it  an  unfading  crown. 
Important  information  on  this  subject  will  be 
found  also  in  the  works  of  St.  Gregory.  (V. 
lib.  iii.  ep.  16 ;  lib.  iv.  ep.  17 ;  lib.  vi.  ep.  35  j 
lib.  vii.  ep.  26,  28,  and  38;  lib.  ix.  ep.  17.) 


.,* 


* 


NOTES. 


datum  est,  a  vobis  quolibet  tempore  repetotur, 
hujus  praecepti  auctoritate  suspicionem  ves- 
tram  praevidimus  auferendam;  constituentes, 
nullam  vos  exinde,  haeredesque  vestros  quolibet 
tempore  repetitionis  molestiam  sustinere,  nee 
a  quoquam  vobis  aliquam  objici  quasstionem." 
(L.  7,  ep.  14,  et  hab.  Cuas.  12,  q.  2,  c.  15.) 

The  property  of  the   Church  served  to  ransom 

captives. 
(Concilium  Vernense  secundum,  anno  844.) 

"Ecclesiae  facultates  quas  reges  et  reliqui 
christiani  Deo  voverunt,  ad  alimentum  servo- 
rum  Dei  et  pauperum,  ad  exceptionem  hospi- 
tum,  redemptionis  captivorum,  atque  templorum 
Dei  instaurationem,  nunc  in  usu  saecularium 
detinentur.  Hinc  multi  servi  Dei  penuriam 
cibi  et  potus  ac  vestimentorum  patiuntur, 
pauperes  consuetam  eleemosynam  non  acci- 
piunt,  negliguntur  hospites,  fraudantur  captivi, 
et  fama  omnium  merito  laceratur."  (Canon  12.) 

Let  us  observe  in  this  canon  the  use  which 
the  Church  made  of  her  property ;  after  having 
supported  the  clergy,  and  maintained  divine 
worship,  she  devoted  it  to  succor  the  poor, 
travellers  or  pilgrims,  and  to  redeem  captives. 
I  make  this  observation  here,  because  the 
opportunity  offers;  not  because  this  canon  is 
the  only  proof  of  the  excellent  use  which  the 
Church  made  of  her  property.  Indeed,  a  great 
number  of  others  might  be  cited,  beginning 
with  the  canons  called  Apostolical.  It  is  ne- 
cessary also  to  remark  the  expression  which  is 
sometimes  made  use  of  to  stigmatize  the  wick- 
edness of  the  spoilers  of  the  Church,  or  of  those 
who  administer  her  property  badly ;  they  are 
called  pauperum  necatores,  'murderers  of  the 
poor;'  to  make  it  well  understood  that  one  of 
the  principal  objects  of  this  property  is  the 
support  of  the  necessitous. 

I  IV. 

Those  who  attempt  to  take  away  the  liberty  of 

persons  are  excommunicated. 
(Concilium  Lugdunense  secundum,  anno  566.) 
"  Et  qui  peccatis  facientibus  multi  in  perni- 
ciem  animae  suso  ita  conati  sunt,  aut  conantur 
assurgere,  ut  animas  longa  temporis  quiete  sine 
ulla  status  sui  competitione  viventes,  nunc 
improba  proditione  atque  traditione,  aut  cap- 
tivaverint  aut  captivare  conentur,  si  juxta 
praeceptum  domini  regis  emendare  distulerint, 
quousque  hos  quos  obduxerunt,  in  loco  in  quo 
longum  tempus  quiete  vixerint,  restaurare  de- 
beant,  ecclesiae  communione  priventur."  (Ca- 
non 3.)  , 

We  see  in  this  canon  that  private  individu- 
als, by  too  frequent  attempts,  employed  vio- 
lence to  reduce  free  persons  to  slavery.  At 
this  time,  on  account  of  the  irruptions  of  the 
barbarians,  the  state  of  Europe  was  such,  that 
public  authority,  weak  in  the  extreme,  did 

mittit  auctoritates,  lici  res  ecclesiastical  in  not,  properly  speaking,  exist.  This  is  the  rea- 
redemptionem  captivorum  impendi.  Et  ideo,  \  son  why  it  is  so  noble  to  see  the  Church  strug- 
quia  edocti  a  vobis  sumus,  ante  annos  fere  18,  gling  every  where  to  support  public  order,  to 

"*"'""'  defend  liberty,    and    excommunicating   those 

who  attacked,  that  liberty,  in  contempt  of  the 
commands  of  the  king. 

The  same  abuse  repressed. 
(Concilium  Rhemense,  anno  625  vel  630.) 
"  Si  quis  ingenuum  aut  liberum  ad  aervitium 


The  property  of  the   Church  employed  for  the 

redemption  of  captives. 

(Concilium  Matisconense  secundum,  anno  585.) 
"  Unde  statuimus  ac  decernimus,  ut  mos 
antiquus  a  fidelibus  reparetur;  et  decimas 
ecclesiasticis  famulantibus  ceremoniis  populus 
omnis  inferat,  quas  sacerdotes  aut  in  pauperum 
usum  aut  in  captivorum  redemptionem  prozro- 
gantes,  suis  orationibus  pacem  populo  ac  salu- 
tem  impetrent :  si  quis  autem  contumax  nostris 
statutis  saluberrimis  fuerit,  a  membris  ecclesiae 
omni  tempore  separetur."  (Canon  5.) 

It  is  allowed  to  break  up  the  sacred  vessels,  in 
order  to  devote  the  price  of  them  to  the  re- 
demption of  captives. 

(Concilium  Rhemense,  anno  625  vel.  630.) 

"  Si  quis  episcopus,  excepto  si  evenerit  ardua 
necessitas  pro  redemptione  captivorum  minis- 
teria  sancta  frangere  pro  qualicumque  condi- 
tione  presumpserit,  ab  officio  cessabit  ecclesiae." 
(Canon  22.) 

The  following  canon  informs  us  that  the 
Bishops  gave  letters  of  recommendation  to  the 
captives ;  they  are  desired  to  state  therein  the 
date  and  price  of  the  ransom;  they  are  re- 
quested also  to  mention  there  the  wants  of  those 
who  are  thus  restored  to  liberty. 

(Concilium  Lugdunense  tertium,  anno  583.) 

"Id  etiam  de  epistolis  placuit  captivorum, 
ut  ita  sint  sancti  pontifices  cauti,  ut  in  servitio 
pontificibus  consistentibus  qui  eorum  manu  vel 
subscriptione  agnoscat  epistolse  aut  quaelibet 
insinuationum  litterae  dari  debeant,  quatenus 
de  subscriptionibus  nulla  ratione  possit  Deo 
propitio  dubitari:  et  epistola  commendationis 
pro  necessitate  cujuslibet  promulgata  dies  da- 
tarilm  et  pretia  constituta,  vel  necessitates 
captivorum  quos  cum  epistolis  dirigunt,  ibidem 
inserantur."  (Canon  2.) 

Excess  into  which  some  ecclesiastics  allowed 
themselves  to  fall,  by  an  indiscreet  zeal  in 
favor  of  captives. 

(Synodus  S.  Patricii,  Auxilii  et  Isernini  Episcoporum 
in  Hibernia  celebrata,  circa  annum  Christi  450  vel 
456.) 

"  Si  quis  clericorum  voluerit  juvare  captivo 
cum  suo  pretio  illi  subveniat,  nam  si  per  furtum 
ilium  inviolaverit,  blasphemantur  multi  clerici 
per  unum  latronem,  qui  sic  fecerit  excommu- 
nionis  sit."  (Canon  32.) 

The  church  employed  her  property  in  the 
ransom  of  captives;  and  when  the  latter  had 
afterwards  acquired  the  means  of  repaying  the 
sums  advanced  for  them,  she  refused  all  reim- 
bursement and  graciously  gave  up  the  price  of 
the  ransom. 

(Ex  epistolis  S.  Gregorii.) 

"  Sacrorum  canonum  statuta  et  legalis  per- 


virum  reverendissimum  quemdam  Fabium, 
Episcopum  Ecclesiae  Firmanse,  libras  11  ar- 
genti  de  eadem  ecclesia  pro  redemptione 
vestra,  ac  patris  vestri  Passivi,  fratris  et  co- 
episcopi  nostri,  tune  vero  clerici,  necnon  matris 
vestree,  hostibus  impendisse,  atque  ex  hoc 
quamdam  formidinem  vos  habere,  ne  hoc  quod 

55  2M 


434 


NOTES. 


inclinare  voluerit,  aut  fortasse  jam  fecit,  et 
commonitus  ab  episcopo  se  de  inquietudine 
ejus  revocare  neglexerit,  aut  emendare  noluerit, 
tamquam  calumniae  reum  placuit  sequestrari." 
(Canon  17.) 

It  is  declared  that  Tie  who  leads  away  a  Chris- 
tian to  sell  him,  is  guilty  of  homicide. 

(Concilium  Confluentinum,  anno  922.) 
"Item  interrogatum  est,  quid  de  eo  faci- 
endum sit  qui  christianum  hominem  seduxerit, 
et  sic  vendiderit :  responsumque  est  ab  omni- 
bus, homicidii  reatum,  ipsum  hominem  sibi 
contrahere."  (Canon  7.) 

The  traffic  in  men,  practised   at  that  time  in 

England,  is  proscribed ;    it  is  forbidden   to 

sell  men  like  ignoble  animals. 

(Concilium  Londinense,  anno  1102.) 

"Ne  quis  illud  nefarium  negotium  quo  hac- 
tenus  in  Anglia  solebant  homines  sicut  bruta 
animalia  venundari,  deinceps  ullatenus  facere 
prassumat." 

We  see,  from  the  canon  which  I  have  just 
cited,  to  what  point  the  Church  had  attained 
in  all  that  affects  true  civilization.  We  are  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  and  it  is  considered 
that  a  great  step  has  been  gained  in  modern 
civilization  by  the  consent  of  the  great  Euro- 
pean nations  to  sign  treaties  to  suppress  the 
slave-trade ;  now  the  canon  which  we  have 
just  cited  tells  us,  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  century,  and  in  that  very  town  of 
London,  where  the  famous  Convention  was 
lately  held,  the  traffic  in  men  was  forbidden, 
and  stigmatized  as  it  deserves.  Nefarium 
negotium — detestable  trade — it  is  called  by 
the  Council :  infamous  traffic,  it  is  called 
Tjy  modern  civilization,  the  unconscious  heir 
of  the  thoughts  and  even  the  words  of  those 
men  who  are  treated  by  it  as  barbarians, 
of  those  Bishops,  whom  calumny  has  more  or 
less  represented  as  a  band  of  conspirators 
against  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  the  human 

•'arc. 

ft  t*  ordered  that  persons  who  have  been  sold  or 
pledged,  shall  immediately  recover  their  liberty 
by  restoring  the  price  received  ;  it  is  ordained 
that  more  shall  not  be  required  of  them  than 
they  shall  have  received  for  their  liberty. 

(Synodus  incerti  loci,  circa  annum  616.) 

"  De  ingenuis  qui  se  pro  pecunia  aut  alia 
revendiderint,  vel  oppignoraverint,  placuit  ut 
quandoquidem  pretium,  quantum  pro  ipsis 
•datum  est,  invenire  potuerunt,  absque  dilatione 
ad  statum  suae  conditionis  reddito  pretio  re- 
formentur,  nee  amplius  quam  pro  eis  datum 
est  requiratur.  Et  interim,  si  vir  ex  ipsis,  ux- 
orem  ingenuam  habuerit,  aut  mulier  ingenuum 
habuerit  maritum,  filii  qui  ex  ipsis  nati  fue- 
rint,  in  ingenuitate  permaneant."  (Canon  14.) 

The  text  of  this  Council,  held,  according  to 
some,  at  Boneuil,  well  deserves  to  have  some 
remarks  made  on  it.  The  beneficial  regulation 
which  allowed  a  man  who  had  been  sold  to 
regain  his  liberty  by  paying  the  sum  received, 
checked  an  evil  which  was  deeply  rooted  in 
the  customs  of  Gaul  at  that  time,  for  we  find 
it  at  a  very  early  period.  We  know,  indeed, 
from  Caesar,  whose  testimony  we  have  cited  in 


the  text,  that  many  men  of  that  country  sold 
their  liberty  to  relieve  themselves  from  diffi- 
culties. Let  us  also  remark  the  regulation 
contained  in  the  same  canon  with  respect  to 
the  children  of  the  person  who  was  sold; 
whether  it  be  the  father  or  mother,  the  canon 
prescribes,  in  both  cases,  that  the  children 
shall  be  free ;  and  it  here  departs  from  the 
well  known  rule  of  civil  law :  partus  sequitur 
ventrem. 

IT. 

It  is  forbidden  to  give  up  to  the  Jews  the  slaves 
who  have  taken  refuge  in  the  churches;  it  mat- 
ters little  whether  they  have  chosen  that  asylum, 
because  their  masters  obliged  them  to  things 
contrary  to  the  Christian  faith,  or  because 
they  have  been  maltreated  by  them  after  hav- 
ing been  once  withdrawn  from  the  sacred  asy- 
lum under  the  promise  of  pardon. 

(Concilium  Aurelianense  tertium,  anno  538.) 
"De  mancipiis  Christianis,  qua). in  Judaeorum 
servitio  detinentur,  si  eis  quod  Christiana  reli- 
gio  vetat,  a  dominis  imponitur,  aut  si  eos  quos 
de  ecclesia  excusatos  tollent,  pro  culpa  quae 
remissa  est,  affligere  aut  caedere  fortasse  prae- 
sumpserint,  et  ad  ecclesiam  iterate  confuge- 
rint,  nullatenua  a  sacerdote  reddantur,  nisi 
pretium  offeratur  ac  detur,  quod  mancipia  ipsa 
valere  pronuntiaverit  justa  taxatio."  (Canon 
13.) 

The  precept  given  in  the  preceding  canon  is  re- 
newed; a  precept  contained  in  the  canon  which 
we  have  just  cited. 

(Concilium  Aurelianense  quartum,  anno  541.) 
"  Cum  prioribus  canonibus  jam  fuerit  defini- 
tum  ut  de  mancipiis  Christianis,  quae  apud 
Judaeos  sunt,  si  ad  ecclesiam  confugerint,  et 
redimi  se  postulaverint,  etiam  ad  quoscumque 
Christianos  refugerint,  et  servire  Judaeis  nolu- 
erint,  taxato  et  oblato  a  fidelibus  justo  pretio, 
ab  eorum  dominio  liberentur,  ideo  statuimus,  ut 
tarn  justa  constitutio  ab  omnibus  catholicis 
conservetur."  (Canon  30.) 

The  Jew  who  perverts  a  Christian  slave  is  pun- 
ished with  the  loss  of  all  his  slaves.  (Ibid.) 

"Hoc  etiam  decernimus  observandum,  ut 
quicumque  Judaeus  proselytum,  qui  advena  di- 
citur,  Judaeum  facere  praesumpserit,  aut  Chris- 
tianum  factum  ad  Judaicam  Buperstitionem  ad- 
ducere;  vel  si  Judaeus  Christianam  ancillam 
suam  sibi  crediderit  sociandam ;  vel  si  de  pa- 
rentibus  Christianis  natum,  Judaeum  sub  pro- 
missione  fecerit  libertatis,  mancipiorum  amis- 
sione  mulctetur."  (Canon  31.) 

Jews  are  forbidden   to   have   Christian    slaves 
henceforth;  as  to  those  who  are  in  their  power, 
all  Christians  are  allowed  to  ransom  them  by 
paying  their  Jewish  matters  twelve  solidi. 
(Concilium  Matisconense  primum,  anno  581.) 
"Et  liceat  quid  de   Christianis  qui    aut  de 
captivitatis  incursu,  aut  fraudibus  Judaeorum 
servitio    implicantur,    clebeat   observari,    non 
solum  canonicis  statutis,  sed  et  leguin  beneficio 
pridem  fuerit  constituturn ;    tamen  quia  nunc 
item  quo  rumdam  querela  exorta  est,  quosdam 
Judaeos,  per  civitates  aut  municipia  consisten- 
tes,  in  tan  turn  insolentiam  et  proterviam  pro- 


NOTES. 


435 


rupisse,  ut  nee  reclamantes  Christianos  lieeat 
vel  pretio  de  eorum  servitute  absolvi :  idcirco 
prassenti  concilio,  Deo  auctore,  sancimus,  ut 
nullus  Christianas  Judaeos  deinceps  debeat  de- 
servire ;  sed  datis  pro  quolibet  bono  mancipio 
12  solidis,  ipsummancipium  quicumque  Chris- 
tianus,  seu  ad-ingenuitatem,  seu  ad  servitium, 
licentiam  habeat  redimendi  j  quia  nefas  est,  ut 
quos  Christus  Dominus  sanguinis  sui  effusione 
redemit,  persecutorum  vinculis  maneant  irre- 
titi.  Quod  si  acquiescere  his  quae  statuimus 
quicumque  Judaeus  noluerit,  quaindiu  ad  pecu- 
niam  constitutam  venire  distulerit,  lieeat  man- 
cipio ipsi  cum  Christianis  ubicumque  voluerit 
habitare.  Illud  etiam  specialiter  sancientes, 
quod  si  quis  Judaeus  Christianum  mancipium 
ad  errorem  Judaicum  convictus  fuerit  suasisse, 
ut  ipse  mancipio  careat,  et  legandi  damnatione 
plectatur."  (Canon  16.) 

The  preceding  canon  is  almost  equivalent)  to 
a  decree  for  the  entire  emancipation  of  Chris- 
tian slaves  ;  for  if,  on  the  one  hand,  Jews  were 
forbidden  to  acquire  new  Christian  slaves,  and, 
on  the  other,  those  who  were  in  their  posses- 
sion could  be  redeemed  by  the  first  Christian 
who  came,  it  is  clear  that  the  charity  of  the 
faithful  thus  finding  a  door  open  to  it,  the 
number  of  Christian  slaves  who  groaned  in  the 
power  of  the  Jews  must  have  diminished  in  an 
extraordinary  manner.  It  is  not  said  that 
these  canonical  regulations  of  the  Church  from 
the  first  moment  obtained  all  the  result  which 
was  intended  j  but,  as  she  was  the  only  power 
that  remained  standing  at  that  time,  and  the 
only, one  that  exercised  influence  on  the  na- 
tions, it  cannot  be  doubted  that  her  regulations 
were  infinitely  advantageous  to  those  in  whose 
favor  they  were  established. 

Jews  are  forbidden  to  acquire  Christian  slaves. 
If  a  Jew  perverts  to  Judaism,  or  circumcises 
a  Christian  slave,  the  latter  becomes  free  with- 
out having  any  thing  to  pay  to  his  master. 

(Concilium  Toletanum  tertium,  anno  589.) 

"  Suggerente  concilio,  id  gloriossimus  domi- 
nus  noster  canonibus  inserendum  praecipit,  ut 
Judaeis  non  lieeat  Christianas  habere  uxores, 
neque  mancipia  contparare  in  usus  proprios.  .  . 

"  Si  qui  vero  Christian!  ab  eis  Judaico  ritu 
sunt  maculati,  vel  etiam  circumcisi,  non  reddito 
pretio  ad  libertatem  et  religionem  redeant 
Christianam."  (Canon  14.) 

This  canon  is  remarkable,  both  because  it 
protects  the  conscience  of  the  slave,  and  im- 
poses on  masters  a  punishment  favorable  to 
liberty.  This  manner  of  checking  the  arbi- 
trary power  of  those  who  violated  the  con- 
sciences of  their  slaves,  is  found,  during  the 
following  century,  in  a  curious  example  con- 
tained in  the  collection  of  the  laws  of  Ina, 
queen  of  the  West  Saxons.  It  is  this  : 

If  a  master  makes  his  slave  work  on  Sunday, 
the  alave  becomes  free. 

(Leges  YmereginaeSaxonum  Occiduorum,  anno  692.) 

"  Si  servus  operetur  die  dominica  per  prae- 
cepturn  domini  sui,  sit  liber."  (Leg.  iii.) 


Another  curious  example  : 

If  a  master  gives  meat  to  a  slave  on  a  fasting- 
day,  the  slave  becomes  free. 
(Concilium   Berg'harristedse   anno  5°  Withredi  regis 

Cantii,  id  est  Christ!  697  :  sub  Bertualdo  Cantuari- 

ensi  archiepiscopo  celebratum.    Haec  sunt  judicia 

Withredi  regis  Cantuariorum.) 

"Si. quis  servo  suo  carnem  in  jejunio  dedi- 
derit  comedendam.  servus  liber  exeat."  (Canon 
15.) 

It  is  definitively  forbidden  for  Jews  to  have 
Christian  slaves;  all  contravention  of  this 
order  shall  deprive  the  Jews  of  all  their 
slaves,  who  shall  obtain  their  liberty  from  the 
prince. 

(Concilium  Toletanum  quartum,  anno  633.) 
"  Ex  decreto  gloriosissimi  principis  hoc  sanc- 
tum elegit  concilium,  ut  Judaeis  non  lieeat 
Christianos  servos  habere,  nee  Christiana  man- 
cipia emere,  nee  cujusquam  consequi  largitate  : 
nefas  est  enim  ut  membra  Christi  serviant  An- 
tichristi  ministris.  Quod  si  deinceps  servos 
Christianos,  vel  ancillas  Judaei  habere  prse- 
sumpserint,  sublati  ab  eorum  dominatu  liber- 
tatem a  principe  consequantur."  (Canon  66.) 

It  is  forbidden  to  sell  Christian  slaves  to  Jews 

or   Gentiles;  if  such  sales  have  been  made, 

they  shall  be  annulled. 

(Concilium  Rhemense,  anno  625.) 

."  Ut  Christian!  Judaeis  vel  Gentilibus  non 
vendantur ;  et  si  quis  Christianorum  necessi- 
tate cogente  mancipia  sua  Christiana  elegerit 
venundanda,  non  aliis  nisi  tantum  Christianis 
expendat.  Nam  si  paganis  aut  Judaeis  vendi- 
derit,  communione  privetur,  et  emptio  careat 
firmitate."  (Canon  11.) 

No  precaution  was  too  great  in  those  unhap- 
py times.  It  might  appear  at  first  that  such 
regulations  were  an  effect  of  the  intolerance 
of  the  Church  with  respect  to  the  Jews  and 
Pagans ;  and  yet,  in  reality,  they  were  a  bar- 
rier against  the  barbarism  which  invaded  all  ; 
they  were  a  guarantee  of  the  most  sacred 
rights  of  man ;  so  much  the  more  necessary, 
as  all  the  others,  it  may  be  said,  had  disap- 
peared. Read  the  document  which  we  are 
about  to  transcribe;  you  will  there  see  that 
barbarism  was  carried  so  far,  that  slaves  were 
sold  to  the  Pagans  to  be  sacrificed. 

(Gregorius  Papa  III.  ep.  ad  Bonifacium  Archiepisco- 
pum,  anno  731.) 

"  Hoc  quoque  inter  alia  crimina  agi  in  par- 
tibus  illis  dixisti,  quod  quidam  ex  fidelibus  ad 
immolandum  paganis  sua  venundent  mancipia. 
Quod  ut  magnopere  corrigere  debeas,  frater, 
commonemus,  nee  sinas  fieri  ultra;  scelus  est 
enim  et  impietas.  Eis  ergo  qui  haec  perpetra- 
verunt,  similem  homicidse  indices  pceniten- 
tiam." 

These  excesses  must  have  occupied  the  ac- 
tive attention  of  the  Church,  as  we  see  the 
Council  of  Liptines,  held  in  743,  again  insist 
on  this  point,  and  forbid  Christian  slaves  to  be 
given  up  to  the  Gentiles. 

"Et  ut  mancipia  Christiana  paganis  non 
tradantur."  (Canon  7.) 


436 


NOTES. 


It  is  forbidden  to  sell  a  Christian  slave  out  of 
the  territory  comprised  within  the  kingdom  of 
Clovis. 

(Concilium  Cabilonense,  anno  650.) 
"Pietatis  estmaximas  et  religionis  intuitus,  ; 
ut  captivitatis  vinculum  omnino  a  Christianis  | 
redimatur.    Unde  sancta  Synodus  noscitur  cen- 
suisse,  ut  nullus  mancipium  extra  fines  vel  ter- 
minos,  qui  ad  regnum  domini   Clodovei  regis 
pertinent,   debeat   venundare,  ne  quod  absit, 
per  tale  commercium,  aut  captivitatis  vinculo, 
vel  quod  pejus  est,  Judaica  servitute  mancipia 
Christiana  teneantur  implicita."     (Canon  9.) 

This  canon,  which  forbids  the  selling  of  Chris- 
tian slaves  out  of  the  kingdom  of  Clovis,  for 
fear  that  they  should  fall  into  the  power  of  the 
Pagans  and  Jews,  and  the  other  of  the  Council 
of  Rheims,  cited  above,  which  contains  a  simi- 
lar regulation,  are  worthy  of  remark,  under 
two  aspects ;  they  show,  1st,  the  high  respect 
which  we  ought  to  have  for  the  soul  of  man, 
even  of  him  who  is  a  slave,  since  it  is  forbidden 
to  sell  him  where  his  conscience  might  be  in 
danger :  a  respect  which  it  was  very  important 
to  maintain,  both  in  order  to  eradicate  the  er- 
roneous maxims  of  antiquity  on  this  point, 
and  because  it  was  the  first  step  towards  eman- 
cipation. 2d.  By  limiting  the  power  of  sale, 
there  was  introduced  into  that  kind  of  property 
a  law  which  distinguished  it  from  others,  and 
placed  it  in  a  different  and  more  elevated  cate- 
gory. This  was  a  great  step  made  towards 
declaring  open  war  against  this  property  itself, 
and  abolishing  it  by  legitimate  means. 
Clerics  who  sold  their  slaves  to  Jews  are  severely 
reproved :  they  are  threatened  with  alarming 
punishments. 

(Concilium  decimum  Toletanum,  anno  656.) 
"  Septimae  collationis  immane  satis  et  infan- 
dum  operationis  studium  nunc  sanctum  nostrum 
adiit  concilium  ;  quod  plerique  ex  sacerdotibus 
et  levitis,  qui  pro  sacris  ministeriis,  et  pietatis 
studio,  gubernationisque  augmento  sancta)  ec- 
clesiae deputati  sunt  officio,  malunt  imitari  tur- 
bam  malorum,  potius  quam  sanctorum  patruin 
insistere  mandatis :  ut  ipsi  etiam  qui  redimere 
debuerunt,  venditiones  facere  intendant,  quos 
Christi  sanguine  praesciunt  esse  redemptos ;  ita 
duntaxat,  ut  eorum  dominio  qui  sunt  empti  in 
ritu  Judaismo  convertantur  oppressi,  et  fit  exe- 
crabile  coinmereium,  ubi  nitente  Deo  justum 
est  sanctum  adesse  conventum  ;  quia  majorum 
canones  vetuerunt  ut  nullus  Judaeorum  conju- 
gia  vel  servitia  habere  praesumat  de  Christi- 
anorum  coetu." 

Here  the  Council  eloquently  reprimands  the 
guilty ;  it  continues  : 

"Si  quis  enim  post  hanc  definitionem  talia 
agere  tentaverit,  noverit  se  extra  ecclesiam 
fieri,  et  praesenti,  et  future  judicio  cum  Juda 
simili  po3na  percelli,  dum  modo  Dominum 
denuo  proditionis  pretio  malunt  ad  iracundiam 
provocare."  (Canon  7.) 

in. 

Pope  St.  Gregory  the  First  gives  freedom  to 
two  slaves  of  the  Church  of  Home.  Remarkable 
passage,  in  which  this  holy  pope  explains  the 
motives  which  induced  the  Christians  to  enfran- 
chise their  slaves. 

"  Cum  Redemptor  noster  totius  conditor  crea- 
tures ad  hoc  propitiatus  humanam  voluerit  car- 


nem  assumere,  ut  divinitatis  suse  gratia,  diruto 
quo  tenebamur  captivi  vinculo  servitutis,  pristi- 
nse  nos  restitueret  libertati ;  salubriter  agiter, 
si  homines  quos  ab  initio  natura  creavit  liberos 
et  protulit,  et  jus  gentium  jugo  substituit  ser- 
vitutis, in  ea  natura  in  qua  nati  fuerant,  manu- 
mittentis  beneficio,  libertati  reddantur.  Atque 
ideo  pietatis  intuitu,  et  hujus  rei  consideratione 
permoti,  vos  Montanam  atque  Thomam  fa- 
mulos  sanctse  Romanae  Ecclesiae,  cui  Deo  adju- 
tore  deservimus,  liberos  ex  hac  die  civesque 
Romanes  efficimus,  omneque  vestrum  vobis 
relaxamus  servitutis  peculium."  (S.  Greg.  1. 
v.  ep.  12.) 

Bishops  are  directed  to  respect  the  liberty  of 
those  who  have  been  enfranchised  by  their 
predecessors.  Mention  is  made  of  the  power 
given  to  Bishops  to  free  their  slaves  tcho  deserve 
well,  and  the  sum  is  fixed  which  they  may  give 
them  to  aid  them  in  living. 

(Concilium  Agathense,  anno  506.) 
"  Sane  si  quos  de  servis  ecclesise  benemeritos 
sibi  episcopus  libertate  donaverit,  collatam 
libertatem  a  successoribus  placuit  custodiri, 
cum  hoc  quod  eis  manumissor  in  libertate  con- 
tulerit,  quod  tamen  jubemus  viginti  solidorurn 
numerum,  et  modum  in  terrula,  vineola,  vel 
hospitiolo  tenere.  Quod  amplius  datum  fuerit, 
post  manumissoris  mortem  ecclesia  revocabit." 
(Canon  7.) 

What  has  been  mortaged  or  alienated  from  the 
property  of  the  Church  by  a  Bishop  who  has 
left  nothing  of  his  own,  must  be  restored  ;  but 
enfranchised   slaves  are  excepted   from    this 
rule :  they  shall  preserve  their  liberty. 
(Concilium'  Aurelianense  quartum,  anno  541.) 
"  Ut  episcopus  qui  de  facultate  propria  eccle- 
siae  nihil  relinquit,  de  ecclesiae  facultate  si  quid 
aliter   quam    canones   eloquunter   obligaverit, 
vendiderit,  aut  distraxerit,  ad  ecclesiam  revo- 
cetur.  Sane  si  de  servis  ecclesiae  libertos  fecerit 
numero  competent!,  in  ingenuitate  permaneant, 
ita  ut  ab  officio  ecclesiae  non  recedant."     (Ca- 
non 9.) 

An  English  Council  ordains  that,  at  the  death 
of  each  Bishop,  all  his  English  slaves  shall  be 
freed.  The  solemnization  of  the  obsequies  is 
regulated ;  to  terminate  the  funeral  ceremonies, 
each  Bishop  and  abbot  shall  enfranchise  three 
slaves,  by  giving  them  each  three  solidi. 

(Synodus  Cellichytensis,  anno  816.) 
"Decimo  jubetur,  et  hoc  firmiter  statuimus 
'  asservandum,  tarn  in  nostris  diebus,  quamque 
I  etiam  futuris  temporibus,  omnibus  successori- 
bus nostris  qui  post  nos  illis  sedibus  ordinentur 
quibus  ordinati  suinus :  ut  quandocumque  ali- 
quis   ex   numero   episcoporum   migraverit   de 
saeculo,  hoc  pro  anima  illius  praecipimus,  ex 
substantia  uniuscumque  rei  decimarn  partem 
dividere,    ac   distribuere   pauperibus   in   elee- 
mosynam,  sive  in  pecoribus,  et  armentis,   seu 
:  de    ovibus    et    porcis,  vel   etiam  in  cellariis, 
nee  nom  omnem  hominem  Anglicum  liberare,  qui 
in  diebus  suis  sit  servituti  subjectns,  ut  per  illud 
sui  proprii  laboris  fructum  retributionis  per- 
•  cipere  mereatur,  et  indulgentiam  peccatorum. 
:  Nee  ullatenus  ab  aliqua  persona  huic  capitulo 
contradicatur,  sed    magis,  prout    condecet,  a 
successoribus  augeatur,  et  ejus  memoria  semper 
in  posterum  per   universas   ecclesias   nostrae 


NOTES. 


437 


tlitioni  subjectas  cum  Dei  laudibus  habeatur  et 
honoretur.  Prorsus  orationes  et  eleemosynas 
quae  inter  nos  specialiter  condictam  habemus, 
id  est,  ut  statim  per  singulas  parochias  in 
singulis  quibusque  ecclesiis,  pulsato  signo,  om- 
nis  famuloruin  Dei  coetus  ad  basilicam  conve- 
niant,  ibique  pariter  xxx  psalmos  pro  defuncti 
animae  decantent.  Et  postea  unusquisque  antis- 
tes  et  abbas  sexcentos  psalmos,  et  centum  vi- 
ginti  missas  celebrare  faciat,  et  tres  homines 
liberet  et  eorum  cuilibet  tres  solidos  distribuat." 
(Canon  10.) 

A  curious  document,  which  shows  the  generous 
resolution  made  by  the  Council  of  Armagh 
in  Ireland,  to  give  liberty  to  all  the  English 
slaves. 

(Concilium  Ardamachiense  in  Hibernia  celebratum, 
anno  1171 :  ex  Giraldo  Cambrensi,  cap.  xxviii. 
Hiberniae  expugnatse.) 

"His  completis  convoeato  apud  Ardama- 
chiam  totius  Hiberniae  clero,  et  super  advena- 
rum  in  insulam  adventu  tractate  diutius  et 
deliberate,  tandem  communis  omnium  in  hoe 
sententia  resedit :  propter  peccata  scilicet  po- 
puli  sui,  eoque  praecipue  quod  Anglos  olim,  tam 
a  mercatoribus,  quam  praedonibus  atque  piratis, 
emore  passim,  et  in  servitutem  redigere  con- 
sueverant,  divinae  censura  vindictse  hoc  eis 
incommodum  accidisse,  ut  et  ipsi  quoque  ab 
eadem  gente  in  servitutem  vice  reciproca  jam 
redigantur.  Anglorum  namque  populus  adhuc 
integro  eorum  regno,  communi  gentis  vitio, 
liberos  suos  venales  exponere,  et  priusquam 
inopiam  ullam  aut  inediam  sustinerent,  filios 
proprios  et  cognatos  in  Hiberniam  vendere 
consueverant.  Unde  et  probabiliter  credi  po- 
test,  sicut  venditores  olim,  ita  et  emptores,  tam 
enormi  delicto  juga  servitutis  jam  meruisse. 
Decretum  est  itaque  in  praadicto  concilio,  et 
cum  universitatis  consensu  publice  statutum, 
ut  Angli  ubique  per  insulam,  servitutis  vinculo 
mancipati,  in  pristinam  revocentur  libertatem." 

It  is  thus  that  religious  ideas  influence  and 
soften  the  ferocious  manners  of  nations.  When 
a  public  calamity  occurs,  they  immediately  find 
its  cause  in  the  divine  anger,  justly  excited  by 
the  traffic  which  the  Irish  carried  on  by  buy- 
ing English  slaves  of  merchants,  robbers,  and 
pirates.  It  is  not  less  curious  to  learn,  that  at 
that  time  the  English  were  barbarous  enough 
to  sell  their  children  and  relations,  like  the 
Africans  of  our  days.  This  frightful  custom 
must  have  been  pretty  general,  as  we  read  in 
the  passage  quoted,  that  it  was  the  common 
vice  of  those  nations :  communi  gentis  vitio. 
This  makes  us  better  understand  the  necessity 
of  a  regulation  inserted  above,  that  of  the 
Council  of  London,  held  in  1102,  which  pro- 
scribes this  infamous  traffic  in  men. 

/(  is  forbidden  to  change  the  slaves  of  the  Church 
for  other  slaves,  unless  the  exchange  procured 
their  liberty. 

(Ex  concilio  apud  Sylvanectum,  anno  864.) 
"  Mancipia  ecclesiastica,  nisi  ad  libertatem 
uon  convenit  commutari ;  videlicet  ut  mancipia, 
quae  pro  ecclesiastico  homine  dabuntur,  in  ec- 
clesias  servitute  pennaneant,  et  ecclesiasticus 
homo,  qui  commutatur,  fruatur  perpetua  liber- 
tate.  Quod  enim  semel  Deo  consecratum  est, 
ad  humanos  usus  transferri  non  decet."  (V. 
Decret.  Greg.  IX.,  1.  iii.  tit.  19,  cap.  3.) 


A  Canon  containing  the  same  regulation  as  the 
preceding  ;  and  whence,  moreover,  it  appears, 
that  the  faithful,  for  the  salvation  of  their 
souls,  were  accustomed  to  offer  their  slaves  to 
God  and  the  Saints. 

(Ex  eodem,  anno  864.) 

"  Injustum  videtur  et  impium,  ut  mancipia, 
quae  fideles  Deo  et  sanctis  ejus  pro  remedio 
animae  suae  consecrarunt,  cujuscumque  muneris 
mancipio,  vel  commutationis  commercio  iterum 
in  servitutem  secularium  redigantur,  cum  ca- 
nonica  auctoritas  servos  tantummodo  permittat 
distrahi  fugitives.  Et  ideo  ecclesiarum  rectores 
summopere  caveant,  ne  eleemosyna  unius,  alte- 
rius  peccatum  fiat.  Et  est  absurdum,  ut  ab 
ecclesiastica  dignitate  servus  discedens,  hu- 
manae  sit  obnoxius  servituti."  (Ibid.  cap.  4.) 

Freedom  shall  be  granted  to  slaves  icho  wish  to 
embrace  the  monastic  state,  yet  without  ne- 
glecting useful  precautions  to  ascertain  the 
reality  of  their  vocation. 

(Concilium  Romanum  sub  S.  Gregorio  I.,  anno  597.) 
"  Multos  de  ecclesiastica  seu  saeculari  familia, 
novimus  ad  ornnipotentis  Dei  servitium  festi- 
nare,  ut  ab  humana  servitute  liberi  in  divino 
servitio  valeant  familiarius  in  monasteriis  con- 
versari,  quos  si  passim  dimittimus,  omnibus 
fugiendi  ecclesiastici  juris  dominium  occasio- 
nem  prsebemus  :  si  vero  festinantes  ad  omnipo- 
tentis  Dei  servitium,  incaute  retinemus,  illi 
invenimur  negare  quaedam  qui  dedit  omnia. 
Unde  necesse  est,  ut  quisquis  ex  juris  ecclesi- 
astici vel  saecularis  militiae  servitute  ad  Dei 
servitium  converti  desiderat,  probetur  prius  in 
laico  habitu  constitutus  :  et  si  mores  ejus  atque 
conversatio  bona  desiderio  ejus  testimonium 
ferunt,  absque  retractatione  servire  in  monas- 
terio  omnipotenti  Domino  permittatur,  ut  ab 
humano  servitio  liber  recedat,  qui  in  divino 
obsequio  districtiorem  appetit  servitutem."  (S. 
Greg,  epist.  44.  lib.  iv). 

The  abuse  of  ordaining  slaves  loithout  the  con- 
sent of  their  masters  had  spread ;  this  abuse 
is  checked. 

(Ex  epistolis  Gelasii  Papee.) 
"  Ex  antiquis  regulis  et  novella  synodali  ex- 
planatione  comprehensum  est,  personas  ob- 
noxias  servituti,  cingulo  coelestis  militiae  non 
praecingi.  Sed  nescio  utrum  ignorantia  an 
voluntate  rapiamini,  ita  ut  ex  hac  causa  nullus 
pene  Episcoporum  videatur  extorris.  Ita  enim 
nos  frequens  et  plurimorum  querela  nos  cir- 
cumstrepit,  ut  ex  hac  parte  nihil  penitus  pute- 
tur  constitutum."  (Distin.  54.  c.  9.) 

"Frequens  equidem,  et  assidua  nos  querela, 
circumstrepit  de  his  pontificibus,  qui  nee  anti- 
quas  regulas  nee  decreta  nostra  noviter  directa 
cogitantes,  obnoxias  possessionibus  obligatas- 
que  personas,  venientes  ad  clericalis  officii 
cingulum'non  recusant."  (Ibid.  c.  10.) 

"Actores  siquidem  filiae  nostrae  illustris  et 
magnificae  feminae,  Maximae,  petitorii  nobis 
insinuatione  conquesti  sunt,  Sylvestrum  atque 
Candidum,  origin arios  suos,  contra  constitu- 
tiones,  quae  supradictae  sunt,  et  contradictione 
praeeunte  a  Lucerino  Pontifice  diaconos  ordi- 
natos."  (Ibid  c.  11.) 

"  Generalis  etiam  querelce  vitanda  prcesump- 
tio  est,  qua  propemodum  causantur  un\vertit 


2M2 


438 


NOTES. 


passim  servos  et  originarios,  dominorum  jura, 
possessionumque  fugientes,  sub  religiosae  con- 
versationis  obtentu,  vel  ad  monasteria  sese 
tfonferre,  vel  ad  ecclesiasticum  famulatum,  con- 
niventibus  quippe  praesulibus,  indifferenter 
admitti.  Quae  modis  omnibus  est  amovenda 
pernicies,  ne  per  Christiani  nominis  institutum 
aut  aliena  pervadi,  aut  publica  videatur  dis- 
ciplina  subverti."  (Ibid.  c.  12.) 

The  pariah  priests  are  allowed  to  choose  some 
clerics  from  the  slaves  of  the   Church. 

(Concilium  Emeritense,  anno  666.) 
"Quidquid  unanimiter  digne  disponitur  in 
sancta  Dei  ecclesia,  necessarium  est  ut  a  paro- 
chitanis  presbyteris  custoditum  maneat.  Sunt 
enim  nonnulli,  qui  ecclesiarum  suarum  res  ad 
plenitudinem  habent,  et  sollicitudo  illis  nulla 
est  habendi  clericos,  cum  quibus  omnipotenti 
Deo  laudum  debita  persolvant  officia.  Proinde 
instituit  haec  sancta  synodus,  ut  oinnes  paro- 
chitani  presbyteri,  juxta  ut  in  rebus  sibi  a  Deo 
creditis  sentiunt  habere  virtutem,  de  ecclesiae 
suae  familia  clericos  sibi  faciant;  quos  per 
bonam  voluntatem  ita  nutriant,  ut  et  officium 
sanctum  digne  paragant,  et  ad  servitium  suuin 
aptos  eos  habeant.  Hi  etiam  victum  et  vesti- 
tum  dispensatione  presbyteri  merebuntur,  et 
domino  et  presbytero  suo,  atque  utilitati  eccle- 
siee  fideles  esse  debent.  Quod  si  inutiles  appa- 
ruerint  ut  culpa  patuerit,  correptione  discipline 
feriantur  ;  si  quis  presbyterorum  hanc  senten- 
tiam  minime  custodierit,  et  non  adimpleverit, 
ab  episcopo  suo  corrigatur :  ut  plenissime  cus- 
todiat,  quod  digne  jubetur."  (Canon  18.) 

It  is  prescribed  to  the  Bishops  to  confer  liberty 
on  the  slaves  of  the  Church  before  they  admit 
them  into  the  clerical  body. 

(Concilium  Toletanum  nonum,  anno  655.) 
"  Qui  ex  fainiliis  ecclesiae  servituri  devocan- 
tur  in  clerum  ab  episcopis  suis,  necesse  est,  ut 
libertatis  percipiant  donum :  et  si  honestaa  vitse 
claruerint  meritis,  tune  do  mum  majoribus  fun- 
gantur  omciis.  (Canon  11.) 

It  is  allowed  to  ordain  the  slaves  of  the  Church, 
liberty  having  been  previously  conferred  on 
them. 

(Concilium  quartern  Toletanum,  anno  633.) 
"  De  familiis  ecclesiae  constituere  presby  teros 
ut  diaconos  per  parochias  liceat;  quos  tamen 
vitee  rectitude  et  probitas  morum  commendat : 
ea  tamen  ratione,  ut  antea  manumissi  liberta- 
tem  status  sui  percipiant,  et  denuo  ad  ecclesias- 
ticos  honores  succedant;  irreligiosum  est  enim 
obligates  existere  servituti,  qui  sacri  ordinis 
suscipiunt  dignitatem." 

§  VII. 

We  have  shown  in  the  text  by  what  means, 
with  what  wisdom  and  perseverance  Christian- 
ity abolished  slavery  in  the  ancient  world; 
Christian  and  Catholic  Europe  was  free  at  the 
time  when  Protestantism  appeared.  Let  us 
now  see  what  Catholicity  has  done  in  modern 
times,  with  respect  to  slaves  in  other  parts  of 
the  world.  We  can  present  to  our  readers  in 
one  document,  which  is  the  evidence  of  the 
ideas  and  feelings  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff 
Gregory  XVI.,  an  interesting  history  of  the 


solicitude  of  the  Roman  See  in  favor  of  the 
slaves  of  the  whole  universe.  I  mean  the 
apostolical  letters  published  at  Rome,  Novem- 
ber 3,  1839,  against  the  slave-trade;  and  I 
recommend  the  perusal  of  them.  It  will  be 
there  seen,  in  the  most  authentic  and  decisive 
manner,  that  the  Catholic  Church,  on  this  im- 
portant subject  of  slavery,  has  always  showed, 
and  shows  still,  the  most  lively  spirit  of  charity, 
without  in  the  least  offending  against  justice, 
or  for  a  moment  departing  from  the  path  of 
prudence.  .' 

Gregorius  P.  P.  XVI.  ad  futuram  rei  me- 
moriam. 

"  Raised  to  the  supreme  degree  of  the  apos- 
tolical dignity,  and  filling,  although  without 
any  merit  on  our  part,  the  place  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  who,  by  the  excess  of 
His  charity,  has  deigned  to  become  man,  and 
die  for  the  redemption  of  the  world;  we  con- 
sider that  it  belongs  to  our  pastoral  solicitude 
to  exert  all  our  efforts  to  prevent  Christians 
from  engaging  in  the  trade  in  blacks  or  any 
other  men,  whoever  they  may  be. 

"As  soon  as  the  light  of  the  Gospel  began 
to  spread,  the  unfortunate  men  who  fell  into 
the  hard  fate  of  slavery  during  the  numerous 
wars  of  that  period,  felt  their  condition  im- 
proved ;  for  the  apostles,  inspired  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  on  the  one  hand,  taught  slaves  to  obey 
their  earthly  masters,  as  Jesus  Christ  Himself, 
and  to  be  resigned  from  the  bottom  of  their 
heart  to  the  will  of  God;  but,  on  the  other, 
they  commanded  masters  to  behave  well  to 
their  slaves,  to  grant  them  what  was  just  and 
equitable,  and  not  to  treat  them  with  anger, 
knowing  that  the  Lord  of  both  is  in  heaven, 
and  that  with  Him  there  is  no  distinction  of 
persons. 

"  The  law  of  the  Gospel  having  very  soon 
universally  and  fundamentally  ordained  sincere 
charity  towards  all,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  having 
declared  that  He  would  regard  as  done  or  re- 
fused to  Himself  all  the  acts  of  beneficence 
and  mercy  done  or  refused  to  the  poor  and 
little  ones — it  naturally  followed  that  Chris- 
tians not  only  regarded  their  slaves  as  brethren, 
above  all  when  they  were  become  Christians, 
but  that  they  were  more  inclined  to  give  liberty 
to  those  who  rendered  themselves  worthy  of 
it.  This  usually  took  place  particularly  on 
the  solemn  feasts  of  Easter,  as  St.  Gregory  of 
Nyssa  relates.  There  were  even  found  some 
who,  inflamed  with  more  ardent  charity,  em- 
braced slavery  for  the  redemption  of  their 
brethren  ;  and  an  apostolic  man,  our  predeces- 
sor, Pope  Gregory  I.,  of  sacred  memory,  attests 
that  he  had  known  a  great  many  who  perform- 
ed this  work  of  mercy.  Wherefore  the  dark- 
ness of  Pagan  superstition  being  entirely  dis- 
sipated in  the  progress  of  time,  and  the 
manners  of  the  most  barbarous  nations  being 
softened, — thanks  to  the  benefit  of  faith  work- 
ing by  charity, — things  advanced  so  far,  that 
for  many  centuries  there  have  been  no  slaves 
among  the  greater  part  of  Christian  nations. 
Yet  (we  say  it  with  profound  sorrow)  men  have 
been  since  found,  even  among  Christians,  who, 
shamefully  blinded  by  the  desire  of  sordid 
gain,  have  not  hesitated  to  reduce  into  slavery, 
in  distant  countries,  Indians,  Negroes,  and 


NOTES. 


439 


other  unfortunate  races;  or  to  assist  in  this 
scandalous  crime,  by  instituting  and  organizing 
a  traffic  in  these  unfortunate  beings,  who  had 
been  loaded  with  chains  by  others.  A  great 
number  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs,  our  predeces- 
sors pf  glorious  memory,  have  not  forgotten  to 
stigmatize,  throughout  the  extent  of  their 
jurisdiction,  the  conduct  of  these  men  as  in- 
jurious to  their  salvation,  and  disgraceful  to 
the  Christian  name;  for  they  clearly  saw  that 
it  was  one  of  the  causes  which  tended  most 
powerfully  to  make  infidel  nations  continue  in 
their  hatred  to  the  true  religion. 
"This  was  the  object  of  the  apostolical  letters 
of  Paul  III.,  of  the  29th  of  May,  1537,  ad- 
dressed to  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Toledo, 
under  the  ring  of  the  fisherman,  and  other 
letters,  much  more  copious,  of  Urban  VIII., 
of  the  22d  April,  1639,  addressed  to  the  col- 
lector of  the  rights  of  the  Apostolic  Chamber 
in  Portugal, — letters,  in  which  the  most  severe 
censures  are  cast  upon  those  who  venture  to 
reduce  the  inhabitants  of  the  East  or  West 
Indies  into  slavery,  buy,  sell,  give,  or  exchange 
them,  separate  them  from  their  wives  and 
children,  strip  them  of  their  property,  take  or 
send  them  into  strange  places,  or  deprive  them 
of  their  liberty  in  any  way ;  to  retain  them  in 
slavery ;  or  aid,  counsel,  succor,  or  favor  those 
who  do  these  things  under  any  color  or  pre- 
tence whatever ;  or  preach  or  teach  that  this 
is  lawful,  and,  in  fine,  co-operate  therewith  in 
any  way  whatever.  Benedict  XIV.  has  since 
confirmed  and  renewed  these  pontifical  ordi- 
nances before  mentioned  by  new  apostolical 
letters  to  the  Bishops  of  Brazil  and  some  other 
countries,  dated  the  20th  December,  1741,  by 
means  of  which  he  calls  forth  the  solicitude  of 
the  Bishops  for  the  same  purpose.  A  long 
time  before,  another  of  our  more  ancient  pre- 
decessors, Pius  II.,  whose  pontificate  saw  the 
empire  of  the  Portuguese  extended  in  Guinea 
and  in  the  country  of  the  blacks,  addressed 
letters,  dated  the  7th  of  October,  1482,  to  the 
Bishop  of  Ruvo,  who  was  ready  to  depart  for 
those  countries:  in  these  letters  he  did  not 
confine  himself  to  giving  to  this  prelate  the 
means  requisite  for  exercising  the  sacred  min- 
istry in  those  countries  with  the  greatest  fruit, 
but  he  took  occasion  very  severely  to  blame 
the  conduct  of  those  who  reduced  the  neo- 
phytes into  slavery.  In  fine,  in  our  days,  Pius 
VII.,  animated  by  the  same  spirit  of  charity 
and  religion  as  his  predecessors,  zealously  in- 
terposed his  good  offices  with  men  of  authority 
for  the  entire  abolition  of  the  slave-trade 
among  Christians. 

''Those  ordinances,  and  this  solicitude  of  our 
predecessors,  have  availed  not  a  little,  with  the 
aid  of  God,  in  defending  the  Indians,  and  other 
n  ions  who  have  just  been  mentioned,  against 
the  oarbarity  of  conquest,  and  the  cupidity  of 
Christian  merchants ;  but  the  Holy  See  is  far 
from  being  able  to  boast  of  the  complete  suc- 
cess of  its  efforts  and  zeal,  for,  if  the  slave-  ' 
trade  has  been  partially  abolished,  it  is  still 
carried  on  by  a  great  many  Christians.  Where- 
fore, desiring  to  remove  such  a  disgrace  from  ' 
all  Christian  countries,  after  having  maturely  ' 
considered  the  matter  with  many  of  our  vene- 
rable brethren,  the  Cardinals  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Church,  assembled  in  Council,  following 
the  example  of  our  predecessors,  by  virtue  of , 


the  apostolic  office,  we  warn  and  admonish  in 
the  Lord  all  Christians,  of  whatever  condition 
they  may  be,  and  enjoin  upon  them  that,  for 
the  future,  no  one  shall  venture  unjustly  to 
oppress  the  Indians,  Negroes,  or  other  men, 
whoever  they  may  be ;  to  strip  them  of  their 
property  or  reduce  them  into  servitude  :  or 
give  aid  or  support  to  those  who  commit  such 
excesses,  or  carry  on  that  infamous  'traffic,  by 
which  the  blacks,  as  if  they  were  not  men,  but 
mere  impure  animals,  reduced  like  them  into 
servitude,  without  any  distinction,  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  justice  and  humanity,  are  bought, 
sold,  and  devoted  to  endure  the  hardest  labors  ; 
and  on  account  of  which  dissensions  are  ex- 
cited and  almost  continual  wars  are  fomented 
among  nations  by  the  allurements  of  gain  pf- 
fered  to  those  who  first  carry  away  the  Negroes. 

"Wherefore,  by  virtue  of  the  apostolical 
authority,  we  condemn  all  these  things  afore- 
said, as  absolutely  unworthy  of  the  Christian 
name ;  and,  by  the  same  authority,  we  abso- 
lutely prohibit  and  interdict  all  ecclesiastics 
and  laymen  from  venturing  to  maintain  that 
this  traffic  in  blacks  is  permitted,  under  any 
pretext  or  color  whatsoever ;  or  to  preach  or 
teach  in  public  or  in  private,  in  any  way  what- 
ever, anything,  contrary  to  these  apostolic 
letters.  And  in  order  that  these  letters  may 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  all,  and  that  no  one 
may  pretend  ignorance,  we  ordain  and  decree 
that  they  be  published  and  posted  up,  accord- 
ing to  custom,  by  one  of  our  officers,  on  the 
doors  of  the  basilica  of  the  Prince  of  the  Apos- 
tles, of  the  Apostolic  Chancery,  of  the  Palace 
of  Justice,  of  Monte  Citorio,  and  at  the  Campo 
di  Fiori.  Given  at  Rome,  at  St.  Mary  Major's, 
under  the  seal  of  the  fisherman,  the  3d  of  No- 
vember, 1839,  the  ninth  year  of  oiir,Pontificate. 
Louis,  CARDINAL  LAMBRUSCHINI." 

I  again  particularly  invite  attention  to  the 
document  which  I  have  just  inserted — to  these 
letters  which  magnificently  crown  the  united 
efforts  of  the  Church  for  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
As  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade — the  object 
of  a  treaty  recently  made  between  the  great 
powers — is  at  this  moment  one  of  the  affairs 
which  occupy  the  chief  attention  of  Europe,  it 
is  proper  to  pause  a  few  moments,  to  reflect  on 
the  contents  of  the  apostolic  letters  of  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff  Gregory  XVI.  Let  us  ob- 
serve, in  the  first  place,  that  in  the  year  1482, 
Pope  Pius  II.  addressed  apostolical  letters  to 
the  Bishop  of  Ruvo,  about  to  depart  for  the 
newly  discovered  countries — letters,  in  which 
he  did  not  exclusively  confine  himself  to  giving 
the  prelate  the  powers  necessary  to  exercise 
his  holy  ministry  with  the  greatest  fruit  in 
those  countries,  but  in  which  he  takes  occasion 
to  censure  very  severely  the  conduct  of  Chris- 
tians who  reduced  the  neophytes  into  slavery. 
Exactly  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  at 
the  time  when  it  may  be  said  that  the  Church 
gathering  the  last  fruit  of  her  long  labors,  at 
length  saw  Europe  emerge  from  the  chaos  ia 
which  the  irruption  of  the  barbarians  had 
plunged  her;  at  the  time  when  the  social  and 
political  institutions  were  developed  with  daily 
increasing  ardor,  and  began  to  form  a  regular 
and  coherent  body ;  at  this  moment  the  Church 
resumes  her  secular  contest  with  another  bar- 
barism which  reappeared  in  distant  countries  ; 
she  opposes  the  abuse  of  the  superiority  of 


440 


NOTES. 


strength  and  intelligence,  which  the  conquerors 
possessed  over  the  conquered  nations. 

This  fact  alone  proves  that,  for  the  true 
liberty  and  well-being  of  nations,  for  the  just 
pre-eminence  of  right  over  might,  and  for  the 
triumph  of  justice  over  force,  the  intelligence 
and  refinement  of  nations  are  not  enough — re- 
ligion also  is  required.  In  ancient  times,  we 
see  nations  cultivated  to  the  highest  point 
commit  unheard  of  atrocities  :  and  in  modern 
times,  Europeans,  so  proud  of  their  knowledge 
and  advancement,  introduce  slavery  among 
the  unfortunate  nations  who  have  fallen  under 
their  dominion.  Now,  who  was  the  first  to 
raise  a  voice  against  such  injustice — against 
such  horrible  barbarity?  It  was  not  policy, 
which  perhaps  rejoiced  to  see  its  conquests 
consolidated  by  slavery  ;  it  was  not  commerce 
which  found  in  this  infamous  traffic  an  easy 
means  of  making  shameful  but  abundant 
profits;  it  was  not  philosophy,  which,  fully 
explaining  the  doctrines  of  Plato  and  Aristotle, 
would  perhaps  have  seen  without  concern  the 
resuscitation  of  the  degrading  theory  of  races 
born  for  slavery  ;  but  it  was  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion, expressing  herself  by  the  mouth  of  the 
Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ- 
It  is  certainly  a  consolatory  spectacle  for 
Catholics  to  see  a  Roman  Pontiff,  four  centuries 
ago,  condemn  what  Europe,  with  all  her  civili- 
zation and  refinement,  condemns  only  at  the 
present  day.  Still,  Europe  only  does  so  with 
difficulty ;  and  all  those  who  take  part  in  this 
tardy  condemnation  are  not  exempt  from  the 
suspicion  of  being  actuated  by  motives  of 
interest.  N"o  doubt  the  Roman  Pontiff  did  not 
effect  all  the  good  he  intended  ;  but  doctrines 
do  not  remain  sterile  when  they  emanate  from 
a  high  quarter,  whence,  diffusing  themselves  to 
great  distances,  they  descend  on  persons  who 
receive  them  with  veneration,  if  it  were  only 
on  account  of  him  who  teaches  them.  The 
conquering  nations  were  then  Christians,  and 
sincere  ones ;  it  is  therefore  indubitable,  that 
the  admonitions  of  the  Pope,  transmitted  by 
the  mouths  of  Bishops  and  other  priests,  must 
have  had  very  salutary  effects.  If,  in  cases 
like  this,  where  we  see  a  measure  taken  against 
an  evil,  the  evil  nevertheless  resists  and  con- 
tinues, we  imagine,  by  a  grievous  mistake,  that 
the  measure  has  been  vain,  and  that  its  author 
has  produced  no  effect.  It  is  one  thing  to  ex- 
tirpate, and  another  to  diminish  an  evil ;  and 
it  cannot  be  doubted  that,  if  the  Bulls  of  the 
Popes  had  not  all  the  effect  intended,  they 
must  nevertheless  have  served  to  diminish  the 
evil,  by  improving  the  lot  of  nations  fallen 
under  the  yoke.  The  evil  prevented  and 
avoided  is  not  seen  ;  the  preservative  has  hin- 
dered its  existence:  but  the  existing  evil  is 
palpable — it  affects  us,  it  excites  our  regret, 
and  we  often  forget  the  gratitude  due  to  the 
hand  which  has  preserved  us  from  greater 
evils.  How  often  is  it  thus  with  respect  to  re- 
ligion !  She  cures  many  things,  but  she  pre- 
vents still  more.  If  she  takes  possession  of  the 
heart  of  man,  it  is  in  order  to  destroy  there 
even  the  very  roots  of  a  thousand  evils. 

Let  us  imagine  the  Europeans  of  the  fifteenth 
century  invading  the  East  and  West  Indies, 
without  any  check,  guided  only  by  the  inspira- 
tions of  cupidity,  and  by  the  caprices  of  arbi- 
trary power,  full  of  the  pride  of  conquerors, 


and  of  the  contempt  with  which  the  Indians 
must  have  inspired  them,  on  account  of  the 
inferiority  of  their  knowledge,  and  of  their 
backwardness  in  civilization  and  refinement : 
what  must  have  happened  ?  If,  in  spite  of  the 
incessant  cries  of  religion,  in  spite  of  the  in- 
fluence which  she  had  on  laws  and  manners, 
the  conquered  nations  have  had  so  much  to 
suffer,  would  not  the  evil  have  been  carried  to 
an  intolerable  extent,  without  those  powerful 
causes  which  incessantly  combated,  prevented 
or  diminished  it  ?  The  conquered  would  have 
been  reduced  into  slavery  en  masse  :  they  would 
have  been  condemned  en  masse  to  perpetual 
degradation  ;  they  would  have  been  deprived 
even  of  the  hope  of  one  day  entering  on  the 
career  of  civilization. 

If  the  conduct  of  Europeans  at  that  time 
with  respect  to  men  of  other  races — if  the  con- 
duct of  some  nations  of  our  own  days  is  to  be 
deplored,  it  cannot  be  said  at  least  that  the 
Catholic  religion  has  not  opposed  such  excesses 
with  all  her  strength ;  it  cannot  be  said  that 
the  Head  of  the  Church  has  ever  allowed  these 
evils  to  pass  without  raising  his  voice  to  recall 
to  mind  the  rights  of  men,  to  stigmatize  injus- 
tice, to  excite  abhorrence  of  cruelty,  and  ener- 
getically to  plead  the  cause  of  humanity,  with- 
out distinction  of  races,  climates,  or  colors. 

Whence  does  Europe  derive  this  lofty  idea 
and  this  generous  feeling,  which  urge  her  to 
declare  herself  so  strongly  against  the  traffic  in 
men,  and  to  demand  the  complete  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  colonies  ?  When  posterity  shall 
call  to  mind  these  glorious  facts ;  when  it  shall 
adopt  them  as  marking  a  new  era  in  the  annals 
of  civilization  ;  when,  studying  and  analyzing 
the  causes  which  have  conducted  European 
legislation  and  manners  to  so  high  a  pitch,  and, 
passing  over  temporary  and  unimportant  mo- 
tives, insignificant  circumstances,  and  second- 
ary agents,  it  shall  seek  for  the  vital  principle 
which  impelled  European  civilization  towards 
so  glorious  an  end,  it  will  find  that  this  principle 
was  Christianity;  and  if,  desiring  to  fathom 
the  question  more  and  more,  it  should  inquire 
whether  this  was  Christianity,  under  a  vague 
and  general  form — Christianity  without  autho- 
rity— Christianity  without  Catholicity — the 
answer  of  history  will  be  this :  Catholicity, 
exclusively  prevailing  in  Europe,  abolished 
slavery  among  the  European  races  ;  she  intro- 
duced the  principle  of  the  abolition  of  slavery 
into  European  civilization,  by  showing  practi- 
cally, and  in  opposition  to  the  opinion  of  anti- 
quity, that  slavery  was  not  necessary  for 
society  ;  and  she  made  it  understood,  that  the 
sacred  work  of  enfranchisement  was  the  foun- 
dation of  all  great  and  life-giving  civilization. 
She  has  therefore  inoculated  European  civiliza- 
tion with  the  principle  of  the  abolition  of 
slavery ;  it  is  owing  to  her  that,  wherever  this 
civilization  has  come  into  contact  with  slavery, 
it  has  been  profoundly  disturbed — an  evident 
proof  that  there  were  at  the  bottom  two  oppo- 
site elements,  two  con  tending  principles,  which 
were  compelled  to  struggle  incessantly,  until 
the  more  powerful,  noble,  and  fruitful  prevail- 
ing, and  reducing  the  other  under  the  yoke,  in 
the  end  annihilated  it.  I  will  say  more :  by 
searching  whether  facts  really  confirm  this 
influence  of  Catholicity,  not  only  in  all  that 
concerns  the  civilization  of  Europe,  but  also  in 


NOTES. 


441 


the  countries  which  Europeans  have  conquered 
two  centuries  ago,  in  the  East  and  West,  we 
shall  meet  with  Catholic  Bishops  and  priests 
working  without  intermission  in  improving  the 
lot  of  colonial  slaves  ;  we  shall  call  to  mind 
what  is  due  to  the  Catholic  missions  ;  we  shall 
read  and  understand  the  apostolical  letters  of 
Pius  II.,  issued  in  1482,  and  mentioned  above ; 
those  of  Paul. III.,  in  1537;  those  of  Urban 
VIIL,  in  1639;  those  of  Benedict  XIV.,  in 
1741  ;  and  those  of  Gregory  XVL,  in  1839. 

In  these  letters  there  is  taught  and  denned 
all  that  has  been  or  can  be  said  on  this  point 
in  favor  of  humanity.  We  shall  there  find 
blamed,  condemned,  and  punished,  all  that 
European  civilization  has  at  length  resolved 
to  condemn  and  punish ;  and  when  calling  to 
mind  also  that  it  was  Pius  VII.,  who,  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  zealously  interposed 
his  good  offices  with  men  in  power  for  the  com- 
plete abolition  of 'slavery  among  Christians,  we 
shall  not  be  a,ble  to  avoid  acknowledging  and 
confessing  that  Catholicity  has  had  the  princi- 
pal share  in  this  great  work.  It  is  she  indeed 
who  has  laid  down  the  principle  on  which  the 
work  rests,  who  has  established  the  precedents 
which  guide  it,  who  has  constantly  proclaimed 
the  principles  which  have  suggested  it  and  has 
constantly  condemned  those  who  have  opposed 
it:  it  is  she,  in  fine,  who  at  all  times  has  de- 
clared open  war  against  cruelty  and  cupidity, 
— the  support  and  perpetual  motives  for  in- 
justice and  inhumanity.  Let  us  hear  the  testi- 
mony of  a  celebrated  Protestant  author,  Ro- 
bertson, the  historian  of  America :  "  From  the 
time  that  ecclesiastics  were  sent  as  instructors 
into  America,  they  perceived  that  the  rigor 
with  which  their  countrymen  treated  the  na- 
tives rendered  their  ministry  altogether  fruit- 
less. The  missionaries,  in  conformity  with  the 
mild  spirit  of  that  religion  which  they  were  em- 
ployed to  publish,  soon  remonstrated  against 
the  maxims  of  the  planters  with  respect  to  the 
Americans,  and  condemned  the  repartimientos, 
or  distributions,  by  which  they  were  given  up 
as  slaves  to  their  conquerors,  as  no  less  con- 
trary to  natural  justice  and  the  precepts  of 
Christianity,  than  to  sound  policy.  The  Domini- 
cans, to  whom  the  instruction  of  the  Americans 
was  originally  committed,  were  the  most  vehe- 
ment in  attacking  the  repartimientos.  In  the 
year  1511,  Motesino,  one  of  their  most  eminent 
preachers,  inveighed  against  this  practice  in  the 
great  church  at  St.  Domingo,  with  all  the  im- 
petuosity of  his  natural  eloquence.  Don  Diego 
Columbus,  the  principal  officers  of  the  colony, 
and  all  the  laymen  who  had  been  his  hearers, 
complained  of  the  monk  to  his  superiors;  but 
they,  instead  of  condemning,  applauded  his 
doctrine,  as  equally  pious  and  seasonable.  The 
Franciscans,  influenced  by  the  spirit  of  oppo- 
sition and  rivalship  which  subsists  between  the 
two  orders,  discovered  some  inclination  to  take 
part  with  the  laity,  and  to  espouse  the  defence 
of  the  repartimientos.  But  as  they  could  not 
with  decency  give  their  approbation  to  a  sys- 
tem of  oppression  so  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of 
religion,  they  endeavored  to  palliate  what  they 
could  not  justify,  and  alleged  in  excuse  for  the 
conduct  of  their  countrymen,  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  carry  on  any  improvement  in  the 
colony,  unless  the  Spaniards  possessed  such 
dominion  over  the  natives,  that  they  could 
56 


compel  them  to  labor.     The  Dominicans,  re- 
gardless of  such  political  and  interested  con- 
siderations, would  not  relax  in  any  degree  the 
rigor  of  their  sentiments,  and  even  refused  to 
absolve,  or  admit  to  the  sacrament,  such  of 
their  countrymen  as  continued  to  hold  the  na- 
tives in  servitude.    Both  parties  applied  to  the 
king  for  his  decision  in  a  matter  of  such  im- 
portance.    Ferdinand  empowered  a  committee 
of   his  Privy  Council,  assisted  by  some  of  the 
most  eminent  civilians  and  divines  in  Spain, 
to  hear  the  deputies  sent  from  Hispaniola  in 
support  of  their  respective  opinions.     After  a 
long  discussion,  the  speculative  point  in  con- 
troversy was  determined  in   favor  of  the  Do- 
minicans; the  Indians  were  declared  to  be  a 
free  people,  entitled  to  all  the  natural  rights 
of    man;   but  notwithstanding   this  decision, 
the  repartimientos  were  continued  upon  their 
ancient  footing.     As   this   determination   ad- 
mitted the  principle  upon  which  the  Dominicans 
founded  their  opinion,  they  renewed  their  ef- 
forts to  obtain  relief  for  the  Indians  with  addi- 
tional boldness  and  zeal.     At  length,  in  order 
to  quiet  the  colony,  which  was  alarmed  by  their 
remonstrances  and  censures,  "Ferdinand  issued 
a  decree  of  his  Privy  Council  (1513),  declaring 
that  after  mature  consideration  of  the  apostolic 
Bull,  and  other  titles  by  which  the  Crown  of 
Castile  claimed  a  right  to  its  possessions,  in  the 
new  world,  the  servitude  of  the   Indians  was 
warranted  both  by  the  laws  of  God  and  man  ; 
that  unless  they  were  subjected  to  the  dominion 
of  the  Spaniards,  and  compelled  to  reside  under 
their  inspection,  it  would  be  impossible  to  re- 
claim them  from  idolatry,  or  to  instruct  them 
in  the  Christian  faith  ;  that  no  further  scruple 
ought  to  be  entertained  concerning  the  lawful- 
ness of  the  repartimientos,  as  the   King  and 
Council  were  willing  to  take  the  charge  of  that 
upon  their  own  consciences ;  and  that  therefore 
the  Dominicans,  and  monks  of  other  religious 
orders,  should  abstain  for  the  future  from  those 
invectives  which,  from  an  excess  of  charitable 
but  ill-informed  zeal,  they  had  uttered  against 
the  practice.     That  his  intention  of  adhering 
to  this  decree  might  be  fully  understood,  Ferdi- 
nand  conferred  new  grants  of  Indians  upon 
several  of  his  courtiers.     But  in  order  that  he 
might  not  seem  altogether  inattentive  to  the 
rights  of  humanity,  he  published  an  edic^  in 
which  he  endeavored  to  provide  for  the  mild 
treatment  of  the  Indians  under  the  yoke  to 
which  he  subjected  them;   he  regulated  the 
nature  of  the  work  which  they  should  be  re- 
quired to  perform ;  he  prescribed  the  mode  in 
which  they  should  be  clothed  and  fed,  and  gave 
directions  with  respect  to  their  instruction  in 
the  principles  of   Christianity.     But  the  Do- 
minicans, who,  from  their  experience  of  what 
bad  passed,  judged  concerning  the  future,  soon 
perceived  the   inefficacy  of  those  provisions, 
and  foretold  that,  as  long  as  it<was  the  interest 
of  individuals  to  treat  the  Indians  with  rigor, 
no  public  regulations  would  render  their  servi- 
tude mild  or  tolerable.     They  considered  it  as 
vain  to  waste  their  own  time  and  strength  in 
attempting  to  communicate  the  sublime  truths 
to  men  whose  spirits  were  broken,  and  their 
faculties  impaired   by  oppression.      Some   of 
them,  in  despair,  requested  the  permission  of 
their  superiors  to  remove  to  the  continent,  and 
pursue  the  object  of  their  mission  among  such 


442 


NOTES. 


of  the  natives  as  were  not  hitherto  corrupted 
by  the  example  of  the  Spaniards,  or  alienated 
by  their  cruelty  from  the  Christian  faith.  Such 
as  remained  in  Hispaniola  continued  to  remon- 
strate, with  decent  firmness,  against  the  servi- 
tude of  the  Indians. 

"  The  violent  operations  of  Albuquerque,  the 
new  distributor  of  the  Indians,  revived  the  zeal 
of  the  Dominicans  against  the  repartimientos, 
and  called  forth  an  advocate  for  that  oppressed 
people  who  possessed  all  the  courage,  the  ta- 
lents, and  the  activity  requisite  in  supporting 
such  a  desperate  cause.  This  was  Bartholomew 
de  las  Casas,  a  native  of  Seville,  and  one  of 
the  clergymen  sent  out  with  Columbus  in  his 
second  voyage  to  Hispaniola,  in  order  to  settle 
in  that  Island.  He  early  adopted  the  opinion 
prevalent  among  ecclesiastics  with  respect  to 
the  unlawfulness  of  reducing  the  natives  to 
servitude ;  and  that  he  might  demonstrate  the 
sincerity  of  his  conviction,  he  relinquished  all 
the  Indians  who  had  fallen  to  his  share  in  the 
division  of  the  inhabitants  among  their  con- 
querors, declaring  that  he  should  ever  bewail 
his  own  misfortune  and  guilt,  in  having  exer- 
cised for  a  moment  this  impious  dominion  over 
his  fellow-creatures.  From  that  time  he  be- 
came the  avowed  patron  of  the  Indians ;  and 
by  his  bold  interpositions  in  their  behalf,  as 
well  as  by  the  respect  due  to  his  abilities  and 
character,  he  had  often  the  merit  of  setting 
some  bounds  to  the  excesses  of  his  country- 
men." (History  of  America,  book  3.) 

It  would  be  too  long  to  relate  here  the  ener- 
getic efforts  of  De  las  Casas  in  favor  of  the 
colonies  of  the  new  world ;  all  know  them — 
all  must  know  that,  filled  with  zeal  for  the 
liberty  of  the  Indians,  he  conceived  and  under- 
took an  attempt  at  civilization  analogous  to 
that  which  was  realized  later,  to  the  immortal 
honor  of  the  Catholic  clergy,  in  Paraguay. 
If  the  efforts  of  De  las  Casas  had  not  all  the 
success  that  might  naturally  have  been  ex- 
pected, we  find  the  cause  of  this  in  the  thou- 
sand passions  with  which  history  makes  us 
acquainted,  and  perhaps  also  in  the  impetuosity 
of  this  man,  whose  sublime  seal  was  not  always 
accompanied  by  the  consummate  prudence 
which  the  Church  displays. 

However  this  may  be,  Catholicity  has  com- 
pletely accomplished  her  mission  of  peace  and 
love  :  without  injustice  or  catastrophe,  she  has 
broken  the  chains  under  which  a  large  portion 
of  the  human  race  groaned  ;  and  if  it  had  been 
given  her  to  prevail  for  some  time  in  Asia  and 
Africa,  she  would  have  achieved  their  destruc- 
tion in  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  by 
banishing  the  degradations  and  the  abomina- 
tions introduced  and  established  in  those  coun- 
tries by  Mahometanism  and  idolatry.  It  is 
melancholy,  no  doubt,  that  Christianity  has 
not  yet  exercised  over  these  latter  countries  all 
the  influence  which  would  have  been  necessary 
to  ameliorate  the  social  and  political  condition 
of  those  nations,  by  changing  their  ideas  and 
manners.  But  if  we  seek  for  the  causes  of 
this  lamentable  delay,  we  certainly  shall  not 
find  them  in  the  conduct  of  Catholicity.  This 
is  not  the  place  to  point  out  these  causes ; 
nevertheless,  while  reserving  tke  analysis  and 
complete  examination  of  this  matter  for  another 
part  of  the  work,  I  will  make  the  remark  en 
passant,  that  Protestantism  may  justly  crimi- 


nate itself  for  the  obstacles  which,  during  three 
centuries,  it  has  opposed  to  the  universality 
and  efficacy  of  the  Christian  influence  on  infi- 
del nations.  These  few  words  will  suffice  here  ; 
we  shall  return  to  this  important  subject  later. 

NOTE  16,  p.  131. 

We  can  scarcely  believe  how  far  the  ideas 
of  the  ancients  went  astray  with  regard  to  the 
respect  which  is  due  to  man.  Can  it  be  believed 
that  they  went  so  far,  as  to  regard  the  lives  of 
all  who  could  not  be  useful  to  society  as  of  no 
value  ?  and  yet  nothing  is  more  certain.  We 
might  lament  that  this  or  that  city  had  adopted 
a  barbarous  law ;  that  a  ferocious  custom  was 
introduced  among  a  people  by  the  effect  of  par- 
ticular circumstances ;  yet  as  long  as  philoso- 
phy protested  against  such  attempts,  human 
reason  would  have  been  unstained,  and  could 
not  have  been  accused  without  injustice,  of 
taking  part  in  infamous  attempts  at  abortion 
or  infanticide.  But  when  we  find  crime  de- 
fended and  taught  by  the  most  important  phi- 
losophers of  antiquity  j  when  we  see  it  triumph 
in  the  minds  of  the  most  illustrious  men,  who, 
with  fearful  calmness  and  serenity,  prescribe 
the  atrocities  which  we  have  named,  we  are 
confounded,  and  our  blood  runs  cold;  we  would 
fain  shut  our  eyes,  not  to  see  so  much  infamy 
thrown  upon  philosophy  and  human  reason. 
Let  us  hear  Plato  in  his  Republic,  in  that  book 
in  which  he  undertook  to  collect  all  the  theo- 
ries in  his  opinion  the  most  distinguished  and 
the  best  adapted  to  lead  human  society  towards 
its  beau  ideal.  This  is  his  scandalous  language : 
"Oportet  profecto  secundum  ea  quae  supra 
concessimus,  optimos  viros  mulieribus  optimis 
ut  plurimum  congredi:  deterrimos  autem  con- 
tra, deterrimis.  Et  illorem  quidem  prolem 
nutrire,  horum  minime,  si  armentum  excel- 
lentissimum  sit  futurum.  Et  heec  oinnia  dum 
agantur,  ab  omnibus  prasterquam  a  principibus 
ignorari,  si  modo  armentum  custodum  debeat 
seditione  carere."  "  Prope  admodum  j"  "Very 
good,"  replies  another  speaker.  (Plat.  Rep.  1.  v.) 

Behold,  then,  the  human  race  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  mere  brutes ;  in  truth,  the  phi- 
losopher had  reason  to  use  the  word  flock 
(armentum)  !  There  is  this  difference,  how- 
ever, that  magistrates  imbued  with  such  feel- 
ings must  have  been  more  harsh  towards  their 
subjects  than  a  shepherd  towards  his  flock.  If 
the  shepherd  finds  among  the  lambs  which 
have  just  been  born  a  weak  and  lame  one,  he 
does  not  kill  it  or  allow  it  to  die  of  hunger ;  he 
carries  it  to  the  sheep  who  ought  to  nourish  it, 
he  caresses  it  to  stop  its  cries. 

But  perhaps  the  expressions  which  we  have 
just  quoted  escaped  the  philosopher  in  a  mo- 
ment of  inadvertence  ;  perhaps  the  idea  which 
they  reveal  was  only  one  of  those  sinister  in- 
spirations which  glide  into  the  mind  of  a  man, 
and  pass  away  without  leaving  any  more  im- 
pression than  is  made  by  a  reptile  moving 
through  the  grass.  We  wish  it  were  so,  for 
the  fame  of  Plato ;  but  unhappily  he  returns 
to  it  so  often,  and  .insists  on  the  point  with  so 
systematic  a  coldness,  that  no  means  of  justi- 
fying him  are  left.  "  With  respect,"  he  says 
lower  down,  "to  the  children  of  citizens  of 
inferior  rank,  and  even  those  of  other  citizens, 
if  they  are  born  deformed,  the  magistrates 


NOTES. 


443 


shall  hide  them,  as  is  proper,  in  some  secure 
place,  which  it  shall  be  forbidden  to  reveal." 
"  Yes,"  replies  one  of  the  interlocutors ;  "  jf 
we  desire  to  preserve  the  race  of  warriors  in 
its  purity." 

Plato  also  lays  down  various  rules  with 
respect  to  the  relations  of  the  two  sexes;  he 
speaks  of  the  case  in  which  the  man  and  wo- 
man shall  have  reached  an  advanced  age : 
"  Quando  igitur  jam  mulieres  et  viri  aetatem 
generationi  aptam  egressi  fuerint,  licere  viris 
dicemus,  cuicumque  voluerint,  praeterquam 
filiEe  atque  matri  et  filiarum  natis  matrisve 
majoribus  :  licere  et  mulieribus  cuilibet,  prae- 
terquam filio  atque  patri,  ac  superioribus  et 
inferioribus  eorumdem.  Cum  vero  haec  omnia 
mandaverimus,  interdicemus  foetum  talem  (si 
contigeret)  edi  et  in  lucem  produci.  Si  quid 
auteiu  matrem  parere  coegerit,  ita  exponere 
praecipiemus,  quasi  ei  nulla  nutritio  sit." 

Plato  seems  to  have  been  very  well  pleased 
with  his  doctrine  j  for,  in  the  very  book  in 
which  he  writes  what  we  have  just  seen,  he 
lays  down  the  famous  maxim,  that  the  evils 
of  states  will  never  be  remedied,  that  societies 
will  never  be  well  governed,  until  philosophers 
shall  become  kings,  or  kings  become  philoso- 
phers. God  preserve  us  from  seeing  on  the 
throne  a  philosophy  such  as  his  !  Moreover, 
his  wish  for  the  reign  of  philosophy  has  been 
realized  in  modern  times.  What  do  I  say  ?  It 
has  had  more  than  empire  ;  it  has  been  deified, 
and  divine  honors  have  been  paid  to  it  in 
public  temples.  I  do  not  believe,  however, 
that  the  happy  days  of  the  worship  of  reason 
are  now  much  regretted. 

The  horrible  doctrine  which  we  have  just 
seen  in  Plato  was  transmitted  with  fidelity  to 
future  schools.  Aristotle,  who  on  so  many 
points  took  the  liberty  of  departing  from  the 
doctrines  of  his  master,  did  not  think  of  cor- 
recting those  which  regard  abortion  and  in- 
fanticide. In  his  Politics  he  teaches  the  same 
crimes  with  the  same  calmness  as  Plato  :  "  In 
order,"  he  says,  "  to  avoid  nourishing  weak  or 
lame  children,  the  law  should  direcfc-  them  to 
be  exposed  or  made  away  with."  "Propter 
multitudinem  autem  liberorum,  ne  plures  sint 
quam  expediat,  si  gentium  instituta  et  leges 
vetent  procreata  exponi,  definitum  esse  oportet 
procreandorum  liberorum  numerum.  Quod  si 
quibus  inter  se  copulatis  et  congressis,  plures 
liberi,  quam  definitum  sit,  nascantur,  prius- 
quam  sensus  et  vita  inseratur,  abortus  est 
foetui  inferendus."  (Polit.  1.  vii.  c.  16.) 

It  will  be  seen  how  much  reason  I  had  to 
say  that  man,  as  man,  was  esteemed  as  noth- 
ing among  the  ancients  ;  that  society  entirely 
absorbed  him ;  that  it  claimed  unjust  rights 
over  him,  and  regarded  him  as  an  instrument 
to  be  used  when  of  service,  and  which  it  had 
a  right  to  destroy. 

We  observe  in  the  writings  of  the  ancient 
philosophers,  that  they  make  of  society  a  kind 
of  whole,  consisting  of  individuals,  as  the  mass 
of  iron  consists  of  the  atoms  that  compose 
it:  they  make  of  it  a  sort  of  unity,  to  which 
all  must  be  sacrificed  ;  they  have  no  considera- 
tion for  the  sphere  of  individual  liberty ;  they 
do  not  appear  to  dream  that  the  t  object  of 
society  is  the  good,  the  happiness  of  individu- 
als and  families.  According  to  them,  this 
unity  is  the  principal  good,  with  which  no- 


thing else  can  be  compared ;  the  greatest  evil 
that  can  happen  is,  that  this  unity  should  be 
broken — an  evil  which  must  be  avoided  by  all 
imaginable  means.  "  Is  not  the  worst  evil  of 
a  state,"  says  Plato,  "that  which  divides  it, 
and  makes  many  out  of  one  f  and  is  not  the 
greatest  excellence  of  a  state,  that  which  binds 
all  its  parts  together,  and  makes  it  one  ?"  Re- 
lying on  this  principle,  and  pursuing  the  de- 
velopment of  his  theory,  he  takes  individuals 
and  families,  and  kneads  them,  as  it  were,  in 
order  to  form  them  into  ONE  compact  whole. 
Thus,  besides  education  and  life  in  common,  he 
wishes  also  to  have  women  and  children  in 
common ;  he  considers  it  injurious  that  there 
should  be  personal  enjoyments  or  sufferings ; 
he  desires  that  all  should  be  common  and 
social;  he  allows  individuals  to  live,  think, 
feel,  and  act  only  as  parts  of  a  great  whole. 
If  you  read  his  Republic  with  attention,  and 
particularly  the  fifth  book,  you  will  see  that 
the  prevailing  idea  of  this  philosopher  is  what 
we  have  just  explained.  Let  us  hear  Aristotle 
on  the  same  point :  "  As  the  object  of  society," 
he  says,  "  is  one,  it  is  clear  that  the  education 
of  all  its  members  ought  necessarily  to  be  one 
and  identical.  Education  ought  to  be  public, 
and  not  private ;  as  things  now  are,  each  one 
takes  care  of  his  children  as  he  thinks  proper, 
and  teaches  them  as  he  pleases.  Each  citizen 
is  a  particle  of  society,  and  the  care  to  be 
given  to  a  particle  ought  naturally  to  extend 
to  what  the  whole  requires."  (Polit.  1.  viii. 
c.  1.)  In  order  to  explain  to  us  what  he  means 
by  this  common  education,  he  concludes  by 
quoting  with  honor  the  education  which  was 
given  at  Sparta,  which  every  one  knows  con- 
sisted in  stifling  all  feelings  except  a  ferocious 
patriotism,  the  traits  of  which  still  make  us 
shudder. 

With  our  ideas  and  customs,  we  do  not  know 
how  to  confine  ourselves  to  considering  society 
in  this  way.  Individuals  among  us  are  at- 
tached to  the  social  body,  forming  a  part  of  it, 
but  without  losing  their  own  sphere — that  of 
the  family ;  and  they  preserve  around  them  a 
vast  career,  where  they  are  allowed  to  exert 
themselves,  without  coming  into  collision  with 
the  colossus  of  society.  Nevertheless,  patriot- 
ism exists;  but  it  is  no  longer  a  blind  instinc- 
tive passion,  urging  man  on  to  the  sacrifice, 
like  a  victim,  with  bandaged  eyes,  but  it  is  no 
reasonable,  noble,  and  exalted  feeling,  which 
forms  heroes  like  those  of  Lepanto  and  Bay- 
le*n;  which  converts  peaceful  citizens,  like 
those  of  Gyronna  and  Saragossa,  into  lions ; 
which,  as  by  an  electric  spark,  makes  a  whole 
people  rise  on  a  sudden  without  arms,  and 
brave  death  from  the  artillery  of  a  numerous 
and  disciplined  army :  such  was  Madrid,  fol- 
lowing the  sublime  Mourona  of  Daoiz  and  of 
Velarda. 

I  have  already  hinted,  in  the  text,  that  so- 
ciety among  the  ancients  claimed  the  right  of 
interfering  in  all  that  regards  individuals.  I 
will  add,  that  the  thing  went  to  a  ridiculous 
extent.  Who  would  imagine  that  the  law 
ought  to  interfere  in  the  food  of  a  woman  who 
was  enceinte,  or  in  the  exercise  which  she 
should  take  every  day  ?  This  is  what  Aris- 
totle gravely  says  :  "  It  is  necessary  that  wo- 
men who  are  enceinte  should  take  particular 
care  of  their  bodies ;  that  they  should  avoid 


444 


NOTES. 


indulgence  in  luxury,  and  using  food  which  is 
too  light  and  weak.  The  legislator  easily  at- 
tains his  end  by  prescribing  and  ordering  them 
a  daily  walk,  in  order  to  go  to  honor  and  ven- 
erate the  gods,  to  whom  it  has  been  confided 
by  fate  to  watch  over  the  formation  of  beings. 
Atque  hoc  facile  assequitur  scriptor  legum,  si 
eis  iter  aliquod  quotidianum  ad  cultum  vener- 
ationemque  deorum  eorum,  quibus  sorte  obti- 
git,  ut  preesint  gignendis  animantibus,  injunx- 
erit  ac  mandaverit."  (Polit.  1.  vii.  c.  16.) 

The  action  of  laws  extended  to  every  thing ; 
it  seems  that,  in  certain  cases,  even  the  tears 
of  children  could  not  escape  this  severity. 
"  Those,"  says  Aristotle,  "  who,  by  means  of 
laws,  forbid  children  to  cry  and  weep,  are 
wrong:  cries  and  tears  serve  as  exercise  for 
children,  and  assist  them  in  growing ;  they  are 
an  effort  of  nature,  which  relieves  and  invigo- 
rates those  who  are  in  pain."  (Polit.  1.  vii. 
c.  17.) 

These  doctrines  of  the  ancients — this  man- 
ner of  considering  the  relations  of  individuals 
with  society — very  well  explain  how  castes 
and  slavery  could  be  regarded  as  natural 
among  them.  Who  can  be  astonished  at  see- 
ing whole  races  deprived  of  liberty,  or  regard- 
ed as  incapable  of  partaking  of  the  rights  of 
other  superior  classes,  when  we  see  genera- 
tions of  innocent  beings-  condemned  to  death, 
and  these  conscientious  philosophers  not  hav- 
ing the  slightest  scruple  with  respect  to  the 
legitimacy  of  so  inhuman  an  act  ?  It  was  not 
that  these  philosophers  had  not  happiness  in 
view  as  the  object  of  society;  but  they  had 
monstrous  ideas  with  respect  to  the  means  of 
obtaining  that  happiness. 

NOTE  17,  p.  146. 

The  reader  will  easily  dispense  with  my 
entering- into  details  on  the  abject  and  shame- 
ful condition  of  women  among  the  ancients, 
and  in  which  they  still  are  among  the  moderns 
where  Christianity  does  not  prevail ;  moreover, 
my  pen  would  be  checked  every  moment  by 
strict  laws  of  modesty,  if  I  were  to  attempt  to 
represent  the  characteristic  features  of  this 
wretched  picture.  The  inversion  of  ideas  was 
such,  that  we  hear  men  the  most  renowned  for 
their  gravity  and  moderation  rave  in  the  most 
incredible  manner  on  this  point.  We  will  lay 
aside  hundreds  of  examples  which  it  would  be 
easy  to  adduce ;  but  who  is  ignorant  of  the 
scandalous  advice  of  the  sage  Solon,  with  re- 
spect to  the  lending  of  women  for  the  purpose 
of  improving  the  race  ?  Who  has  not  blushed 
to  read  what  the  divine  Plato,  in  his  Republic, 
says  of  the  propriety  and  manner  of  making 
women  share  in  the  public  games  ?  Let  us 
throw  a  veil  over  recollections  .so  dishonour- 
able to  human  wisdom.  When  the  chief  legis- 
lators and  sages  so  far  forgot  the  first  elements 
of  morality,  and  the  most  ordinary  inspirations 
of  nature,  what  must  have  been  the  case  with 
the  vulgar?  How  fearfully  true  those  words 
of  the  sacred  text  which  represent  to  us  the 
nations  deprived  of  the  light  of  Christianity  as 
sitting  in  darkness  and  in  the  xhadow  of  death  ! 
There  is  nothing  more  fatal  to  woman,  no- 
thing more  apt  to  degrade  her,  than  that  which 
is  injurious  to  modesty :  and  yet  we  see  that 
the  unlimited  power  granted  to  man  over  woman 


contributed  to  this  degradation,  and  reduced 
her,  among  certain  nations,  to  be  nothing  but  a 
slave.  Losing  sight  of  the  manners  of  other 
nations,  let  us  consider  those  of  the  Romans 
for  a  moment.  Among  them  the  formula,  ubi 
tu  Cayus  ego  Caya,  seemed  to  indicate  a  sub- 
jection so  slight,  that  it  might  almost  be  called 
an  equality;  but  in  order  to  appreciate  this 
equality,  it  is  enough  to  recollect  that,  at 
Rome,  a  husband  could  put  his  wife  to  death 
by  his  own  authority,  and  that  not  only  in  the 
case  of  adultery,  but  for  offences  infinitely  less 
serious.  In  the  time  of  Romulus,  Egnacius 
Menecius  was  acquitted  of  a  similar  crime, 
although  his  wife  had  done  nothing  more  than 
drink  wine  from  a  cask.  These  traits  describe 
a  nation,  whatever  importance  you  may  besides 
think  proper  to  attach  to  the  solicitude  of  the 
Romans  to  prevent  their  matrons  from  becom- 
ing addicted  to  wine.  When  Cato  directed  an 
embrace,  as  a  proof  of  affection,  among  relations, 
for  the  purpose,  as  Pliny  relates,  of  ascertaining 
whether  the  women  smelt  of  wine,  an  temetum 
olerent,  it  is  true  he  showed  his  strictness ;  but 
it  was  an  unworthy  outrage  offered  to  the 
honor  of  the  women  themselves  whose  virtue 
it  pretended  to  preserve.  There  are  some 
remedies  worse  than  the  disease. 

NOTE  18,  p.  157. 

The  antichristian  philosophy  must  have  had 
considerable  influence  on  the  desire  to  find 
among  the  barbarians  the  origin  of  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  female  character  in  Europe,  and  of" 
some  other  principles  of  our  civilization.  Indeed 
as  soon  as  you  discover  the  source  of  these 
admirable  qualities  in  the  forests  of  Germany, 
Christianity  is  stripped  of  a  portion  of  its 
honors;  and  what  was  its  own  and  peculiar 
glory  is  divided  among  many.  I  will  not  deny 
that  the  Germans  of  Tacitus  are  sufficiently 
poetical;  but  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the 
real  Germans  were  so  to  any  extent.  Some 
passages  inserted  in  the  text  add  great  force  to 
our  conjecture ;  but  what  appears  to  me  emi- 
nently calculated  to  dissipate  all  these  illusions 
is,  the  history  of  the  invasion  by  the  barbarians, 
above  all  that  which  has  been  written  by  eye- 
witnesses. The  picture,  far  from  continuing  po- 
etical, then  becomes  disgusting  in  the  extreme. 
This  interminable  succession  of  nations  passes 
before  the  eyes  of  the  reader,  like  an  alarming 
vision  in  an  evil  dream ;  and  certainly  the  first 
idea  which  occurs  to  us  at  the  sight  of  this  picture 
is,  not  to  seek  for  any  of  the  qualities  of  mo-dern 
civilization  in  these  invading  hordes ;  but  the 
great  difficulty  is,  to  know  how  this  chaos  has 
been  reduced  to  order,  and  how  it  has  been  pos- 
sible to  produce  from  such  barbarism  the 
noblest  and  most  brilliant  civilization  that  has 
ever  been  seen  on  earth.  Tacitus  appears  to 
be  an  enthusiast;  but  Sidonius,  who  wrote  at 
no  great  distance  from  the  barbarians,  who 
saw  them,  and  suffered  from  meeting  them, 
does  not  partake  of  this  enthusiasm.  "I  find 
myself,"  he  said,  "among  long-haired  nations, 
compelled  to  hear  the  German  language,  and 
to  applaud,  at  whatever  cost,  the  song  of  the 
drunken  Burgundian,  with  hair  plastered  with 
rancid  grease.  Happy  your  eye*  who  do  not  see 
them  ;  happy  your  ears  who  do  not  hear  them  ?" 
If  space  permitted,  it  would  be  easy  for  me  to 


NOTES. 


445 


accumulate  a  thousand  passages  which  would 
evidently  show  what  the  barbarians  were,  and 
what  could  be  expected  from  them  in  all  re- 
spects. It  is  as  clear  as  the  light  of  day,  that 
it  was  the  design  of  Providence  to  employ  these 
nations  to  destroy  the  Roman  empire,  and 
change  the  face  of  the  world.  The  invaders 
seem  to  have  had  a  feeling  of  their  terrible 
mission.  They  march,  they  advance,  they 
know  not  whither  they  go  ;  but  they  know  well 
that  they  go  to  destroy.  Attila  called  himself 
the  scourge  of  God.  The  same  barbarian  him- 
self denned  his  formidable  duty  in  these  words : 
"  The  star  falls,  the  sea  is  moved ;  I  am  the 
hammer  of  the  earth.  Where  my  horse  passes, 
the  grass  never  grows."  Alaric,  marching  to- 
wards the  capital  of  the  world,  said :  "/  cannot 
stop  ;  there  is  some  one  urges  me,  who  excites  me 
to  sack  Rome."  Genseric  prepares  a  naval  ex- 
pedition ;  his  troops  are  on  board,  he  himself 
embarks :  no  one  knows  the  point  towards 
which  he  will  direct  his  sails.  The  pilot  ap- 
proaches the  barbarian,  and  asks  him ;  "  My 
lord,  against  what  nations  will  you  wage  war  ?" 
11  Against  those  who  have  provoked  the  anger  of 
God,"  replies  Genseric. 

If  Christianity,  in  the  midst  of  this  catastro- 
phe, had  not  existed  in  Europe,  civilization 
would  have  been  lost  and  annihilated,  perhaps 
forever. .  But  a  religion  of  light  and  love  was 
sure  to  triumph  over  ignorance  and  violence. 
Even  during  the  times  of  the  calamities  of  the 
invasion,  that  religion  prevented  many  dis- 
asters, owing  to  the  ascendency  which  it  began 
to  exercise  over  the  barbarians ;  the  most 
critical  moment  being  past,  the  conquerors 
having  become  in  some  degree  settled,  she 
immediately  employed  a  system  so  vast,  so 
efficacious,  so  decisive,  that  the  conquerors 
found  themselves  conquered,  not  by  arms,  but 
by  charity  %  It  was  not  in  the  power  of  the 
Church  to  prevent  the  invasion ;  God  had  de- 
creed it,  and  His  decree  must  be  accomplished. 
Thus  the  pious  monk  who  went  to  meet  Alaric 
approaching  Rome,  could  not  stop  him  on  his 
march,  because  the  barbarian  answered  him, 
that  he  could  not  stop, — that  there  was  some 
one  who  urged  him  on,  and  that  he  advanced 
against  his  own  will.  But  the  Church  awaited 
the  barbarians  after  the  conquest,  knowing  that 
Providence  would  not  abandon  His  own  work, 
that  the  hope  of  the  future  lot  of  nations  was 
left  in  the  hands  of  the  spouse  of  Jesus  Christ  j 
on  this  account  does  Alaric  advance  on  Rome, 
sack,  and  destroy  it ;  but  on  a  sudden,  finding 
himself  in  presence  of  religion,  he  stops,  be- 
comes mollified,  and  appoints  the  Churches  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  as  places  of  refuge.  A 
remarkable  fact,  and  an  admirable  symbol  of  the 
Christian  religion  preserving  the  universe  from 
total  ruin. 

NOTE  19,  p.  165. 

The  great  benefit  conferred  on  modern 
society  by  the  formation  of  a  pure  and  correct 
public  conscience,  would  acquire  extraordinary 
value  in  our  eye£,  if  we  compared  our  moral 
ideas  with  those  of  all  other  nations,  ancient 
and  modern ;  the  result  of  such  an  examination 
would  be,  to  show  in  how  lamentable  a  manner 
good  principles  become  corrupted,  when  they 
are  confided  to  the  reason  of  man.  I  will 


content  myself,  however,  with  a  few  words 
on  the  ancients,  in  order  to  show  how  cor- 
rect I  was  in  saying  that  our  manners,  however 
corrupt  they  may  be,  would  have  appeared 
a  model  of  morality  and  dignity  to  the  hea- 
thens. 

The  temples  consecrated  to  Venus  in  Baby- 
lon and  Corinth  are  connected  with  abomina- 
tions such  as  to  be  even  incomprehensible. 
Deified  passion  required  sacrifices  worthy  of  it ; 
a  divinity  without  modesty  required  the  sacri- 
fice of  modesty  j  and  the  sacred  name  of 
Temple  was  applied  to  asylums  of  the  most 
unbridled  licentiousness.  There  was  not  a  veil 
even  for  the  greatest  crimes.  It  is  known  how 
the  daughters  of  Chypre  gained  a  dowry  for 
their  marriage  ;  all  have  heard  of  the  mysteries 
of  Adonis,  Priapus,  and  other  impure  divinities. 
There  are  vices  which,  as  it  were,  want  a  name 
among  the  moderns :  or  if  they  have  one,  it  is 
accompanied  by  the  recollection  of  a  terrible 
chastisement  inflicted  on  some  criminal  cities. 
In  reading  the  histories  of  antiquity  descriptive 
of  the  manners  of  their  times,  the  book  falls 
from  our  hands.  On  this  subject  we  must  be 
content  with  these  few  hints,  calculated  to 
awaken  in  the  minds  of  our  readers  the  recol- 
lection of  what  has  a  thousand  times  excited 
their  indignation  in  reading  the  history  and 
studying  the  literature  of  pagan  antiquity. 
The  author  is  compelled  to  be  satisfied  with  a 
recollection  :  he  abstains  from  a  description. 

NOTE  20,  p.  171. 

It  is  now  so  common  to  exalt  beyond  measure 
the  power  of  ideas,  that  some  persons  will  per- 
haps consider  exaggerated  what  I  have  said 
with  respect  to  their  want  of  power,  not  only  to 
influence  society,  but  even  to  preserve  them- 
selves, while,  remaining  in  the  mere  sphere  of 
ideas,  they  do  not  become  realized  in  institu- 
tions, which  are  their  organ,  and  at  the  same 
time  their  rampart  and  defence. 

I  am  very  far,  as  I  have  clearly  stated  in  the 
text,  from  denying  or  calling  in  question  what 
is  called  the  power  of  ideas :  I  only  mean  to 
show  that,  alone  and  by  themselves,  ideas  have 
little  power ;  and  that  science,  properly  so 
called,  as  far  as  the  organization  of  society  is 
concerned,  is  a  much  less  important  thing  than 
is  generally  supposed.  This  doctrine  has  an 
intimate  connection  with  the  system  followed 
by  the  Catholic  Church,  which,  while  con- 
stantly endeavoring  to  develope  the  human 
mind  by  means  of  the  propagation  of  the 
sciences,  has  nevertheless  assigned  to  them  a 
secondary  part  in  the  regulation  of  society. 
While  religion  has  never  been  opposed  to  true 
science,  never,  on  the  other  hand,  has  she 
ceased  to  show  a  certain  degree  of  mistrust 
with  respect  to  all  that  was  the  exclusive  pro- 
duction of  human  thought;  and  observe  that 
this  is  one  of  the  chief  differences  between  re- 
ligion and  the  philosophy  of  the  last  age ;  or, 
we  should  rather  say,  it  was  the  cause  of  their 
violent  antipathy.  Religion  did  not  condemn 
science  ;  on  the  contrary,  she  loved,  protected, 
and  encouraged  it ;  but  at  the  same  time  she 
marked  out  its  limits,  warned  it  that  it  was 
blind  on  some  points,  announced  to  it  that  it 
would  be  powerless  in  some  of  its  labors,  and 
that  in  others  its  action  would  be  destructive 


2N 


Tf| 


446 


NOTES. 


and  fatal.  Philosophy,  on  the  contrary,  loudly 
proclaimed  the  sovereignty  of  science,  declared 
it  to  be  all-powerful,  and  deified  it ;  it  attri- 
buted to  it  strength  and  courage  to  change  the 
face  of  the  world,  and  wisdom  and  foresight 
enough  to  work  this  change  for  the  good  of 
humanity.  This  pride  of  knowledge,  this  dei- 
fication of  thought,  is,  if  you  observe  closely, 
the  foundation  of  Protestant  doctrine.  All 
authority  being  taken  away,  reason  is  the  only 
competent  judge,  the  intellect  receives  directly 
and  immediately  from  God  all  the  light  which 
is  necessary.  This  is  the  fundamental  doctrine 
of  Protestantism,  that  is  to  say,  the  pride  of 
the  mind. 

If  we  closely  observe,  even  the  triumph  of 
revolutions  has  in  no  degree  nullified  the  wise 
anticipations  of  religion ;  and  knowledge,  pro- 
perly so  called,  instead  of  gaining  any  credit 
from  this  triumph,  has  entirely  lost  what  it 
had:  there  remains  nothing  of  the  revolu- 
tionary knowledge ;  what  remains  is  the  effects 
of  the  revolution,  the  interests  created  by  it, 
the  institutions  which  have  arisen  from  those 
interests,  and  which,  since  that  time,  have 
sought  in  the  department  of  science  itself  our 
principles  to  support  them, — principles  alto- 
gether different  from  those  which  had  been 
proclaimed  in  the  beginning. 

I  have  said  that  every  idea  has  need  of  being 
realized  in  an  institution ;  this  is  so  true,  that 
revolutions  themselves,  warned  by  the  instinct 
which  leads  them  to  preserve,  with  more  or  less 
integrity,  the  principles  whence  they  have 
arisen,  tend  from  the  first  to  create  those  insti- 
tutions in  which  the  revolutionary  doctrines 
may  be  perpetuated,  or  to  constitute  succes- 
sors to  represent  them  when  they  shall  have 
disappeared  from  the  schools.  This  may  lead 
to  many  reflections  on  the  origin  and  present 
condition  of  several  forms  of  governments  in 
different  countries  of  Europe. 

When  speaking  of  the  rapidity  with  which 
scientific  theories  succeed  each  other,  when 
pointing  out  the  immense  development  which 
the  press  has  given  to  the  field  of  discussion,  I 
have  shown  that  this  was  not  an  infallible  sign 
of  scientific  progress,  still  less  a  guarantee  for 
the  fertility  of  human  thought  in  realizing 
great  things  in  the  material  and  social  order. 
I  have  said  that  grand  conceptions  proceed 
rather  from  intuition  than  from  discourses  ;  and 
on  this  subject  I  have  recalled  to  mind  histori- 
cal events  and  'personages  which  place  this 
matter  beyond  a  doubt.  In  support  of  this 
assertion,  ideology  might  have  furnished  us 
with  abundant  proofs,  if  it  were  necessary  to 
have  recourse  to  science  itself  to  prove  its  own 
sterility.  But  mere  good  sense,  taught  by  the 
lessons  of  experience  daily,  is  enough  to  con- 
vince us  that  the  men  who  are  the  most  able 
in  theory  are,  often  enough,  not  only  mediocre, 
but  even  weak  in  the  exercise  of  authority. 
With  regard  to  the  hints  which  I  have  thrown 
out  with  respect  to  "intuition  "and  "dis- 
courses," I  leave  them  to  the  judgment  of  any 
one  who  has  applied  to  the  study  of  the  hu- 
man mind.  I  am  confident  that  the  opinion 
of  those  who  have  reflected  will  not  differ 
from  my  own. 


NOTE  21,  p.  175. 

I  have  attributed  to  Christianity  the  gentle- 
ness of  manners  which  Europe  now  enjoys. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  the  decline  of  religious  belief 
in  the  last  century,  this  gentleness  of  manners, 
instead  of  being  destroyed,  has  only  been 
raised  to  a  higher  degree.  This  contrast,  the 
effect  of  which,  at  firs't  sight,  is  to  destroy 
what  I  have  established,  requires  some  expla- 
nation. First  of  all,  we  must  recollect  the  dis- 
tinction pointed  out  in  the  text  between  effem- 
inacy and  gentleness  of  manners.  The  first  is 
a  fault,  the  second  a  valuable  quality  j  'the  first 
emanates  from  enervation  of  the  mind  and 
weakening  of  the  body  ,•  the  second  is  owing 
to  the  preponderance  of  reason,  the  empire  of 
the  mind  over  the  body,  the  triumph  of  justice 
over  force,  of  right  over  might.  There  is  a 
large  portion  of  real  gentleness  in  manners  at 
the  present  day,  but  luxury  has  also  a  consid- 
erable part  therein.  This  luxury  of  manners 
has  certainly  not  arisen  from  religion,  but  from 
infidelity ;  the  latter,  never  extending  its  view 
beyond  the  present  life,  causes  the  lofty  desti- 
nies, and  even  the  very  existence  of  the  soul, 
to  be  forgotten,  puts  egotism  upon  the  throne, 
constantly  excites  and  keeps  alive  the  love  of 
pleasure,  and  makes  man  the  vile  slave  of  his 
passions.  On  the  contrary,  at  the  first  sight, 
we  perceive  that  our  manners  owe  all  their 
gentleness  to  Christianity ;  all  the  ideas,  all 
the  feelings,  on  which  this  gentleness  is  found- 
ed, bear  the  mark  of  Christianity.  The  dig- 
nity of  man,  his  rights,  the  obligation  of  treat- 
ing him  with  the  respect  which  is  due  to  him, 
and  of  appealing  to  his  mind  by  reason  rather 
than  to  his  body  by  violence,  the  necessity  im- 
posed on  every  one  of  keeping  within  the  line 
of  his  duty,  of  respecting  the  property  and  the 
persons  of  others, — all  this  body  of  principles, 
to  which  real  gentleness  of  manners  is  owing, 
is  due,  in  Europe,  to  the  influence  of  Christi- 
anity, which,  after  a  struggle  of  many  centu- 
ries against  the  barbarism  and  ferocity  of 
invading  nations,  succeeded  in  destroying  the 
system  of  violence  which  these  same  nations 
had  made  general. 

As  philosophy  has  taken  care  to  change  the 
ancient  names  consecrated  by  religion,  and 
authorized  by  the  usage  Of  a  succession  of 
ages,  it  happens  that  some  ideas,  although  the 
produce  of  Christianity,  are  scarcely  acknow- 
ledged as  such,  only  because  they  are  disguised 
under  a  worldly  dress.  Who  does  not  know 
that  mutual  love  among  men  and  fraternal 
charity  are  ideas  entirely  due  to  Christianity  ? 
Who  does  not  know  that  pagan  antiquity  did 
not  acknowledge  them,  that  it  even  despised 
them  ?  And  nevertheless,  this  affection,  which 
was  formerly  called  charity,  because  charity 
was  the  virtue  from  which  it  took  its  legitimate 
origin,  has  constantly  taken  care  to  assume 
other  names,  as  if  it  were  ashamed  to  be  seen 
in  public  with  any  appearance  of  religion. 
The  mania  for  attacking  the  Christian  religion 
being  passed,  it  is  openly  confessed  that  the 
principle  of  universal  charity  is  owing  to  her ; 
but  language  remains  infected  with  Voltairian 
philosophy  even  since  the  discredit  into  which 
that  philosophy  has  fallen.  Whence  it  follows, 
that  we  very  often  do  not  appreciate  as  we 


NOTES, 


447 


ought  the  influence  of  Christianity  on  the  so- 
ciety which  surrounds  us,  and  that  we  attri- 
bute to  other  ideas  and  other  causes  the  phe- 
nomena which  are  evidently  owing  to  religion. 
Society  at  present,  in  spite  of  all  its  indiffer- 
ence, is  more  indebted  to  religion  than  is 
commonly  supposed;  it  resembles  those  men, 
who,  born  of  an  illustrious  family,  in  which 
good  principles  and  a  careful  education  are 
transmitted  as  an  inheritance  from  generation 
to  generation,  preserve  in  their  manners  and 
behavior,  even  in  the  midst  of  their  disorders, 
their  crimes,  and  I  will  even  venture  to  say, 
their  degradation,  some  traits  which  denote 
their  noble  origin. 

NOTE  22,  p.  183. 

A  few  regulations  of  Councils,  quoted  in  the 
text,  are  sufficient  to  give  an  idea  of  the  sys- 
tem pursued  by  the  Church  for  the  purpose  of 
reforming  and  softening  manners.  It  may  be 
remarked  that,  on  previous  occasions  during 
this  work,  I  have  a  strong  inclination  to  call 
to  mind  monuments  of  this  kind  ;  I  will  state 
here  that  I  have  two  reasons  for  doing  this  : 
1.  When  having  to  compare  Protestantism  with 
Catholicity,  I  believe  that  the  best  means  of 
representing  the  real  spirit  of  the  latter  is,  to 
show  it  at  work ;  this  is  done  when  we  bring 
to  light  the  measures  which  were  adopted,  ac- 
cording to  different  circumstances,  by  Popes 
and  Councils.  2.  Considering  the  direction 
which  historical  studies  take  in  Europe,  and 
the  taste,  which  is  daily  becoming  more  gen- 
eral, not  for  histories,  but  for  historical  docu- 
ments, it  is  proper  always  to  bear  in  mind  that 
the  proceedings  of  Councils  are  of  the  highest 
importance,  not  only  in  historical  and  ecclesi- 
astical matters,  but  also  in  political  and  social 
ones ;  so  that  to  pay  no  attention  to  the  data 
which  are  found  in  the  records  of  Councils,  is 
monstrously  to  mutilate,  or  rather  wholly  to 
destroy,  the  history  of  Europe. 

On  this  account  it  is  very  useful,  and  even 
necessary  in  many  things,  to  consult  these  re- 
cords, although  it  may  be  painful  to  our  indo- 
lence, on  account  of  their  enormous  extent  and 
the  ennui  of  finding  many  things  devoid  of  in- 
terest for  our  times.  The  sciences,  above  all 
those  which  have  society  for  their  object,  lead 
to  satisfactory  results  only  by  means  of  pain- 
ful labors.  What  is  useful  is  frequently  mixed 
and  confounded  with  what  is  not.  The  most 
valuable  things  are  sometimes  found  by  the 
side  of  repulsive  objects ;  but  in  nature,  do  we 
find  gold  without  having  removed  rude  masses 
of  earth  ? 

Those  who  have  attempted  to  find  the  germ 
of  the  precious  qualities  of  European  civiliza- 
tion among  the  barbarians  of  the  north,  should 
undoubtedly  have  attributed  the  gentleness  of 
our  manners  to  the  same  barbarians ;  they 
would  have  had  in  support  of  this  paradox  a 
fact  certainly  more  specious  than  that  which 
they  have  relied  on  to  give  the  honor  of  ele- 
vating European  women  to  the  Germans.  I 
allude  to  the  well-known  custom  of  avoiding 
the  infliction  of  corporal  punishments,  and  of 
chastising  the  gravest  offences  by  fines  only. 
Nothing  is  more  likely  to  make  us  believe  that 
these  nations  were  happily  inclined  to  gentle- 
ness of  manners,  since,  in  the  midst  of  their 


barbarism,  they  used  the  right  of  punishment 
with  a  moderation  which  is  not  found  even 
among  the  most  civilized  and  refined  nations. 
If  we  regard  the  thing  in  this  point  of  view, 
it  seems  as  if  the  influence  of  Christianity  on 
the  barbarians  had  the  effect  of  rendering  their 
manners  more  harsh  instead  of  more  gentle ; 
indeed,  after  Christianity  was  introduced,  the 
infliction  of  corporal  punishments  became  gen- 
eral, and  even  that  of  death  was  not  excluded. 
But  when  we  attentively  consider  this  pecu- 
liarity of  the  criminal  code  of  the  barbarians, 
we  shall  see  that,  far  from  showing  the  advance- 
ment of  their  civilization  and  the  gentleness  of 
their  manners,  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  most 
evident  proof  that  they  were  behind-hand ;  it 
is  the  strongest  index  of  the  harshness  and  bar- 
barism which  reigned  among  them.  In  the  first 
place,  inasmuch  as  crimes  among  them  were 
punished  by  means  of  fines,  or,  as  it  was  called, 
by  composition,  it  is  clear  that  the  law  paid 
much  more  attention  to  repairing  an  injury 
than  to  punishing  a  crime ;  a  circumstance 
which  clearly  shows  us  how  little  they  thought 
about  the  morality  of  the  action,  as  they  at- 
tended not  so  much  to  the  action  itself,  as  to 
the  wrong  which  it  inflicted.  Therefore  this 
was  not  an  element  of  civilization  but  of  bar- 
barism ;  this  tended  to  nothing  less  than  the 
banishment  of  morality  from  the  world.  The 
Church  combated  this  principle,  as  fatal  in  pub- 
lic as  in  private  affairs ;  she  introduced  into 
criminal  legislation  a  new  set  of  ideas,  which 
completely  changed  its  spirit.  On  this  point 
M.  Guizot  has  done  full  justice  to  the  Catholic 
Church.  I  am  delighted  to  acknowledge  and  to 
insert  this  homage  here  by  transcribing  his  own 
words.  After  having  pointed  out  the  difference 
which  existed  between  the  laws  of  the  Visi- 
goths, derived  in  great  part  from  the  Councils 
of  Toledo,  and  the  other  barbarian  laws,  M. 
Guizot  signalizes  the  immense  superiority  of 
the  ideas  of  the  Church  in  matters  of  legisla- 
tion, of  justice,  and  in  all  that  concerns  the 
search  after  truth  and  the  lot  of  men  ;  he  adds  : 
"  In  criminal  matters,  the  relation  of  crimes  to 
punishments  is  fixed  (in  the  laws  of  the  Visi- 
goths) according  to  sufficiently  just,  philoso- 
phical, and  moral  notions.  We  there  perceive 
the  efforts  of  an  enlightened  legislator,  who 
contends  against  the  violence  and  rashness  of 
barbarian  manners.  The  chapter  De  cade  el 
morte  hominum,  compared  with  the  correspond- 
ing laws  of  other  nations,  is  a  very  remarka- 
ble example  of  this.  Elsewhere,  it  is  almost 
exclusively  the  injury  which  seems  to  consti- 
tute the  crime,  and  the  punishment  is  sought 
in  that  material  reparation  which  is  the  result 
of  composition.  Here,  the  crime  is  referred  to 
its  real  and  moral  element,  the  intention.  The 
different  shades  of  criminality,  absolutely  .vo- 
luntary homicide,  homicide  by  inadvertence, 
provoked  homicide,  homicide  with  or  without 
premeditation,  are  distinguished  and  defined 
almost  as  well  as  in  our  own  codes,  and  the 
punishments  vary  in  a  proportion  equally  just. 
The  justice  of  the  legislator  has  gone  still 
further.  He  has  attempted,  if  not  to  abolish, 
at  least  to  diminish  the  diversity  of  legal  value 
established  among  men  by  the  other  barbarian 
laws.  The  only  distinction  which  it  preserves 
is  that  of  freeman  and  slave.  With  respect  to 
freeman,  the  punishment  varies  neither  with 


448 


NOTES. 


the  origin  nor  the  rank  of  the  deceased,  but 
only  according  to  the  different  degrees  of  the 
culpability  of  the  murderer.  With  regard  to 
slaves,  not  venturing  completely  to  withdraw 
from  the  masters  the  right  of  life  and  death,  it 
has  been  attempted  at  least  to  restrain  it  by 
subjecting  it  to  a  public  and  regular  procedure. 
The  text  of  the  law  deserves  to  be  cited. 

"  '  If  no  one  guilty  of,  or  an  accomplice  in, 
a  crime  ought  to  remain  unpunished,  with  how 
much  more  reason  ought  he  to  be  condemned 
who  has  wickedly  and  rashly  committed  a  ho- 
micide !  Thus,  as  masters,  in  their  pride,  often 
put  their  slaves  to  death  without  any  fault  of 
the  latter,  it  is  proper  altogether  to  extirpate 
this  license,  and  to  ordain  that  the  present  law 
shall  be  forever  observed  by  all.  No  master 
or  mistress  shall  put  to  death,  without  public 
trial,  any  of  their  slaves,  male  or  female,  or 
any  person  dependent  on  them.  If  a  slave  or 
any  other  servant  shall  commit  a  crime  which 
may  subject  him  to  capital  punishment,  his 
master  or  his  accuser  shall  immediately  inform 
the  judge  or  the  count  or  duke  of  the  place 
where  the  deed  has  been  committed.  After  the 
affair  has  been  inquired  into,  if  the  crime  be 
proved,  let  the  criminal  undergo,  either  by  the 
judge  or  his  own  master,  the  sentence  of  death 
which  he  has  deserved ;  so  that,  nevertheless, 
if  the  judge  be  unwilling  to  put  the  accused  to 
death,  he  shall  draw  up  in  writing  a  capital 
sentence,  and  then  it  shall  be  in  the  power  of 
the  master  to  put  him  to  death  or  not.  Indeed, 
if  the  sjave,  with  a  fatal  audacity,  resisting  his 
master,  has  struck,  or  attempted  to  strike,  him 
with  a  weapon,  with  a  stone,  or  with  any  other 
kind  of  blow,  and  if  the  master,  in  defending 
himself,  has  killed  the  slave  in  his  passion,  the 
master  shall  be  in  no  way  subject  to  the  punish- 
ment of  homicide.  But  it  shall  be  necessary 
to  prove  that  the  event  took  place  thus,  and 
that  by  the  testimony  or  oath  of  the  slaves, 
male  or  female,  who  shall  have  been  present, 
and  by  the  oath  of  the  author  of  the  deed  him- 
self. Whoever  from  mere  malice,  either  by  his 
own  hand  or  that  of  another,  shall  have  killed 
his  slave  without  public  trial,  shall  be  marked 
with  infamy,  declared  incapable  of  appearing 
as  a  witness,  shall  be  obliged  to  pass  the  rest 
of  his  life  in  exile  and  penance,  and  his  goods 
shall  go  to  the  nearest  relations, to  whom  they 
are  given  by  the  law.' — For.  Jud.  liv.  vi.  tit. 
xv.  1.  12."  (Hint.  Gener.  de  la  Civilisation  en 
Europe,  legon  6.) 

I  have  copied  this  passage  from  M.  Guizot 
with  pleasure,  because  I  find  there  a  confirma- 
tion of  what  I  have  just  said  on  the  subject  of 
the  influence  of  the  Church  in  softening  man- 
ners, and  of  what  I  have  before  stated  with  res- 
pect to  the  great  amelioration  which  the  Church 
made  in  the  condition  of  slaves,  by  limiting 
the  excessive  power  of  their  masters.  This 
truth  is  proved  in  its  place  by  so  many  docu- 
ments, that  it  seems  useless  to  revert  to  it  here ; 
it  is  enough  now  for  my  purpose,  to  point  out 
that  M.  Guizot  fully  allows  that  the  Church 
gave  morality  to  the  legislation  of  the  barba- 
rians, by  making  them  consider  the  wickedness 
of  the  crime,  whereas  they  had  previously  at- 
tended only  to  the  injury  of  which  it  was  the 
cause ;  she  has  thus  transferred  the  action  from 
the  physical  to  the  moral  order,  giving  to  pu- 
nishments their  real  character,  and  not  allow- 


ing them  to  remain  reduced  to  the  level  of  a 

!  mere  material  reparation.     Hence  we  see  that 

the  criminal  system  of  the  barbarians,  which, 

at  the  first  view,  seemed  to  indicate  progress  in 

civilization,  was,  in  reality,  owing  to  the  little 

;  ascendency  which  moral  principles  exercised 

over  these  nations,  and  to  the  fact,  that  the 

views  of  the  legislator  were  very  slightly  raised 

above  the  purely  material  order. 

There  is  another  observation  to  be  made  on 
this  point,  viz.  that  the  mildness  with  which 
crimes  were  punished  is  the  best  proof  of  the 
frequency  with  which  they  were  committed. 
When  in  a  country  assassinations,  mutilations, 
and  other  similar  attempts  are  very  rare,  they 
are  regarded  with  horror  ;  those  who  are  guilty 
of  them  are  chastised  with  severity.  But  when 
crimes  are  very  frequently  committed,  they  in- 
sensibly lose  their  enormity;  not  only  those 
who  commit  them,  but  all  the  world  become 
accustomed  to  their  hideous  aspect,  and  the  le- 
gislator is  then  naturally  induced  to  treat  them 
with  indulgence.  This  is  shown  us  by  the  ex- 
perience of  every  day ;  and  the  reader  will  have 
no  difficulty  in  finding  in  society  at  the  pre- 
sent time  more  than  one  crime  to  which  the  re- 
mark which  I  have  just  made»is  applicable. 
Among  the  barbarians,  it  was  common  to  ap- 
peal to  force,  not  only  with  respect  to  property, 
but  also  to  persons ;  wherefore  it  was  natural 
that  crimes  of  this  kind  should  not  be  regard- 
ed by  them  with  the  same  aversion,  it  may  be 
said  with  the  same  horror,  as  among  a  people 
where  the  triumph  of  the  ideas  of  reason,  jus- 
tice, right,  and  law,  render  it  impossible  to  con- 
ceive even  the  existence  of  a  society  where 
each  individual  should  believe  himself  self-en- 
titled to  do  justice  to  himself.  Thus  the  laws 
against  these  crimes  naturally  became  milder, 
the  legislator  contenting  himself  with  repair- 
ing the  injury,  without  paying  much  attention 
to  the  culpability  of  the  delinquent.  And  this 
is  intimately  connected  with  what  I  have  said 
above  with  respect  to  public  conscience ;  for 
the  legislator  is  always  more  or  less  the  organ 
of  this  public  conscience.  Where  an  action, 
in  any  society  whatever,  is  regarded  as  a  hein- 
ous offence,  the  legislator- cannot  decree  a  mild 
punishment  for  it ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  not 
possble  for  him  to  chastise  with  great  severity 
what  the  society  absolves  or  excuses.  It  will 
sometimes  happen  that  this  proportion  will  be 
altered,  that  this  harmony  will  be  destroyed ; 
but  things  soon  quitting  the  path  into  which 
violence  forced  them,  will  nqtbe  long  in  return- 
ing to  their  ordinary  course.  Manners  being 
chaste  and  pure,  offences  against  them  will  be 
covered  with  abhorrence  and  infamy ;  but  if 
morals  be  corrupted,  the  same  acts  will  ]>e  re- 
garded with  indifference  ;  at  the  most  they  will 
be  denominated  slight  weaknesses.  Among  a 
people  where  religious  ideas  exercise  great  in- 
fluence, the  violation  of  all  that  is  conse- 
crated to  God  is  regarded  as  a  horrible  out- 
rage, worthy  of  the  greatest  chastisements; 
among  another  people,  where  infidelity  has 
made  its  ravages,  the  same  violation  is  not 
even  placed  on  the  list  of  ordinary  offences ; 
instead  of  drawing  on  the  guilty  the  justice 
of  the  law,  scarcely  does  it  draw  on  them 
the  slight  correction  of  the  police.  The  reader 
will  understand  the  appropriateness  of  this  di- 
gression on  the  criminal  legislation  of  the  bar- 


NOTES. 


449 


barians,  when  he  reflects  that,  in  order  to  exa- 
mine the  influence  of  Catholicity  on  the  civili- 
zation of  Europe,  it  is  indispensable  to  take 
into  consideration  the  other  elements  which 
have  concurred  in  forming  that  civilization. 
Without  this,  it  would  be  impossible  properly 
to  appreciate  the  respective  action  of  each  of 
these  elements,  either  for  good  or  evil ;  impos- 
sible to  bring  to  light  the  share  which  the 
Church  can  exclusively  claim  in  the  great  work 
of  our  civilization;  impossible  to  resolve  the 
high  question  which  has  been  raised  by  the 
partisans  of  Protestantism  on  the  subject  of  the 
assumed  advantages  which  the  religious  revo- 
lution of  the  sixteenth  century  has  conferred 
on  modern  society.  It  is  because  the  barbari- 
an nations  are  one  of  these  elements,  that  it  is 
so  often  necessary  to  attend  to  them. 

NOTE  23,  p.  189. 

In  the  middle  ages,  almost  all  the  monaste- 
ries and  colleges  of  canons  had  a  hospital  an- 
nexed to  them,  not  only  to  receive  pilgrims, 
but  also  to  aid  in  the  support  and  consolation 
of  the  poor  and  the  sick.  If  you  desire  to  see 
the  noblest  symbol  of  religion  sheltering  all 
kinds  of  misfortune,  consider  the  houses  de- 
voted to  prayer  and  the  most  sublime  virtues 
converted  into  asylums  for  the  miserable.  This 
was  exactly  what  took  place  at  that  time,  when 
the  public  authority  not  only  wanted  the 
strength  and  knowledge  necessary  to  establish 
a  good  administration  for  the  relief  of  the  un- 
fortunate, but  did  not  even  succeed  in  covering 
with  her  aegis  the  most  sacred  interests  of -so- 
ciety ;  this  shows  us  that  when  all  was  power- 
less, religion  was  still  strong  and  fruitful ;  that 
when  all  perished,  religion  not  only  preserved 
herself,  but  even  founded  immortal  establish- 
ments. And  pay  attention  to  what  we  have 
so  many  times  pointed  out,  viz.  that  the  reli- 
gion which  worked  these  prodigies  was  not  a 
vague  and  abstract  religion — the  Christianity 
of  the  Protestants;  but  religion  with  all  her 
dogmas,  her  discipline,  her  hierarchy,  .her 
supreme  Pontiff,  in  a  word,  the  Catholic 
Church.  •  ' 

They  were  far  from  thinking  in  ancient  times 
that  the  support  of  the  unfortunate  could  be 
confided  to  the  civil  administration  alone,  or  to 
individual  charity ;  it  was  then  thought,  as  I 
have  already  said,  that  it  was  a  very  proper 
thing  that  the  hospitals  should  be  subjected  to 
the  Bishops ;  that  is  to  say,  that  there  should 
be  a  kind  of  assimilation  made  between  the 
system  of  public  beneficence  and  the  hierarchy 
of  the  Church.  Hence  it  was  that,  by  virtue 
of  an  ancient  regulation,  the  hospitals  were 
under  the  control  of  the  Bishops  as  well  in 
temporals  as  in  spirituals,  whether  the  persons 
appointed  to  the  care  of  the  establishments 
were  clerical  or  lay,  whether  the  hospital  had 
been  erected  by  order  of  the  Bishop  or  not. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  relate  the  vicissitudes 
which  this  discipline  underwent,  nor  the  dif- 
ferent causes  which  produced  the  successive 
changes  ;  it  is  enough  to  observe,  that  the  fun- 
damental principle,  that  is,  the  interference  of 
the  ecclesiastical  authority  in  establishments 
of  beneficence,  always  remained  unimpaired, 
and  that  the  Church  never  allowed  herself  to 
be  entirely  deprived  of  so  noble  a  privilege. 


57 


Never  did  she  think  that  it  was  allowable  for 
her  to  regard  with  indifference  the  abuses  which 
were  introduced  on  this  point  to  the  prejudice 
of  the  unfortunate ;  wherefore  she  has  reserved 
at  least  the  right  to  remedy  the  evils  which 
might  result  from  the  wickedness  or  the  indo- 
lence of  the  administrators.  The  Council  of 
Vienne  ordains,  that  if  the  administrators  of  a 
hospital,  lay  or  clerical,  become  relaxed  in  the 
exercise  of  their  charge,  proceedings  shall  be 
taken  against  them  by  the  Bishops,  who  shall 
reform  and  restore  the  hospital  of  their  own 
authority,  if  it  has  no  privilege  of  exemption, 
and  by  delegation,  if  it  has  one.  The  Council 
of  Trent  also  granted  to  Bishops  the  power  of 
visiting  the  hospitals,  even  with  the  power  of 
delegates  of  the  Apostolic  See  in  the  cases  fixed 
by  law  j  it  ordains,  moreover,  that  the  adminis- 
trators, lay  or  clerical,  shall  be  obliged  every 
year  to  render  their  accounts  to  the  ordinary 
of  the  place,  unless  the  contrary  has  been  pro- 
vided in  the  foundation  ,•  and  that  if,  by  virtue 
of  a  particular  privilege,  custom,  or  statute,  the 
accounts  must  be  presented  to  any  other  than 
the  ordinary,  at  least  he  shall  be  added  to  those 
who  are  appointed  to  receive  them. 

Without  paying  attention  to  the  different 
modifications  which  the  laws  and  customs  of 
various  countries  may  have  introduced  in  this 
matter,  we  will  say  that  one  thing  remains 
manifest,  viz.  the  vigilance  of  the  Church  in  all 
that  regards  beneficence ;  it  is  her  constant  ten- 
dency, by  virtue  of  her  spirit  and  maxims,  to 
take  part  in  affairs  of  this  kind,  sometimes  to 
direct  them  exclusively,  sometimes  to  remedy 
the  evils  which  may  have  crept  in.  The  civil 
power  acknowledged  the  motives  of  this  holy 
and  charitable  ambition ;  we  see  that  the  Em- 
peror Justinian  does  not  hesitate  to  give  public 
authority  over  the  hospitals  to  the  Bishops, 
thereby  conforming  to  the  discipline  of  the 
Church  and  the  general  good. 

On  this  point  there  is  a  remarkable  fact, 
which  it  is  necessary  to  mention  here,  in  order 
to  signalize  its  beneficent  influence;  I  mean, 
the  regulation  by  which  the  property  of  hospi- 
tals was  looked  upon  as  Church  property, — a 
regulation  which  was  very  far  from  being  a 
matter  of  indifference,  although  at  first  sight  it 
might  appear.so.  Their  property,  thereby  in- 
vested with  the  same  privileges  as  that  of  the 
Church,  was  protected  by  an  inviolability  so 
much  the  more  necessary  as  the  times  were  the 
more  difficult,  and  the  more  abounding  in  out- 
rages and  usurpations.  The  Church  which, 
notwithstanding  all  the  public  troubles,  pre- 
served great  authority  and  a  powerful  ascen- 
dency over  governments  and  nations,  had  thus 
a  simple  and  powerful  claim  to  extend  her 
protection  over  the  property  of  hospitals,  and 
to  withdraw  them  as  much  as  possible  from  the 
cupidity  and  the  rapacity  of  the  powerful. 
And  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  this  doctrine 
was  introduced  with  any  indirect  design,  nor 
that  this  kind  of  community,  this  assimilation 
between  the  Church  and  the  poor,  was  an  un- 
heard-of novelty ;  on  the  contrary,  this  assimi- 
lation was  so  well  suited  to  the  common  order 
of  things,  it  was  so  entirely  founded  on  the 
relations  between  the  Church  and  the  poor, 
that  if  the  property  of  the  hospitals  had  the 
privilege  of  being  considered  as  the  property 
of  the  Church,  that  of  the  Church,  on  the  other 


2  N  2 


450 


NOTES. 


hand,  was  called  the  property  of  the  poor.  It 
is  in  these  terms  that  the  holy  Fathers  express 
themselves  on  this  point :  these  doctrines  had 
so  much  affected  the  ordinary  language,  that 
when,  at  a  later  period,  the  canonical  question 
with  respect  to  the  ownership  of  the  goods  of 
the  Church  had  to  be  solved,  there  were  found 
by  the  side  of  those  who  directly  attributed 
this  property  to  God,  to  the  Pope,  to  the  clergy, 
some  who  pointed  out  the  poor  as  being  the 
real  proprietors.  It  is  true  that  this  opinion 
was  not  the  most  conformable  to  the  principles 
of  law ;  but  the  mere  fact  of  its  appearing  on 
the  field  of  controversy  is  a  matter  for  grave 
consideration. 

NOTE  24,  p.  196. 

A  few  reflections,  in  the  form  of  a  note,  on  a 
certain  maxim  of  toleration  professed  by  a  phi- 
losopher of  the  last  century,  Rousseau,  would 
not  be  out  of  place  here ;  but  the  analogy  of 
the  following  chapter  with  that  which  we  have 
just  finished  induces  us  to  reserve  them  for 
note  25.  The  considerations  to  which  the 
opinion  of  Rousseau  will  lead,  apply  to  the 
question  of  toleration  in  religious  matters,  as 
well  as  to  the  right  of  coercion  exercised  by 
the  civil  and  political  power ;  I  therefore  beg 
my  reader  to  reserve  for  the  following  note 
the  .attention  which  he  might  be  willing  to  af- 
ford me  now. 

NOTE  25,  p.  203. 

For  the  purpose  of  clearing  up  ideas  on  tole- 
ration as  far  as  lay  in  my  power,  I  have  pre- 
sented this  matter  in  a  point  of  view  but  little 
•known  ;  in  order  to  throw  still  more  light  upon 
'it,  I  will  say  a  few  words  on  religious  and  civil 
intolerance, — things  which  are  entirely  differ- 
•ent,  although  Rousseau  absolutely  affirms  the 
.contrary.  Religious  or  theological  intolerance 
•consists  in  the  conviction,  that  the  only  true 
ireligion  is  the  Catholic, — a  conviction  common 
tto  all  Catholics.  Civil  intolerance  consists  in 
mot  allowing  in  society  any  other  religions 
*han  the  Catholic.  These  two  definitions  are 
.sufficient  to  make  every  man  of  common  sense 
understand  that  the  two  kinds  of  intolerance 
are  not  inseparable ;  indeed,  we  may  very 
easily  conceive  that  men  firmly  convinced  of 
the  truth  of  Catholicity  may  tolerate  those  who 
profess  another  religion,  or  none  at  all.  Reli- 
gious intolerance  is  an  act  of  the  mind,  an  act 
inseparable  from  faith ;  indeed,  whoever  has  a 
firm  belief  that  his  own  religion  is  true,  must 
necessarily  be  convinced  that  it  is  the  only 
true  one ;  for  the  truth  is  one.  Civil  intole- 
rance is  an  act  whereby  the  will  rejects  those 
who  do  not  profess  the  same  religion ;  this  act 
has  different  results,  according  as  the  intole- 
rance is  in  the  individuals  or  in  the  govern- 
ment. On  the  other  hand,  religious  tolerance 
consists  in  believing  that  all  religions  are  true; 
which,  when  rightly  understood,  means  that 
none  are  true,  since  it  is  impossible  for  contra- 
dictory things  to  be  true  at  the  same  time. 
Civil  tolerance  is,  to  allow  men  who  entertain  a 
different  religion  to  live  in  peace.  This  tole- 
rance, as  well  as  the  co-relative  intolerance, 
produces  different  effects,  according  as  it  exists 
in  individuals  or  in  the  government. 


This  distinction,  which,  from  its  clearness 
and  simplicity,  is  within  the  reach  of  the  most 
ordinary  minds,  has  nevertheless  been  mis- 
taken by  Rousseau,  who  affirms  that  it  is  a 
vain  fiction,  a  chimera,  which  cannot  be  real- 
ized, and  that  the  two  kinds  of  intolerance 
cannot  be  separated  from  each  other.  Rous- 
seau might  have  been  content  with  observing, 
that  religious  intolerance,  that  is  to  say,  as  I 
have  explained  above,  the  firm  conviction  that 
a  religion  is  true,  if  it  is  general  in  a  country, 
must  produce,  in  the  ordinary  intercourse  of 
life  as  well  as  in  legislation,  a  certain  tendency 
not  to  tolerate  any  one  who  thinks  differently, 
principally  when  those  who  dissent  are  very 
limited  in  number ;  his  observation  would  then 
have  been  well  founded,  and  would  have  agreed 
with  the  opinion  which  I  have  expressed  on 
this  point,  when  I  attempted  to  represent  the 
natural  course  of  ideas  and  events  in  this  mat- 
ter. But  Rousseau  does  not  consider  things 
under  this  aspect:  desiring  to  attack  Catho- 
licity, he  affirms  that  the  two  kinds  of  intole- 
rance are  inseparable ;  "  for,"  says  he,  "  it  is 
impossible  to  live  in  peace  with  those  whom 
one  believes  to  be  damned  ;  to  love  them  would 
be  to  hate  God,  who  punishes  them."  It  is 
impossible  to  carry  misrepresentation  further : 
who  told  Rousseau  that  the  Catholics  believe 
iu  the  damnation  of  any  man,  whoever  he  may 
be,  as  long  as  he  lives;  and  that  they  think 
that  to  love  a  man  who  is  in  error  would  be  to 
hate  God  ?  On  the  contrary,  could  he  be  igno- 
rant that  it  is  a  duty,  an  indispensable  precept, 
a  dogma,  for  Catholics  to  love  all  men  ?  Could 
he  be  ignorant  that  even  children,  in  the  first 
rudiments  of  Christian  doctrine,  learn  that  we 
are  obliged  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves, 
and  that  by  this  word  neighbor  is  meant  who- 
ever has  gained  heaven,  or  may  gain  it ;  so  that 
no  man,  so  long  as  he  lives,  is  excluded  from 
this  number  ?  But  Rousseau  will  say,  you  are 
at  least  convinced  that  those  who  die  in  that 
fatal  state  are  condemned.  Rousseau  does  not 
observe  that  we  think  exactly  the  same  with 
respect  to  sinners,  although  their  sin  be  not 
that  of  heresy ;  now,  it  has  not  come  into  the 
head  of  any  body  that  good  Catholics  cannot 
tolerate  sinners,  and  that  they  consider  them- 
selves under  the  obligation  of  hating  them. 
What  religion  shows  more  eagerness  to  convert 
the  wicked?  The  Catholic  Church  is  so  far 
from  teaching  that  we  ought  to  hate  them,  that 
she  causes  to  be  repeated  a  thousand  times,  in 
pulpits,  in  books,  and  in  conversations,  those 
words  whereby  God  shows  that  it  is  His  will 
that  sinners  shall  not  perish,  that  He  wills  that 
they  shall  be  converted  and  live,  that  there  is 
more  joy  in  heaven  when  one  of  them  has  done 
penance,  than  upon  the  ninety-nine  just  who 
need  not  penance.  And  let  it  not  be  imagined 
that  the  man  who  thus  expresses  himself 
against  the  intolerance  of  Catholics  was  the 
partizan  of  complete  toleration;  on  the  con- 
trary, in  society,  such  as  he  imagined  it,  he 
did  not  desire  toleration  for  those  who  did  not 
belong  to  the  religion  which  the  civil  power 
thought  proper  to  establish.  It  is  true  that  he 
is  not  at  all  anxious  that  the  citizens  should 
belong  to  the  true  religion.  "  Laying  aside," 
he  says,  "political  considerations,  let  us  return 
to  the  right,  and  let  us  lay  down  principles  on 
this  important  point.  The  right  which  the 


NOTES. 


451 


social  pact  gives  to  the  sovereign  over  his  sub- 
ject does  not  exceed,  as  I  have  said,  the 
bounds  of  public  utility.  Subjects,  therefore, 
are  accountable  to  their  sovereign  for  their 
opinions,  inasmuch  as  those  opinions  are  of 
importance  to  the  community.  Now,  it  is  of 
great  importance  to  the  state,  that  every  citi- 
zen should  have  a  religion  which  shall  make 
him  love  his  duties;  but  the  dogmas  of  that 
religion  interest  the  state  and  its  members  only 
inasmuch  as  those  dogmas  affect  morality  and 
the  duties  which  those  who  profess  it  are 
bound  to  perform  towards  others.  As  for  the 
rest,  each  one  may  have  what  opinions  he 
pleases,  without  being  subject  to  the  cogni- 
zance of  the  sovereign,  for  he  has  no  power  in 
the  other  world ;  it  is  not  his  affair  what  may 
be  the  lot  of  his  subjects  in  the  life  to  come, 
provided  they  be  good  citizens  in  this.  There 
is,  therefore,  a  profession  of  faith  purely  civil, 
the  articles  whereof  it  belongs  to  the  sovereign 
to  fix,  not  exactly  as  dogmas  of  religion,  but 
as  social  sentiments,  without  which  it  is  im- 
possible to  be  a  good  citizen  or  a  faithful  sub- 
ject. Without  being  able  to  compel  any  one 
to  believe  them,  it  can  banish  from  the  state 
him  who  does  not  believe  them ;  it  can  banish 
him,  not  as  wicked,  but  as  anti-social,  as  inca- 
pable of  sincerely  loving  the  laws  and  justice, 
and  of  sacrificing  his  life  to  his  duty.  If  any 
one,  after  having  publicly  acknowledged  these 
dogmas,  conducts  himself  as  if  he  did  not  be- 
lieve them,  let  him  be  punished  with  death ;  he 
has  committed  the  greatest  of  crimes,  he  has 
lied  against  the  laws."  (Du  Gontrat  Social,  1. 
iv.  c.  8.) 

Such,  then,  is  the  final  result  of  the  toleration 
of  Rousseau,  viz.  to  give  to  the  sovereign  the 
power  of  fixing  articles  of  faith,  to  grant  to  him 
the  right  of  punishing  with  banishment,  or 
even  death,  those  who  will  not  conform  to  the 
decisions  of  this  new  Pope,  or  who  shall  violate 
after  having  embraced  them.  However  strange 
the  doctrine  of  Rousseau  may  appear,  it  is  not 
excluded  from  the  general  system  of  those  who 
do  not  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  authority 
in  religious  matters.  When  this  supremacy  is  to 
be  attributed  to  the  Catholic  Church,  or  its 
head,  it  is  rejected ;  and,  by  the  most  striking 
contradiction,  it  is  granted  to  the  civil  power. 
It  is  very  singular  that  Rousseau,  when  ban- 
ishing or  putting  to  death  the  man  who  quits 
the  religion  fashioned  by  the  sovereign,  does 
not  wish  him  to  bo  punished  as  impious,  but  as 
anti-social.  Rousseau,  following  an  impulse 
very  natural  in  him,  did  not  wish  that  impiety 
should  be  at  all  taken  into  account  when 
punishments  were  to  be  inflicted;  but  of  what 
consequence  is  the  name  given  to  his  crime  to 
the  man  who  is  banished  or  put  to  death?  In 
the  same  chapter,  he  allows  an  expression  to 
escape  him,  which  reveals  at  once  the  object 
which  he  had  in  view  in  all  this  show  of  philo- 
sophy :  "Whoever  dares  to  affirm  that  out  of 
the  Church  there  is  no  salvation,  ought  to  be 
driven  from  the  state."  Which  means,  in  other 
words,  that  toleration  ought  to  be  given  to  all 
except  Catholics.  It  has  been  said,  that  the 
Contrat  Social  was  the  code  of  the  French 
revolution ;  and,  indeed,  the  latter  did  not  for- 
get what  the  tolerant  legislator  has  prescribed 
with  respect  to  Catholics.  Few  persons  now 
venture  to  declare  themselves  the  disciples  of 


the  philosopher  of  Geneva,  although  some  of 
his  timid  partisans  still  lavish  on  him  unmea- 
sured eulogies.  Let  us  have  sufficient  confi- 
dence in  Ihe  good  sense  of  the  human  race,  to 
hope  that  all  posterity,  with  a  unanimous  voice, 
will  confirm  the  stamp  of  ignominy  with  which 
all  men  of  sense  have  already  marked  that 
turbulent  sophist,  the  impudent  author  of  the 
Co  i  ifessio  ns, 

When  comparing  Protestantism  with  Catho- 
licity, I  was  obliged  to  treat  of  intolerance,  as 
it  is  one  of  the  reproaches  which  are  most  fre- 
quently made  against  the  Catholic  religion; 
but  my  respect  for  truth  compels  me  to  state, 
that  all  Protestants  have  not  preached  universal 
toleration ;  and  that  many  of  them  have  ac- 
knowledged the  right  of  checking  and  punishing 
certain  errors.  Grotius,  Puflendorf,  and  some 
more  of  the  wisest  men  that  Protestantism  can 
boast  of,  are  agreed  on  this  point;  therein  they 
have  followed  the  example  of  all  antiquity, 
which,  in  theory  as  well  as  in  practice,  has 
constantly  conformed  to  these  principles.  A 
cry  has  been  raised  against  the  intolerance  of 
Catholics,  as  if  they  had  been  the  first  to  teach 
it  to  the  world  ;  as  if  intolerance  was  a  cursed 
monster,  which  was  engendered  only  where  the 
Catholic  Church  prevailed.  In  default  of  any 
other  reason,  good  faith  at  least  required  that 
it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  principle  of 
universal  toleration  was  never  acknowledged 
in  any  part  of  the  world;  the  books  of  philo- 
sophers, and  the  codes  of  legislators,  contain 
the  principle  of  intolerance  with  more  or  less 
rigor.  Whether  it  were  desired  to  condemn 
this  principle  as  false,  or  to  limit  it,  or  to  leave 
it  without  application,  it  is  clear  that  an  accu- 
sation ought  not  to  have  been  made  against  the 
Catholic  Church  in  particular,  on  account  of 
a  doctrine  and  conduct,  wherein  she  only  con- 
formed to  the  example  of  the  whole  human 
race.  Refined  as  well  as  barbarous  nations 
would  be  culpable  therein,  if  there  were  any 
crime ;  and  the  stigma,  far  from  deserving  to 
fall  upon  governments  directed  by  Catholicity, 
or  on  Catholic  writers,  ought  to  be  inflicted  on 
all  the  governments  of  antiquity,  including 
those  of  Greece  and  Rome ;  on  all  the  ancient 
sages,  including  Plato,  Cicero,  and  Seneca ;  on 
modern  governments  and  sages,  including  Pro- 
testants. If  men  had  had  this  present  to  their 
minds,  the  doctrine  would  not  have  appeared 
so  erroneous,  nor  the  facts  so  black;  they 
would  have  seen  that  intolerance,  as  old  as  the 
world,  was  not  the  invention  of  Catholics,  and 
that  the  whole  world,  ought  to  bear  the  re- 
sponsibility of  it. 

Assuredly  the  toleration  which,  in  our  days, 
has  become  so  general,  from  causes  previously 
pointed  out,  will  not  be  affected  by  the  doc- 
trines, more  or  less  severe,  more  or  less  indul- 
gent, which  shall  be  proclaimed  in  this  matter; 
but  for  the  very  reason,  that  intolerance,  such 
as  it  was  practised  in  other  times,  has  at  last 
become  a  mere  historical  fact,  whereof  no  one 
can  fear  the  re-appearance,  it  is  proper  to  enter 
into  an  attentive  examination  of  questions  of 
this  kind,  in  order  to  remove  the  reproach 
which  her  enemies  have  attempted  to  cast  upon 
the  Catholic  Church. 

The  recollection  of  the  encyclical  letter  of 
the  Pope  against  the  doctrines  of  M.  de  La- 
mennais,  and  the  profound  wisdom  contained 


452 


NOTES. 


therein  appropriately  presents  itself  here. 
That  writer  maintained  that  universal  tolera- 
tion, the  absolute  liberty  of  worship,  is  the 
normal  and  legitimate  state  of  society, — a  state 
which  cannot  be  changed  without  injury  to  the 
rights  of  the  man  and  the  citizen.  M.  de  La- 
mennais,  combatting  the  encyclical  letter, 
attempted  to  show  that  it  established  new  doc- 
trines, and  attacked  the  liberty  of  nations. 
No  ;  the  Pope,  in  his  encyclical  letter,  does  not 
maintain  any  other  doctrines  than  those  which 
have  been  professed  up  to  this  time  by  the 
Church — we  may  say  by  all  governments — 
with  respect  to  toleration.  No  government 
can  sustain  itself  if  it  is  refused  the  right  of 
repressing  doctrines  dangerous  to  social  order, 
whether  those  doctrines  are  covered  with  the 
mantle  of  philosophy,  or  disguised  under  the 
veil  of  religion.  The  liberty  of  man  is  not 
thereby  assailed ;  for  the  only  liberty  which  is 
worthy  of  the  name,  is  liberty  in  conformity 
with  reason.  The  Pope  did  not  say  that  go- 
vernments cannot,  in  certain  cases,  tolerate 
different  religions ;  but  he  did  not  allow  it  to 
be  established  as  a  principle,  that  absolute 
toleration  is  an  obligation  on  all  governments. 
This  proposition  is  contrary  to  sound  religious 
doctrines,  to  reason,  to  the  practice  of  all 
governments,  in  all  times  and  countries,  and 
the  good  sense  of  mankind.  The  talent  and 
eloquence  of  the  unfortunate  author  have  not 
availed  against  this,  and  the  Pope  has  obtained 
the  most  solemn  assent  of  all  sensible  men  of 
all  creeds  ;  while  the  man  of  genius,  covering 
his  brow  with  the  shades  of  obstinacy,  has  not 
feared  to  seize  upon  the  ignoble  arms  of  so- 
phistry. Unhappy  genius  !  who  scarcely  pre- 
serves a  shadow  of  himself,  who  has  folded  up 
the  splendid  wings  on  which  he  sailed  through 
the  azure  sky,  and  now,  like  a  bird  of  evil 
omen,  broods  over  the  impure  waters  of  a  soli- 
tary lake. 

NOTE  26,  p.  219. 

When  speaking  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition, 
I  do  not  undertake  to  defend  all  its  acts  either 
in  point  of  justice,  or  of  the  public  advantage. 
Without  denying  the  peculiar  circumstances 
in  which  this  institution  was  placed,  I  think 
that  it  would  have  done  much  better,  after  the 
example  of  the  Inquisition  of  Rome,  to  avoid 
as  much  as  possible  the  effusion  of  blood.  It 
might  have  perfectly  watched  over  the  pre- 
servation of  the  faith,  prevented  the  evils 
wherewith  religion  was  threatened  by  the  Moors 
and  the  Jews,  and  preserved  Spain  from  Pro- 
testantism, without  employing  that  excessive 
rigor,  which  drew  upon  it  the  severe  and  de- 
served reprimands  and  admonitions  of  the 
Sovereign  Pontiffs,  provoked  the  complaints 
of  the  people,  made  so  many  accused  and  con- 
demned persons  appeal  to  Rome,  and  furnished 
the  adversaries  of  Catholicity  with  a  pretext 
for  charging  that  religion  with  being  sangui- 
nary which  has  a  horror  of  the  effusion  of 
blood.  I  repeat,  that  the  Catholic  religion  is 
not  responsible  for  any  of  the  excesses  which 
have  been  committed  in  her  name  ;  and  when 
men  speak  of  the  Inquisition,  they  ought  not 
to  fix  their  eyes  principally  on  that  of  Spain, 
but  on  that  of  Rome.  There,  where  the  Sove- 
reign Pontiff  resides,  and  where  they  best  un- 


derstand how  the  principle  of  intolerance 
should  be  understood,  and  what  use  ought  to 
be  made  of  it,  the  Inquisition  has  been  mild 
and  indulgent  in  the  extreme.  Rome  is  the 
part  of  the  world  where  humanity  has  suf- 
fered the  least  for  the  sake  of  religion ;  and 
that,  without  the  exception  of  any  countries, 
either  of  those  where  the  Inquisition  has  ex- 
isted, or  of  those  where  it  has  been  unknown-, 
of  those  where  Catholicity  has  been  predomi- 
nant, or  where  Protestantism  has  triumphed. 
This  fact,  which  cannot  be  denied,  should  suffice 
to  convince  every  sincere  man  what  is  the 
spirit  of  Catholicity  in  this  matter. 

I  make  these  remarks  in  order,  to  show  my 
impartiality,  to  prove  that  I  am  not  ignorant 
of  evils,  and  that  I  do  not  hesitate  to  admit 
them  wherever  I  find  them.  Notwithstanding 
this,  I  am  desirous  that  the  facts  and  the  ob- 
servations contained  in  the  text,  as  well  with 
respect  to  the  Inquisition  itself,  and  to  the  dif- 
ferent epochs  of  its  duration,  as  to  the  policy 
of  the  kings  who  founded  and  established  it, 
shall  not  be  forgotten.  The  same  desire  makes 
me  transcribe  here  a  few  documents  likely  to 
throw  a  stronger  light  upon  this  important  sub- 
ject. In  the  first  place,  I  will  quote  the 
preamble  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  the 
Catholic  princes  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  for 
the  explusion  of  the  Jews :  we  there  find  stat- 
ed in  a  few  words,  the  outrages  which  the  Jews 
inflicted  on  religion,  and  the  dangers  with 
which  they  threatened  the  state. 

"  Book  viii.  chap.  2,  second  law  of  the  new 
Recopilacion.  Don  Ferdinand  and  Donna  Isa- 
bella, at  Granada,  30th  March,  1492.  Prag- 
matic Sanction. 

"  Having  been  informed  that  there  existed  in 
these  kingdoms  bad  Christians,  who  judaized 
and  apostatized, from  our  holy  Catholic  faith, 
whereof  the  communication  between  the  Jews 
and  Christians  was  in  great  part  the  cause,  we 
ordained,  in  the  Cortes  held  by  us  in  Toledo, 
in  1480,  that  the  Jews  in  all  the  cities,  towns, 
and  other  places  of  our  kingdoms  and  lordships, 
should  be  confined  in  the  Juiferies  and  places 
appointed  for  them  to  live  and  dwell  in,  hop- 
ing that  this  separation  would  serve  as  a  re- 
medy ;  we  also  provided  and  gave  orders  that 
an  Inquisition  should  be  appointed  in  our  said 
kingdoms ;  which  Inquisition,  as  you  know,  is 
and  has  been  practised  for  more  than  twelve 
years,  and  has  discovered  a  great  number  of 
delinquents,  as  is  notorious.  As  we  have  been 
informed  by  the  Inquisitors,  and  many  other 
religious  persons,  lay  and  ecclesiastical,  it  is 
certain  that  great  injury  to  the  Christians  had 
been  and  is  the  result  of  the  participation,  in- 
tercourse, and  communication  which  they  have 
had,  and  still  have,  with  the  Jews ;  it  has  been 
proved  that  the  latter,  by  all  the  means  in  their 
power,  constantly  labor  to  subvert  the  faith 
of  Christians,  to  withdraw  them  from  our  holy 
Catholic  faith,  to  lead  them  away  from  it,  to 
attract  them,  and  to  pervert  them  to  their  own 
noxious  creed  and  opinions ;  instructing  them 
in  the  ceremonies  and  observances  of  their  own 
law  ,•  holding  meetings  to  teach  them  what 
they  ought  to  believe  and  observe  according  to 
that  law ;  taking  care  to  circumcise  them  and 
their  children,  giving  them  books  in  order  to 
recite  their  prayers,  teaching  them  the  fasta 
which  they  ought  to  observe,  assembling  to 


NOTES. 


453 


read  with  them,  teaching  them  the  histories  of 
their  laws;  notifying  to  them  the  Paschal 
times  before  they  arrive,  admonishing  them  as 
to  what  they  ought  to  do  and  observe  during 
those  times ;  giving  them,  bringing  for  them, 
from  their  own  homes,  the  bread  of  azimes, 
meats  killed  according  to  their  ceremonies; 
instructing  them  as  to  the  things  from  which 
they  ought  to  abstain,  in  order  to  obey  the  law, 
as  well  in  eating  as  in  other  things ;  persuad- 
ing them,  as  far  as  they  can,  to  adopt  and  keep 
the  Law  of  Moses,  and  making  them  under- 
stand that  no  other  law  than  that  is  true.  All 
these  things  are  certain  from  numerous  testi- 
monies, from  the  acknowledgments  of  the  Jews 
themselves,  and  of  those  who  have  been  per- 
verted and  deceived  by  them,  which  has  inflict- 
ed great  injury,  detriment,  and  dishonor  on 
our  holy  Catholic  faith.  Although  we  were 
already  informed  of  these  things  from  many 
quarters,  and  although  we  were  aware  that  the 
*real  remedy  for  all  these  evils  and  inconveni- 
ences was  to  place  an  insurmountable  barrier 
to  the  communication  of  the  Jews  with  the 
Christians,  and  to  banish  the  Jews  from  our 
kingdoms,  we  wished  to  be  satisfied  with  en- 
joining them  to  quit  all  the  cities,  towns,  and 
places  of  Andalusia,  where  it  seemed  that 
they  had  done  the  most  mischief,  believing 
that  that  would  be  enough  to  hinder  those  of 
the  other  cities,  towns,  and  places  of  our  king- 
doms and  lordships  from  doing  and  committing 
what  has  been  mentioned.  But  being  inform- 
ed that  this  measure,  as  well  as  the  acts  of 
justice  exercised  on  some  of  the  Jews  who 
were  found  guilty  of  these  offences  and  crimes 
against  our  holy  Catholic  faith,  do  not  suffice 
to  remedy  the  evil  thoroughly ;  for  the  purpose 
of  obviating  and  abolishing  so  great  an  oppro- 
brium, such  an  offence  against  the  faith  and 
the  Christian  religion,  since  it  appears  that  the 
same  Jews,  with  a  fatal  ardor,  redouble  their 
perverse  attempts  wherever  they  live  and  asso- 
ciate ;  wishing  to  suppress  the  occasion  of  of- 
fending more  against  our  holy  Catholic  faith, 
as  well  on  account  of  those  persons  whom  it 
has  pleased  God  up  to  this  time  to  preserve,  as 
of  those  who,  after  having  fallen,  have  repent- 
ed and  returned  to  our  holy  mother  the  Church ; 
wishing  to  prevent  the  offences  which,  on  ac- 
count of  the  weakness  of  our  human  nature, 
and  the  suggestions  of  the  devil,  which  conti- 
nually make  war  on  us,  might  easily  occur,  if 
the  principal  cause  of  the  evil  were  not  remov- 
ed by  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  our 
kingdoms;  considering,  besides,  that  when  a 
great  and  detestable  crime  has  been  committed 
by  some  members  of  a  college  or  university,  it 
is  reasonable  that  that  college  or  that  univer- 
sity should  be  dissolved  and  destroyed,  that 
some  may  be  punished  on  account  of  the 
others,  and  the  lesser  number  on  account  of 
the  greater ;  that  those  who  pervert  the  good 
and  virtuous  mode  of  life  of  cities  and  towns, 
by  a  contagion  which  may  injure  others,  may 
he  banished  from  those  towns ;  and  that  if  it 
be  allowed  to  act  thus  for  other  slight  causes 
prejudicial  to  the  state,  there  is  still  more  rea- 
son to  allow  it  for  the  greatest,  the  most  dan- 
gerous, the  most  contagious  of  crimes,  that 
which  is  in  question  :  for  all  these  reasons  we, 
having  consulted  our  Council,  and  taken  the 
advice  of  some  prelates,"  Ac. 


We  are  not  now  examining  whether  or  not 
there  is  any  exaggeration  in  these  imputations 
against  the  Jews,  although,  according  to  all 
appearances,  there  must  have  been  a  great 
deal  of  foundation  for  them,  in  consequence  of 
the  situation  in  which  the  two  rival  nations 
were  placed.  Observe,  besides,  that  if  the 
preamble  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  is  silent 
with  respect  to  a  hundred  accusations  brought 
against  the  Jews  by  the  generality  of  the 
people,  the  report  of  these  crimes  had  not  the 
less  weight  with  the  public  ;  consequently,  the 
situation  of  the  Jews  was  aggravated  in  an  ex- 
traordinary degree,  and  the  princes  were  ao 
much  the  more  inclined  to  treat  them  with  se- 
verity. 

With  respect  to  the  mistrust  with  which  the 
Moors  and  their  descendants  must  have  been 
regarded,  besides  the  facts  pointed  out  above, 
others  might  be  related  which  show  the  dispo- 
sition of  men's  minds  to  see  in  the  presence  of 
these  men  a  permanent  conspiracy  against  the 
Christians.  Almost  a  century  had  elapsed  since 
the  conquest  of  Granada,  and  it  was  still  feared 
that  this  kingdom  might  be  the  centre  of  plots 
contrived  by  the  Moors  against  the  Christians, 
the  source  of  perfidious  projects,  and  the  place 
whence  came  the  means  of  maltreating  in  all 
ways  the  defenceless  persons  upon  our  coasts. 

Thus  spoke  Philip  II.  in  1567  : 

"  Book  viii.  chap.  2,  of  the  new  Recopilacion, 

"Law  xx.,  which  decrees  severe  punish- 
ments against  the  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom 
of  Granada  who  shall  have  hidden,  received, 
or  favored  the  Turks,  Moors,  or  Jews,  or  given 
them  intelligence,  or  corresponded  with  them. 

"  D.  Philip  II.,  Madrid,  10  December,  1567. 

"  Having  been  informed  that,  notwithstand- 
ing what  has  been  ordained  by  us,  as  well  by 
sea  as  by  land,  particularly  for  the  kingdom 
of  Granada,  for  the  purpose  of  insuring  the 
defence  and  security  of  our  kingdoms,  the 
Turks,  Moors,  and  corsairs  have  already  com- 
mitted, and  still  commit,  in  the  ports  of  this 
kingdom,  on  the  coasts,  in  maritime  places, 
and  those  bordering  on  the  sea,  robberies,  mis- 
deeds, injuries,  and  seizures  of  Christians ; 
evils  which  are  notorious,  and  which,  it  is  said, 
have  been,  and  are,  committed  with  ease  and 
security,  by  favor  of  the  intercourse  and  un- 
derstanding which  the  ravishers  have  had,  and 
still  have,  with  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country,  who  give  them  intelligence,  guide 
them,  receive  them,  hide  them,  and  lend  them 
favor  and  assistance  ;  some  of  them  even  going 
away  with  the  Moors  and  Turks,  leading  away 
and  carrying  with  them  their  wives,  their  chil- 
dren, their  goods,  Christian  captives,  and  the 
things  which  they  were  able  to  ravish  from  the 
Christians;  while  other  inhabitants  of  the 
same  kingdom,  who  have  participated  in  these 
projects,  or  have  been  acquainted  with  them, 
remain  in  the  country,  without  having  been  or 
being  punished ;  for  it  appears  that  measures 
are  not  executed  with  due  severity,  nor  as  com- 
pletely, or  with  as  much  care  as  they  ought  to 
be  :  as,  moreover,  it  seems  very  difficult  to  get 
accurate  information,  as  it  appears  that  even 
the  justices  and  the  judges,  to  whom  it  belongs 
to  make  inquiries  and  to  punish,  have  displayed 
remissness  and  negligence  in  their  employ- 
ment ; — this  having  been  agitated  and  discuss- 
ed in  our  Council,  with  the  view  of  providing, 


454 


NOTES. 


as  is  proper  in  a  thing  of  such  great  import- 
ance, for  the  service  of  God  our  Master,  for 
our  own  and  the  public  good ;  the  thing  hav- 
ing been  consulted  upon  by  us,  it  has  been 
agreed  that  we  ought  to  publish  this  present 
letter,"  Ac. 

Years  passed  away ;  the  hatred  between  the 
two  nations  still  endured  ;  in  spite  of  the  nu- 
merous checks  which  the  Mahometan  race  had 
received,  the  Christians  were  not  satisfied.  It 
was  very  probable  that  a  nation  who  had  suf- 
fered, and  might  still  suffer,  such  great  humi- 
liations, would  attempt  to  avenge  them.  It  is 
also  by  no  means  difficult  to  believe  in  the  rea- 
lity of  the  conspiracies  which  were  charged 
against  the  Moors.  However  this  may  be,  the 
report  of  these  conspiracies  was  general,  and 
the  government  was  seriously  alarmed  by  them. 
Those  who  desire  a  proof  of  this,  may  read 
what  Philip  III.  said,  in  1609,  in  the  law  which 
expelled  the  Moriscoes. 

"Book  viii.  chap.  2,  of  the  new  Recopila- 
cion. 

"  Law  xxv.  By  virtue  of  which  the  Moris- 
coes were  banished  from  the  kingdom  :  causes 
of  this  expulsion — means  which  were  adopted 
for  the  execution  of  the  measure. 

"  D.  Philip  III.,  Madrid,  9  December,  1609. 

"  For  a  long  time  it  has  been  endeavored  to 
save  the  Moriscoes  in  these  kingdoms:  the 
holy  office  of  the  Inquisition  has  inflicted 
divers  punishments  ;  numerous  edicts  of  mercy 
have  been  granted ;  neither  means  nor  dili- 
gence have  been  spared  to  instruct  them  in 
our  holy  faith,  without  being  able  to  obtain  the 
desired  result,  for  none  of  them  have  been 
converted.  On  the  contrary,  their  obstinacy 
has  increased ;  the  peril  which  threatens  our 
kingdoms,  if  we  keep  the  Moriscoes,  has  been 
represented  to  us  by  persons  very  well  informed 
and  full  of  the  fear  of  God,  who,  thinking  it 
proper  that  a  prompt  remedy  should  be  applied 
to  this  evil,  have  represented  to  us  that  the 
delay  might  be  charged  upon  our  royal  con- 
science, considering  the  grave  offences  which 
our  Lord  receives  from  that  people.  We  have 
been  assured  that  we  might,  without  scruple, 
punish  them  in  their  lives  and  properties,  since 
they  were  convicted  by  their  continued  offences 
of  being  heretics,  apostates,  and  traitors  of 
le«e-maj€8te  divine  and  human.  Although  it 
would  have  been  allowable  to  proceed  against 
them  with  the  rigor  which  their  offences  de- 
serve, nevertheless,  desiring  to  bring  them 
back  by  means  of  mildness  and  mercy,  I  or- 
dained, in  the  city  and  kingdom  of  Valencia, 
an  assembly  of  the  patriarchs,  and  other  pre- 
lates and  wise  men,  in  order  to  ascertain  what 
could  be  resolved  upon  and  settled ;  but  having 
learned  that,  at  the  very  time  they  were  en- 
gaged in  remedying  the  evil,  the  Moriscoes  of 
the  said  kingdom  of  Valencia,  and  of  our  other 
domains,  continued  to  urge  forward  their  per- 
nicious projects ;  knowing,  moreover,  from  cor- 
rect and  certain  intelligence,  that  they  had 
sent  to  treat  at  Constantinople  with  the  Turks, 
and  at  Morocco  with  the  king,  Muley  Fidon, 
in  order  that  there  might  be  sent  into  the 
kingdom  of  Spain  the  greatest  number  of 
forces  possible  to  aid  and  assist  them ;  being 
sure  that  there  would  be  found  in  our  kingdom 
more  than  150,000  men,  as  good  Moors  as  those 
from  the  coasts  of  Barbary,  all  ready  to  assist 


them  with  their  lives  and  fortunes,  whereby 
they  were  persuaded  of  the  facility  of  the  en- 
terprise ;  knowing  that  the  same  treaties  have 
been  attempted  with  heretics  and  other  princes 
our  enemies  :  considering  all  that  we  have  just 
said,  and  to  fulfill  the  obligation  which  we  are 
under  of  preserving  and  maintaining  the  holy 
Koman  Catholic  faith  in  our  kingdoms,  as  well 
as  the  security,  peace,  and  repose  of  the  said 
kingdoms,  with  the  counsel  and  advice  of 
learned  men,  and  others,  very  zealous  for  the 
service  of  God  and  for  our  own,  we  ordain 
that  all  the  Moriscoes,  inhabitants  of  these 
kingdoms,  men,  women,  and  children,  of  all 
conditions,"  <kc. 

I  have  said  that  the  Popes  labored,  from  the 
commencement,  to  soften  the  rigors  of  the 
Spanish  Inquisition,  sometimes  by  admonish- 
ing the  kings  and  inquisitors,  sometimes  by 
giving  the  accused  and  condemned  a  right  of 
appeal.  The  kings  feared  that  the  religious 
innovations  would  produce  a  public  distur-* 
bance ;  I  add,  that  their  policy  embarrassed 
the  Popes,  and  prevented  them  from  carrying 
'  as  far  as  they  would  Tiave  wished  their  measures 
of  mildness  and  indulgence.  Among  the  other 
documents  which  support  this  assertion,  I  will 
cite  one  which  proves  the  irritation  of  the 
Spanish  kings  at  the  assistance  which  the  ac- 
cused found  at  Rome. 

"  Book  viii.  chap.  3,  law  2,  of  the  new  Re- 
copilacion,  enjoining  persons  condemned  by 
the  Inquisition,  and  absent  from  these  king- 
doms, not  to  return  there  under  pain  of  death 
and  losing  their  goods. 

"  D.  Ferdinand  and  D.  Isabella,  at  Sara- 
gossa,  2d  August,  1498.  Pragmatic  Sanction. 
"  Some  persons  condemned  as  heretics  by  the 
Inquisition  have  absented  themselves  from  our 
kingdoms,  and  have  gone  to  other  countries, 
where,  by  means  of  false  reports  and  undue 
formalities,  they  have  surreptitiously  obtained 
exemptions,  absolutions,  mandates,  securities, 
and  other  privileges,  in  order  to  be  exempt 
from  the  condemnations  and  punishments 
which  they  had  incurred,  and  to  remain  in 
their  errors,  which,  nevertheless,  does  not  pre- 
vent their  attempting  to  return  to  these  king- 
doms, wherefore,  wishing  to  extirpate  so  great 
an  evil,  we  command  these  condemned  persons 
not  to  be  so  bold  as  to  return.  Let  them  not 
return  into  our  kingdoms  and  lordships,  by  any 
way,  in  any  manner,  for  any  cause  or  reason 
whatsoever,  under  pain  of  death  and  the  loss 
I  of  their  goods ;  which  punishment  we  will  and 
|  ordain  to  be  incurred  by  the  act  itself.  One- 
|  third  of  the  property  shall  be  for  the  persons 
who  shall  have  denounced,  another  for  the 
i  courts,  and  the  third  for  our  exchequer.  When- 
|  ever  the  said  justices,  in  their  own  places  and 
jurisdiction,  shall  know  that  any  of  the  said 
persons  are  in  any  part  of  their  jurisdiction, 
we  order  all  and  each  of  them,  without  excep- 
tion, to  go  to  the  place  where  such  persons  are, 
without  being  otherwise  called  upon,  to  appre- 
hend them  forcibly  and  immediately,  and  with- 
out delay  to  execute,  and  cause  to  be  executed, 
on  them  and  their  properties  the  punishments 
which  we  have  appointed;  and  this  notwith- 
standing all  exemption,  reconciliation,  securi- 
ties, and  other  privileges  which  they  may  have, 
these  privileges,  in  the  present  case,  and  with 
respect  to  the  said  penalties,  not  availing  them. 


NOTES. 


455 


We  order  them  to  do  and  accomplish  this  un- 
der pain  of  the  loss  and  confiscation  of  all 
their  property.  The  same  penalty  shall  be  in- 
curred by  all  other  persons  who  shall  have 
hidden  or  received  the  said  condemned  persons, 
and  who  knowing  that  they  were  so,  shall  not 
have  given  information  to  our  courts.  We 
order  all  great  men  and  councillors,  and  other 
persons  of  our  kingdoms,  to  give  favor  and 
assistance  to  our  courts,  whenever  it  shall  be 
demanded  and  required  from  them,  to  accom- 
plish and  execute  what  has  been  said  above, 
under  the  penalties  which  the  courts  them- 
selves shall  appoint  on  this  subject." 

We  see  from  this  document,  that,  after  the 
year  1498,  things  had  reached  such  a  point, 
that  the  kings  attempted  to  maintain  against 
every  one  all  the  rigor  of  the  Inquisition,  and 
that  they  were  offended  that  the  Popes  inter- 
fered to  soften  it.  It  will  be  understood  there- 
by whence  proceeded  the  harshness  with  which 
the  guilty  were  treated;  and  this  shows  us  one 
of  the  causes  which  made  the  Inquisition 
sometimes  use  its  power  with  excessive  sever- 
ity. Although  it  was  not  a  mere  instrument 
of  the  policy  of  kings,  as  some  have  said,  the 
Inquisition  felt  more  or  less  the  influence  of 
that  policy;  and  we  know  that  policy,  when 
about  to  defeat  an  adversary,  does  not  com- 
monly display  an  excess  of  compassion.  If 
the  Spanish  Inquisition  had  been  at  that  time 
under  the  exclusive  authority  and  direction  of 
the  Popes,  it  would  have  been  infinitely  milder 
and  more  moderate  in  its  method  of  acting. 

At,  that  time  the  object  ardently  desired  by 
the  kings  of  Spain  was,  to  obtain  that  the 
judgments  of  the  Inquisition  should  be  defini- 
tive in  Spain,  without  appeal  to  Rome  ;  Queen 
Isabella  had  expressly  demanded  this  of  the 
Pope.  The  Sovereign  Pontiffs  would  not  ac- 
cede to  these  solicitations,  no  doubt  fearing  the 
abuse  which  might  be  made  of  so  fearful  an 
arm  when  the  restraint  of  the  moderating 
power  should  become  wanting. 

It  will  be  understood  from  the  facts  which  I 
have  just  quoted,  how  much  reason  I  had  to 
say  that,  if  you  excuse  the  conduct  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella  with  respect  to  the  Inquisi- 
tion, you  must  not  condemn  that  of  Philip  II., 
since  the  Catholic  sovereigns  showed  them- 
selves still  more  harsh  and  severe  than  the 
latter  monarch.  I  have  already  pointed  out 
the  reason  why  the  conduct  of  Philip  II.  has 
been  so  rigorously  condemned ;  but  it  is  also 
necessary  to  show  why  there  has  been  a  sort 
of  obstinacy  in  excusing  that  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella. 

When  it  is  wished  to  falsify  an  historical 
fact  by  calumniating  a  person  or  an  institution, 
it  is  necessary  to  begin  with  an  affectation  of 
impartiality  and  good  faith ;  great  success  is 
obtained  in  this  by  manifesting  indulgence  for 
the  same  thing  which  it  is  desired  to  condemn, 
but  taking  care  that  this  indulgence  has  strong- 
ly the  appearance  of  being  a  concession  gratu- 
itously made  to  our  adversaries,  or  of  a  sacri- 
fice of  our  opinions,  of  our  feelings,  on  the 
altars  of  reason  and  justice,  which  are  our 
guide  and  our  idol.  We  thus  predispose  our 
hearers  or  readers  to  regard  the  condemnation 
which  we  are  about  to  pronounce  as  a  judg- 
ment dictated  by  the  strictest  justice ;  a  judg- 
ment in  which  neither  passion,  nor  partiality, 


nor  perverse  views,  have  any  part.  How  can 
we  doubt  the  good  faith,  the  love  of  truth,  the 
impartiality  of  the  man  who  begins  by  excus- 
ing what,  according  to  all  appearances,  and 
considering  his  opinions,  ought  to  be  the  object 
of  his  anathemas  ?  Such  is  the  situation  of 
the  men  of  whom  we  speak.  They  intended 
to  attack  the  Inquisition ;  now  it  happened  that 
the  protectress,  and,  in  some  sort,  the  found- 
ress of  that  tribunal  was  Queen  Isabella, — that 
distinguished  name  which  Spaniards  have 
always  pronounced  with  respect,  that  immor- 
tal queen,  one  of  the  noblest  ornaments  of  our 
history.  What  was  to  be  done  in  this  difficul- 
ty ?  The  means  were  simple.  Although  the 
Jews  and  heretics  had  been  treated  with  the 
greatest  severity  in  the  time  of  the  Catholic 
sovereigns,  and  although  they  had  carried 
severity  further  than  all  those  who  have  suc- 
ceeded them,  it  was  necessary  to  close  the  eye 
to  these  facts,  to  excuse  the  conduct  of  these 
sovereigns,  and  to  point  out  the  important  mat- 
ters which  urged  them  to  employ  the  rigors 
of  justice.  They  thus  avoided  the  difficulty, 
— for  it  was  one  to  cast  a  stigma  on  the  memo- 
ry of  a  great  queen  cherished  and  respected 
by  all  Spaniards, — and  they  thus  prepared  the 
way  for  merciless  accusations  against  Philip 
II.  That  monarch  had  the  unanimous  cry  of 
all  Protestants  against  him,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  he  had  been  their  most  powerful 
adversary;  it  would  therefore  cost  nothing  to 
make  all  the  weight  of  execration  fall  upon 
him.  The  enigma  is  thus  explained.  Such  is 
the  cause  of  a  partiality  so  unjust, — such  is 
the  hypocrisy  of  that  opinion  which,  while  ex- 
cusing the  Catholic  sovereigns,  condemns  Phi- 
lip II.  without  appeal. 

I  have  not  attempted  to  justify  the  policy 
of  this  monarch  in  all  respects;  but  I  have 
presented  a  few  considerations  which  may 
serve  to  mitigate  the  violent  attacks  made 
upon  him  by  his  adversaries :  it  only  remains 
for  me  to  transcribe  here  the  documents  to 
which  I  alluded  when  I  said  that  the  Inquisi- 
tion was  not  a  mere  instrument  of  the  policy 
of  Philip  II.,  and  that  this  prince  did  not  in- 
tend to  establish  a  system  of  obscuruntisme  in 
Spain. 

Don  Antonio  Perez,  in  his  Relations,  gives  a 
letter  of  the  confessor  of  the  king,  Fray  Diego 
de  Chaves,  in  which  letter  the  latter  affirms 
that  the  secular  prince  has  power  over  the  lives 
of  his  subjects  and  vassals,  and  adds  in  a  note : 
"  I  shall  not  undertake  to  relate  all  that  I  have 
heard  said  on  the  subject  of  the  condemnation 
of  some  of  these  propositions ;  this  is  not  within 
my  province.  Those  who  are  concerned  in  this 
will  at  once  understand  the  import  of  my  words. 
I  shall  content  myself  with  saying  that,  at  the 
time  when  I  was  at  Madrid,  the  Inquisition  con- 
demned the  following  proposition  :  a  preacher 
— it  matters  not  that  I  should  mention  his 
name — maintained  in  a  sermon,  at  St.  Jerome's, 
in  Madrid,  in  presence  of  the  Catholic  king, 
that  kings  have  an  absolute  power  over  the  per- 
sons of  their  subjects,  as  well  as  over  their  pro- 
Serties.  Besides  some  other  separate  matters, 
e  preacher  was  condemned  to  retract  this 
publicly,  in  the  same  place,  with  all  the  cere- 
monies of  a  juridical  act,  which  he  did  in  the 
same  pulpit,  saying  that  he  had  advanced  such 
a  proposition  on  such  a  day,  and  that  he  re- 


456 


NOTES. 


traded  it  as  erroneous.     'For,  mesBieurs,'  said  , 
he,  reading  literally  from  a  paper,  '  kings  have 
no  other  power  over  their  subjects  than  what  is 

£'ven  them  by  the  divine  and  human  laio  ;  they 
ve  none  proceeding  from  their  owy  free  and 
absolute  will.'  I  even  know  who  condemned 
the  proposition,  and  appointed  the  words  which 
the  accused,  to  the  great  gratification  of  the 
former,  was  obliged  to  pronounce ;  indeed,  he 
rejoiced  to  see  torn  up  so  poisonous  a  weed, 
which  he  felt  was  increasing,  as  the  event 
proved.  Master  Fray  Hernando  del  Castillo 
(I  will  mention  his  name)  was  the  one  who 
prescribed  what  the  accused  was  to  say  ;  he 
was  consultee  of  the  holy  office,  and  preacher 
to  the  king;  he  was  a  man  of  singular  learning 
and  eloquence,  very  well  known  and  esteemed 
by  his  own  nation,  and  especially  by  the  Ita- 
lians. Dr.  Velasco,  an  important  personage  of 
that  time,  said  of  him,  that  the  guitar  in  the 
hands  of  Fabricio  Dentici  was  not  so  sweet  as 
the  tongue  of  Master  Fray  Hernandez  del  Cas- 
tillo to  the  ears  of  those  who  heard  him."  And 
at  page  47  in  the  text :  "  I  know,"  says  Don 
Antonio  Perez,  "  that  they  were  denominated 
very  scandalous  by  persons  very  important  by 
their  rank,  their  learning,  and  their  Christian 
purity  of  heart;  there  was  one  among  them 
who  had  held  supreme  rank  in  the  spiritual 
order  in  Spain,  and  had  previously  filled  an 
office  in  the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition."  Perez 
afterwards  says,  that  this  person  was  the  nun- 
cio of  his  Holiness.  (Relaciones  de  Anton.  Perez. 
Paris,  1624.) 

The  letter  of  Philip  II.  to  Doctor  D.  Benito 
Arias  Montano  contains  the  following,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  remarkable  passage  which  we  have 
quoted. 

"  Concerning  what  you,  Dr.  Ac.,  my  chaplain, 
will  have  to  do  at  Antwerp,  whither  we  send 
you.  Dated  at  Madrid,  25th  March,  1568. 

"Besides  that  you  will  render  this  good  office 
and  service  to  the  said  Plantinus,  know  that, 
from  this  time,  in  proportion  as  the  six  thousand 
crowns  are  recovered  from  his  hands,  I  apply 
them  to  buy  books  for  the  monastery  of  St. 
Laurent-le-Boyal,  of  the  order  of  St.  Jerome, 
which  I  am  building  near  the  Escurial,  as  you 
know.  Thus  you  are  admonished  that  such  is 
my  intention ;  you  will  comply  with  this,  and 
will  be  diligent  in  collecting  all  the  choice 
books,  printed  and  MS.,  that  your  excellent 
discernment  shall  think  proper,,in  order  to  bring 
them  and  place  them  in  the  library  of  the  said 
monastery.  Indeed,  it  is  one  of  the  chief -pos- 
sessions which  I  would  wish  to  leave  to  the 
religious  who  are  intended  to  dwell  there,  for 
it  is  the  most  useful  and  necessary.  Wherefore 
I  have  also  commanded  my  ambassador  in 
France,  D.  Francis  de  Alaba,  to  collect  the  best 
books  which  he  shall  be  able  in  that  kingdom : 
you  will  communicate  with  him  on  that  subject. 
I  will  direct  him  to  communicate  in  writing 
also  with  you,  to  send  you  a  list  of  the  books 
which  are  to  be  had,  as  well  as  their  price,  be- 
fore buying  them ;  you  will  advise  him  as  to 
which  he  had  better  take  or  leave,  and  what 
he  may  give  for  such;  He  will  send  to  you  at 
Antwerp  those  which  he  has  thus  bought ;  you 
will  acknowledge  them,  and  forward  them  here, 
all  at  once,  at  the  proper  time." 

During  the  reign  of  Philip  II., — of  that 
prince  who  is  represented  to  us  as  one  of  the 


principal  authors  of  obscurantisme, — choice 
works,  both  printed  and  MS.,  were  sought  in 
foreign  countries,  in  order  to  enrich  the  Span- 
ish libraries ;  in  our  age,  which  we  call  that 
of  enlightenment,  the  libraries  of  Spain  have 
been  plundered,  and  their  treasures  have  gone 
to  add  to  those  of  foreigners.  Who  is  ignorant 
of  the  collections  which  have  been  made  of 
our  books  and  MS.,  in  England?  Consult  the 
atalogues  of  the  British  Museum  and  other 
private  libraries.  The  author  of  these  lines 
states  only  what  he  has  seen  with  his  own  eyes 
— what  he  has  heard  lamented  by  persons 
worthy  of  respect.  While  we  show  so  much 
negligence  in  preserving  our  treasures,  let  us 
not  be  so  unjust  and  so  puerile  as  to  lose  our 
time  in  vain  declamation  against  those  who 
have  bequeathed  them  to  us. 

APPENDIX. 

A  few  words  on  Puigblanch,  Villeneuve,  and 
Llorente. 

Here,  in  the  Spanish  edition,  the  notes  re- 
lating to  the  Inquisition  terminate;  but  I  think 
it  may  not  be  useless  in  the  French  edition  to 
add  a  few  words,  to  explain  the  matter  to  my 
foreign  readers :  little  versed  as  they  are  in 
the  knowledge  of  our  affairs,  they  might  often 
happen  to  drink  at  corrupted  sources,  which 
they  imagine  to  be  pure  and  salutary.  Le 
Compte  de  Maistre,  with  respect  to  the  Span- 
ish Inquisition,  cites  L'  fnyuisition  devoil.ee  de 
Natanael  Jonitob  :  I  will  say  a  few  words,  lest 
the  authority  of  the  author  who  quotes  should 
give  too  much  importance  to  him  who  is  quoted. 
This  Natanael  Jomtob  is  no  other  than  Dr.  D. 
Antonio  Puigblanch,  a  Spaniard,  who  died  not 
long  ago  in  London.  This  author,  in  the  pro- 
logue to  his  works  published  in  London,  himself 
explains  the  reason  which  made  him  adopt  a 
strange  name.  "  These  Hebrew  words,"  he  says, 
"are  two  proper  significative  names,  which, 
together,  form  the  inscription,  Dedit  Ueus  diem 
bonum.  I  wished  thus  to  express  the  happiness 
of  being  able  to  speak  and  write  freely  against 
the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition,  and  the  happi- 
ness of  seeing  it  abolished."  (Proloy.  p.  cxv.) 

In  order  that  the  reader  may  judge  of  the 
value  that  belongs  to  this  work,  I  will  observe, 
that  the  first  qualification  in  an  historian,  es- 
pecially on  a  matter  so  delicate,  is  complete 
impartiality  united  to  a  great  fund  of  modera- 
tion :  these  two  qualifications  were  wanting  in 
M.  Puigblanch,  who  was  lamentably  infected 
with  the  contrary  faults.  It  is  impossible  to 
be  more  violent  than  he  is  against  all  that  he 
meets  with ;  his  ill-humor  and  anger  blind 
him  ;  he  attacks  institutions  and  men  with  per- 
fect fury;  he  respects  nothing:  add  to  this  a 
pitiable  vanity.  It  would  be  easy  for  me  to 
produce  here  various  proofs  of  the  impiety  of 
Puigblanch  ;  but  I  should  fear  to  soil  my  pa- 
per by  transcribing  the  impious  satires  of  this 
man.  This  is  enough  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
point  of  view  in  which  he  could  regard  things 
relating  to  religious  affairs  and  to  the  clergy. 
He  misses  no  opportunity  of  ridiculing  the 
ministers  of  religion,  of  indulging  in  invectives 
against  them,  and  of  giving  vent  to  the  in- 
comprehensible rage  which  he  has  against 
them.  The  unbecoming  manner  in  which  he 
treats  his  adversaries,  real  or  imaginary,  even 


NOTES. 


457 


when  they  have  more  or  less  sympathy  with 
his  opinions,  is  a  good  apology  for  the  things 
which  he  combats  on  the  other  hand.  I  cannot 
repeat  his  words  here,  so  coarse  are  they ;  be- 
sides, they  attack  persons  who  are  still  living; 
suffice  it  to  say,  that  not  content  with  insulting 
them  in  the  most  disgusting  way,  Puigblanch 
descends  so  low  as  to  reproach  them  with  their 
physical  defects,  after  the  manner  of  a  market- 
woman.  What  was  to  be  hoped  from  such  a 
mind  in  a  matter  so  important  and  delicate  ? 
Were  such  dispositions  suitable  for  an  historian 
of  the  Inquisition,  who  published  his  work 
precisely  in  the  year  1811,  that  is  to  say,  at  a 
time  of  reaction  and  effervescence  ?  With  re- 
spect to  talent  and  knowledge,  I  will  not  refuse 
to  M.  Puigblanch  either  reading  or  erudition, 
or  a  certain  aptitude  for  criticism,  yet  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  his  mind  was  far  from 
being  so  cultivated  as  it  ought  to  have  been, 
in  order  to  keep  pace  with  our  age.  A  work 
like  his  required  that  he  should  have  followed 
the  march  of  the  times,  that  he  should  not  have 
been  altogether  devoid  of  the  philosophy  of 
history,  that  he  should  not  have  relied  exclu- 
sively upon  certain  books,  while  accumulating 
crude  erudition,  and  incessantly  perusing  ety- 
mologies and  grammatical  questions :  this  is 
what  was  wanting  in  M.  Puigblanch.  To  sum 
up  all  in  one  sentence,  I  have  found  the  fol- 
lowing description,  which  I  heard  in  London, 
from  the  mouth  of  a  distinguished  man  who 
had  intercourse  with  Puigblanch  for  a  long 
time,  to  be  perfectly  correct:  "Puigblanch," 
he  told  me,  "  knew  what  a  learned  man  of  the 
seventeenth  century  in  Spain  might  have 
known."  The  Christian  reader  may  imagine 
what  was  the  result  of  the  amalgamation  of 
this  kind  of  instruction  with  all  the  bile  of 
Voltairian  passion. 

D.  Joaquin  Lorenzo  Villanueva  is  another  of 
those  Spaniards  who  have  distinguished  them- 
selves by  declaiming  against  the  Inquisition  ; 
in  his  Literary  Life  (Vida  Literaria)  he  had 
asserted  that  the  public  information  on  this 
question,  and  the  abolition  of  that  famous  tri- 
bunal, were  in  great  part  owing  to  him.  Puig- 
blanch strongly  recriminates  against  Villanu- 
eva, who  attempted  to  usurp  his  glory  by 
availing  himself  of  his  work  without  acknow- 
ledging it,  and  other  similar  things,  which  do 
as  little  honor  to  the  one  as  to  the  other.  Vil- 
lanueva has  been  already  judged  in  Spain  by 
all  sensible  men ;  foreigners  who  desire  to  un- 
derstand this  question  will  be  under  the  un- 
pleasant obligation  of  reading  the  two  large 
volumes  in  Svo,  in  which  he  has  written  his 
literary  life.  The  bile  of  Villanueva  against 
all  the  clergy  who  are  not  of  his  coterie,  and, 
above  all,  his  hatred  against  Rome,  show  them- 
selves at  every  page  of  his  book,  and  from 
time  to  time  produce  explosions  which  are 
much  too  violent  to  accord  with  the  extreme 
mildness  which  he  is  pleased  to  affect.  More- 
over, let  the  reader  prepare  and  arm  himself 
with  patience,  if  he  undertake  to  get  through 
these  two  large  volumes,  which  contain,  writ- 
ten by  the  man  himself,  who  so  well  deserved 
it,  the  most  complete  panegyric  of  his  pro- 
found knowledge,  his  vast  erudition,  his  great 
humility,  and  his  virtues  of  all  kinds.  It  cer- 
tainly would  have  been  very  well,  if  the 
author,  with  a  slight  recollection  of  modesty, 

58  20 


had  not  candidly  told  us,  that  they  went  so  far 
as  to  call  him  the  father  of  the  poor,  that  his 
poetic  fire  was  not  cooled  by  age,  that  his 
activity  in  labor  did  not  allow  him  to  remain 
idle,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  perse- 
cutions ;  in  fine,  if  he  had  not  undertaken  to 
make  us  believe  that  all  his  life  was  a  con- 
tinual sacrifice  on  the  altars  of  knowledge  and 
virtue.  To  those  who  desire  to  derive  their 
information  from  Villanueva,  we  have  a  right 
to  say :  Do  not  forget  that  you  must  beware 
of  believing  all — that  the  tree  is  known  by  its 
fruits — that  the  wolf  often  assumes  sheep's 
clothing. 

Among  those  who  have  made  the  most  noise 
with  respect  to  the  Inquisition,  is  Llorente,  the 
author  of  a  history  of  that  famous  institution. 
The  impartiality  which  may  be  expected  from 
this  writer  shows  itself  every  moment  in  his 
book,  which  has  evidently  been  written  for  the 
purpose  of  blackening,  as  much  as  possible, 
the  Catholic  clergy  and  the  Holy  See.  Hap- 
pily the  author  has  made  himself  too  well 
known  by  his  other  works,  for  any  Catholic  to 
allow  himself  to  be  deceived  by  his  insidious 
writings.  No  one,  especially  in  Spain,  is  igno- 
rant of  the  project  of  the  religious  constitution 
with  which  Llorente  attempted  to  disturb  con- 
sciences, and  introduce  schism  and  heresy  into 
our  country.  Does  he  who  attempts  to  destroy 
the  universal  discipline  established  from  the 
earliest  ages,  who  expresses  doubts  on  the  most 
sacred  mysteries  of  our  holy  religion,  v/ho  con- 
tests the  infallible  authority  of  the  Church, 
and  does  not  hold  the  first  four  (Ecumenical 
Councils  to  be  legitimate,  deserve  the  least 
credit  when  writing  the  history  of  the  Inqui- 
sition,— that  history  which  affords  so  many  op- 
portunities of  declaiming  against  the  clergy 
and  against  Rome  ?  Here  is  a  proof  of  his 
impartiality.  In  his  history  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, he  could  not  avoid  relating  the  conduct 
of  the  Apostolic  See  in  the  early  times  of  the 
Inquisition  in  Spain,  and  the  efforts  made  by 
the  Holy  See  for  the  purpose  of  softening  the 
rigors  of  that  tribunal,  the  appeals  which  were 
made,  and  the  merciful  judgments  which  were 
almost  always  obtained  at  Rome ;  all  these  facts 
clearly  showed  that  Rome,  far  from  being,  as 
he  pretended,  a  monster  of  cruelty,  was  rather 
a  model  of  mildness  and  prudence.  How  do 
you  think  he  gets  out  of  this  difficulty  ?  By 
saying,  that  what  the  Court  of  Rome  wanted 
was,  to  extort  money  from  us.  An  explanation 
as  unworthy  as  it  is  impudent — an  odious  means 
of  depriving  the  most  beneficent  and  generous 
actions  of  their  lustre,  and  which  shows  a  fixed 
design  to  find  evil  every  where,  even  to  the  ex- 
tent of  assigning  evil  motives  for  benefits  which 
are  the  most  worthy  of  gratitude. 

With  respect  to  Llorente,  I  am  unwilling  to 
pass  over  in  silence  a  remarkable  fact  which 
he  has  had  the  kindness  to  communicate  to  the 
public  in  the  same  work.  King  Joseph,  the 
intruder,  intrusted  Llorente,  by  express  orders, 
with  the  archives  of  the  Supreme  Council  and 
the  Tribunal  of  the  Inquisition  of  the  capital. 
This  excellent  man  was  so  perfect  an  archivist, 
that  he  burnt  all  the  reports  of  proceedings, 
with  the  approbation  of  his  master  (as  he  him- 
self tells  us),  with  the  exception  of  those 
which  could  appertain  to  history,  by  the  cele- 
brity or  the  renown  of  the  persons  who  figured 


458 


NOTES. 


in  them,  such  as  those  of  Caranza,  of  Maca- 
naz,  and  a  few  others  ;  although  he  preserved 
ontire,  he  adds,  the  registers  of  the  decisions 
of  the  Council,  the  royal  ordinances,  and  the 
bulls  and  briefs  from  Rome.  (Edition  Fran- 
<?aise,  1818,  t.  4,  p.  145.)  After  having  heard 
this  remarkable  confession,  we  will  ask  every 
impartial  man,  whether  there  is  not  room  for 
greatly  mistrusting  an  historian  who  claims  to 
be  sole  and  unique,  because  he  has  had  the  op- 
portunity of  consulting  the  original  documents 
whereon  he  founds  his  history,  and  who,  never- 
theless, burns  and  destroys  these  same  docu- 
ments ?  Was  there  no  place  to  be  found  in 
Madrid  to  place  them,  where  they  could  be  ex- 
amined by  those  who,  after  Llorente,  might 
wish  to  write  the  history  of  the  Inquisition 
from  the  original  documents  ?  Llorente  has 
preserved,  he  tells  us,  those  which  belonged  to 
history  ;  but  the  history  of  the  Inquisition  had 
equally  need  of  others,  even  the  most  obscure 
— even  the  most  apparently  insignificant  ;  for 
it  not  seldom  happens  that  a  fact,  a  circum- 
stance, a  word,  shows  ua  an  institution,  and 
paints  for  us  an  age.  And  observe,  that  this 
destruction  took  place  at  a  critical  moment  of 
public  disturbance,  when  the  whole  nation,  de- 
voted to  an  immortal  struggle  in  defence  of  her 
independence,  could  not  fix  her  attention  on 
such  matters.  The  most  remarkable  men, 
scattered  on  all  sides,  then  led  their  fellow-ci- 
tizens in  arms,  or  were  engaged  in  the  most 
important  interests  of  the  country;  conse- 
quently they  could  not  watch  over  the  conduct 
of  an  archivist,  who,  after  having  left  his  bre- 
thren, whose  blood  was  flowing  upon  the  battle- 
field, accepted  employment  under  a  foreign  in- 
truder, and  burned  the  documents  of  an  insti- 
tution whereof  he  undertook  to  write  the 
history. 

NOTE  27,  p.  281. 

The  plan  of  my  work  required  that  questions 
relating  to  the  religious  communities  should  be 
examined  at  some  length  but  it  did  not  allow 
me  to  give  to  this  matter  all  the  development 
of  which  it  is  susceptible.  Indeed,  it  would 
be  possible,  in  my  opinion,  in  writing  the 
history  of  religious  communities,  to  give  side 
by  side  that  of  the  nations  among  whom  these 
communities  arose,  so  as  to  show  in  detail  a 
truth  we  have  now  proved,  viz.  that  the  esta- 
blishment of  religious  institutions,  besides  the 
superior  and  divine  object  which  they  have 
had  in  view,  has  been  at  all  times  the  fulfil- 
ment of  a  social  and  religious  necessity.  Al- 
though my  strength  does  not  enable  me  to  as- 
pire to  such  an  enterprise,  by  which  the  cou- 
rage may  well  be  daunted,  even  by  contem- 
plating the  immense  extent  of  such  a  work,  I 
wish  to  suggest  the  idea  of  it  here  ;  perhaps  a 
man  may  be  found  with  sufficient  capacity, 
learning,  and  leisure,  to  undertake  it,  and  en- 
rich our  age  with  this  new  monument  of  history 
and  philosophy.  By  conceiving  the  plan  in 
this  point  of  view,  and  making  it  subordinate 
to  this  unity-  of  object,  whereof  the  foundation, 
which  shows  itself  in  well-known  facts,  is  dis- 
covered in  obscure  and  conjectured  in  hidden 
ones,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  giving  all 
desirable  variety  to  this  work.  The  subject 
itself  leads  to  variety ;  for  it  invites  the  writer 


to  descend  to  extremely  interesting  particu- 
lars, which  will  be  like  the  episodes  of  a  grand 
and  unique  poem.  The  disposition  of  men's 
minds,  now  become  favorable  to  religious  in- 
stitutions, thanks  to  the  deceptions  which  are 
the  consequence  of  vain  theories,  and  to  the 
lessons  of  experience,  which  destroy  the  calum- 
nies invented  by  philosophy,  render  the  road 
every  day  more  easy.  The  path  is  already 
sufficiently  beaten ;  it  is  only  required  to  en- 
large and  extend  it,  in  order  to  conduct  a 
greater  number  of  men  towards  the  region  of 
truth. 

Having  pointed  out  this,  it  only  remains  for 
me  to  state  here,  in  conclusion,  divers  facts 
which  could  not  be  given  in  the  text,  and  which 
I  have  preferred  to  collect  in  a  note.  As  these 
facts  belonged  to  the  same  subject,  it  appeared 
to  me  proper  to  collect  them  apart,  while  leav- 
ing the  reader  to  pay  full  attention  to  the  ob- 
servations which  form  the  body  of  my  work. 

There  were  known  among  the  pagans,  under 
the  name  of  ascetics,  persons  who  devoted 
themselves  to  abstinence  and  the  practice  of 
the  austere  virtues ;  so  that,  even  before  Chris- 
tianity, there  already  existed  the  idea  of  those 
virtues  which  have  been  since  exercised  in 
Christianity.  The  lives  of  the  philosophers 
are  full  of  examples  which  prove  the  truth  of 
my  assertion.  Yet  it  will  be  understood  that, 
deprived  of  the  light  of  faith  and  the  aid  of 
grace,  the  pagan  philosophers  afforded  but  a 
very  faint  shadow  of  what  was  afterwards  rea- 
lized in  the  lives  of  the  Christian  ascetics.  We 
have  stated  that  the  monastic  life  is  founded 
on  the  Gospel,  inasmuch  as  the  Gospel  contains 
asceticism.  From  the  foundation  of  the  Church 
we  see  the  monastic  life  established  under  one 
form  or  another.  Origen  tells  us  of  certain 
men,  who,  in  order  to  reduce  their  bodies  into 
subjection,  abstained  from  eating  meat  and 
from  all  that  had  life.  (Origen,  Gontr.  Celsum, 
lib.  v.)  Tertullian  makes  mention  of  some 
Christians  who  abstained  from  marriage,  not 
because  they  condemned  it,  but  in  order  to 
gain  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  (Tertul.  De 
Cult.  Femin.  lib.  ii.) 

It  is  remarkable,  that  the  weaker  sex  parti- 
cipated in  a  singular  manner  in  that  strength 
of  mind  which  Christianity  communicated  for 
the  exercise  of  the  heroic  virtues.  In  the 
early  ages  of  the  Church  there  were  already 
reckoned,  in  great  numbers,  virgins  and  wid- 
ows consecrated  to  the  Lord,  bound  by  a  vow 
of  perpetual  chastity ;  and  we  see  that  special 
care  was  taken  in  the  ancient  Councils  of  the 
Church  of  that  chosen  portion  of  her  flock.  It 
is  one  of  the  objects  of  the  solicitude  of  the 
Fathers  to  regulate  discipline  on  this  point  in 
a  proper  manner.  The  virgins  made  their  pub- 
lic profession  in  the  church;  they  received 
the  veil  from  the  hands  of  the  bishop,  and,  for 
greater  solemnity,  they  were  distinguished  by 
a  kind  of  consecration.  This  ceremony  re- 
quired a  certain  age  in  the  person  who  was 
consecrated  to  God ;  we  also  observe  that  dis- 
cipline has  been  very  different  on  this  point. 
In  the  East  they  received  persons  seventeen 
years  old,  and  even  sixteen,  as  we  learn  from. 
St.  Basil  (Epist.  can.  18) ;  in  Africa  at  twenty- 
five,  as  we  see  from  the  fourth  canon  of  the 
third  Council  of  Carthage  ;  in  France  at  forty, 
as  appears  from  the  nineteenth  canon  of  the 


NOTES. 


459 


Council  of  Agde.  Even  when  the  virgins  and 
widows  dwelt  in  the  houses  of  their  fathers, 
they  did  not  cease  to  be  reckoned  among  ec- 
clesiastical persons  ;  they  received  the  support 
of  the  Church  by  this  title,  in  cases  of  neces- 
sity. If  they  violated  their  vow  of  chastity, 
they  were  excommunicated,  and  could  not  re- 
turn to  the  communion  of  the  faithful,  except 
by  submitting  to  public  penance.  (For  these 
details,  see  the  thirty-third  canon  of  the  third 
Council  of  Carthage,  the  nineteenth  canon  of 
the  Council  of  Ancyra,  and  the  sixteenth 
canon  of  that  of  Chalcedon.) 

In  the  first  three  centuries,  the  state  of  the 
Church,  subject  to  an  almost  continual  perse- 
cution, must  naturally  have  hindered  persons 
who  loved  the  ascetic  life,  men  or  women,  from 
assembling  in  the  towns  to  observe  it  in  com- 
mon. Some  think  that  the  propagation  of  the 
ascetic  life  in  the  desert  is  in  great  part  due  to 
the  persecution  of  Decius,  which  was  very 
cruel  in  Egypt,  and  made  a  great  number  of 
Christians  retire  into  the  deserts  of  the  The- 
bais,  or  other  solitudes  in  the  neighbourhood. 
Thus  commenced  the  establishment  of  that 
method  of  life  which,  in  the  end,  was  to  gain 
so  prodigious  an  extension.  St.  Paul,  if  we  are 
to  believe  St.  Jerome,  was  the  founder  of  the 
solitary  life. 

It  appears  that  some  abuses  were  introduced 
into  the  monastic  life  from  the  earliest  ages,  as 
we  see  certain  monks  detested  at  Rome  in  the 
time  of  Jerome.  Quousque  genus  detestabile 
monacorum  urbe  non  pellitur,  says  the  saint  by 
the  mouth  of  the  Romans  in  a  letter  to  Paula ; 
but  the  reputation  of  the  monks,  which  had 
perhaps  been  compromised  by  the  Saraba'i'tes 
and  the  Gyrovagues,  a  kind  of  vagabonds 
whose  last  care  was  the  practice  of  the  virtues 
of  their  state,  and  who  indulged  in  gluttony 
and  other  pleasures  with  shameful  licentious- 
ness, was  soon  restored.  St.  Athanasius,  St. 
Jerome  himself,  St.  Martin,  and  other  ce- 
lebrated men,  among  whom  St.  Bennet  distin- 
guished himself  in  a  particular  manner,  renewed 
the  splendor  of  the  monastic  life  by  the  most 
eloquent  apology,  that  which  consisted  in  giv- 
ing, as  they  did,  the  most  sublime  example 
of  the  most  austere  virtues. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  in  spite  of  the  multi- 
plication of  monks  in  the  east  and  west,  they 
were  not  divided  into  different  orders,  so  that, 
during  the  first  six  centuries,  all,  as  Mabillon 
observes,  were  considered  as  forming  one  insti- 
tute. There  was  something  noble  in  this  unity, 
which,  as  it  were,  formed  all  the  monasteries 
into  one  family ;  but  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  the  diversity  of  orders  afterwards  intro- 
duced was  essentially  calculated  to  attain  the 
various  and  numerous  objects  which  succes- 
sively attracted  the  attention  of  religious  insti- 
tutions. 

The  discipline,  by  virtue  whereof  no  new 
order  could  be  instituted  without  the  previous 
approbation  of  the  sovereign  Pontiff,  it  may  be 
said,  was  very  necessary,  considering  the  ar- 
dor which  afterwards  urged  many  persons  to 
establish  new  institutions  j  so  that,  without  this 
prudent  check,  disorder  would  have  been  in- 
troduced in  consequence  of  the  exaggerated 
transports  which  urged  some  imaginations  to 
exceed  all  bounds. 

Some  people  take  delight  in  relating  the  ex- 


cesses into  which  some  individuals  of  the  men- 
dicant orders  fell ;  and  they  borrow  the  narra- 
tives of  Matthew  Paris,  without  forgetting  the 
lamentations  of  St.  Bonaventura  himself.  I 
wish  not  to  excuse  evil,  wherever  it  is  found ; 
but  I  will  observe,  that  the  circumstances  of 
the  times  when  the  mendicant  orders  were 
established,  and  the  kind  of  life  they  were  ob- 
liged to  embrace,  in  order  to  fulfill  the  purpose 
for  which  they  were  intended,  as  I  have  point- 
ed out  in  the  text,  rendered  almost  inevitable 
those  evils  which  pious  men  sincerely  deplored, 
and  which  the  enemies  of  the  Church  lament 
with  no  less  affectation  than  exaggeration. 

NOTE  28,  p.  305. 

I  have  already  shown,  by  numerous  testimo- 
nies of  scholastic  theologians,  how  the  divine 
origin  of  the  civil  power  is  to  be  understood ; 
and  it  is  evident  that  it  contains  nothing  but 
what  is  perfectly  conformable  to  sound  reason, 
and  adapted,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  high 
aims  of  society.  It  would  have  been  easy  for 
me  to  accumulate  testimonies ;  but  I  think  I 
have  adduced  a  sufficient  number  to  throw  light 
on  the  subject,  and  to  satisfy  every  reader  who, 
free  from  unjust  prejudices,  is  sincerely  desirous 
of  listening  to  truth.  In  order,  however,  to 
view  this  subject  under  every  aspect,  I  will  add 
a  few  explanations  on  that  celebrated  passage 
of  St.  Paul  to  the  Romans,  chap,  xiii.,  in  which 
the  Apostle  speaks  of  the  origin  of  powers,  and 
of  the  submission  and  obedience  due  to  them. 
Let  it  not  be  thought,  however,  that  I  purpose 
attaining  this  end  by  any  reasoning  more  or 
less  specious.  Whenever  a  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture is  to  be  expounded  in  its  true  sense,  we 
should  not  rely  principally  upon  what  our 
wavering  reason  suggests  to  us,  but  rather 
upon  the  interpretation  of  the  Catholic  Church ; 
for  this  reason  we  should  consult  those  writers 
whose  high  authority,  founded  on  their  wisdom 
and  their  virtue,  leads  us  to  hope  th'at  they 
have  not  deviated  from  the  maxim,  Quod  sem- 
per, quod  ubique,  quod  ab  omnibus  traditum  eat. 

We  have  already  seen  a  remarkable  passage 
of  St.  John  Chrysostom,  explaining  this  point 
with  as  much  clearness  as  solidity ;  we  have 
also  learned,  from  the  testimony  of  the  Fathers, 
what  motives  induced  the  Apostles  to  inculcate 
so  pressingly  the  obligation  of  obedience  to  the 
lawful  authorities.  It  only  remains  for  us  to 
insert  here  the  commentaries  of  some  illustrious 
writers  on  the  text  of  the  Apostle.  In  them 
we  shall  find,  as  it  were,  a  code  of  doctrine ; 
and. when  we  come  to  appreciate  the  reasons 
on  which  the  precepts  inculcated  in  the  sacred 
text  are  founded,  we  shall  more  easily  discover 
their  true  meaning. 

Observe,  in  the  first  place,  with  what  wisdom, 
prudence,  and  piety  this  important  subject  is 
expounded  by  a  writer  who  was  not  of  the 
golden  era,  but,  on  the  contrary,  who  lived  in 
what  is  generally  termed  the  barbarous  age— 
St.  Anselm.  In  his  commentaries  on  the  13th 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  this  doc- 
tor thus  expresses  himself: 

"  Omnis  anima potestatibus  sublimioribus  sub- 
dita  sit.  Non  est  enim  potestas  nisi  a  Deo. 
Quce  autem  sunt,  a  Deo  ordinatos  aunt.  Itaque 
qui  resistit  potestati,  Dei  ordinationi  reaistit. 
Qui  autem  resiatunt,  ipsi  sibi  damnationem  at- 
quirunt. 


460 


NOTES. 


"  Sicut  superius  reprehendit  illos,  qui  gloria- 
bantur  do  meritis,  ita  nunc  ingreditur  illos  red- 
arguere,  qui  postquam  erant  ad  fidem  conversi 
nolebant  subjici  alicui  potestati.  Videbatur 
enim  quod  infideles,  Dei  fidelibus  non  deberent 
dominari,  etsi  fideles  deberent  esse  pares. 
Quam  superbiam  removet,  dicens  :  Omnis  ani- 
ma,  id  est,  omnis  homo,  sit  hurniliter  subdita 
potestatibus  vel  secularibus,  vel  ecclesiasticis, 
sublimioribus  se  :  hoc  est,  omnis  homo  sit  sub- 
jectus  superpositis  sibi  potestatibus.  A  parte 
enim  majore  significat  totum  hominem,  sicut 
rursum  a  parte  inferiore  totus  homo  significa- 
tur  ubi  Propheta  dicit :  Quia  videbit  omnis  caro 
salutare  Dei.  Et  recte  admonet,  ne  quis  ex  eo 
quod  in  libertatem  vocatus  est,  factusque  Chris- 
tianus,  extollatur  in  superbiam,  et  non  arbi- 
tretur  in  hujus  vitae  itinere  servandum  esse  or- 
dinem  suum,  et  potestatibus,  quibus  pro  tempore 
rerum  temporalium  gubernatio  tradita  est,  non 
se  putet  esse  subdendum.  Cum  enim  conste- 
mus  ex  anima  et  eorpore,  et  quamdiu  in  hac 
vita  temporali  sumus,  etiam  rebus  temporalibus 
ad  subsidium  ejusdem  vitse  utamur,  oportet  nos 
ex  ea  parte,  quae  ad  hanc  vitam  pertinet,  sub- 
ditos  esse  potestatibus,  id  est,  res  humanas  cum 
aliquo  honore  admin istrantibus :  ex  ilia  vero 
parte,  qua  Deo  credimus,  et  in  regnum  ejus  vo- 
camur,  non  debemus  subditi  esse  cuiquam  ho- 
mini,  id  ipsum  in  nobis  evertere  cupienti,  quod 
Deus  ad  vitain  seternam  donare  dignatus  est. 
Si  quis  ergo  putat  quoniam  Christianus  est,  non 
sibi  esse  vectigal  reddendum,  sive  tributuin, 
aut  non  esse  honorem  exhibendum  debitum  eis 
quae  haec  curant  potestatibus,  in  magno  errore 
versatur.  Item  si  quis  sic  se  putat  esse  sub- 
dendum, ut  etiam  in  suam  fidem  habere  potes- 
tatem  arbitretur  eum,  qui  temporalibus  ad- 
ministrandis  aliqua  sublimitate  praecellit,  in 
majorein  errorem  labitur.  Sed  modus  iste  ser- 
vandus  est,  quern  Dominus  ipse  praeeipit,  ut 
reddamus  Ccesari  qu<x  sunt  Cesaris,  et  Deo  quos 
aunt  Dei.  Quamvis  enim  ad  illud  regnum  vo- 
cati  simus,  ubi  nulla  erit  poteatas  hujusmodi, 
in  hoc  tamen  itinere  conditionem  nostram  pro 
ipso  rerum  humanarum  ordine  debemus  tole- 
rare,  nihil  simulate  facientes,  et  in  hoc  non  tarn 
hominibus,  quam  Deo,  qui  hoc  jubet,  obtempe- 
rantes.  Itaque  omnis  anima  sit  subdita  subli- 
mioribus potestatibus,  id  est,  omnis  homo  sit 
subditus  primum  divinse  potestati,  deinde  muu- 
danae.  Nam  si  mundana  potestas  jusserit  quod 
non  debes  facere,  contemne  potestatem,  timen- 
do  sublimiorem  potestatem.  Ipsos  humanarum 
rerum  gradus  adverte.  Si  aliquid  jusserit  pro- 
curator, nonne  faciendum  est  ?  Tamen  si  con- 
tra proconsulem  jubeat,  non  utique  contemnis 
potestatem,  sed  eligis  majore  servire.  Non 
hinc  debet  minor  irasci,  si  major  praelata  est. 
Rursus  si  aliquid  proconsul  jubeat,  et  aliud  im- 
perator,  numquid  dubitatur,  illo  contempto 
huic  esse  serviendum.  Ergo  si  aliud  impera- 
tor,  et  aliud  Deus  jubeat,  quid  faciemus  ?  Num- 
quid non  Deus  imperatori  est  praeferendus  ?  Ita 
ergo  sublimioribus  potestatibus  anima  subjicia- 
tur,  id  est,  homo.  Sive  idcirco  ponitur  anima 
pro  homine,  qui  sccundum  hanc  discernit,  cui 
subdi  debeat,  et  cui  non.  Vel  homo,  qui  pro- 
motione  virtutem  sublimatus  est,  anima  voca- 
tur  a  digniore  parte.  Vel,  non  solum  corpus 
sit  subditum,  sed  anima,  id  est,  voluntas :  hoc 
est,  non  solum  eorpore,  sed  et  voluntate  servia- 
tis.  Ideo  debetis  subjici,  quia  non  est  potestas 


nisi  a  Deo.  Numquam  enim  posset  fieri  nisi 
operatione  solius  Dei,  ut  tot  homines  uni  ser- 
virent,  quern  considerant  unius  secum  esse  fra- 
gilitatis  et  naturae.  Sed  quia  Deus  subditis 
inspirat  timorem  et  obediendi  voluntatem,  con- 
tigit  ita.  Nee  valet  quisquam  aliquid  posse,  nisi 
divinitus  ei  datum  fuerit.  Potestas  omnis  est  a 
Deo.  Sed  ea  quce  sunt,  a  Deo  ordinatce  sunt. 
Ergo  potestas  est  ordinata,  id  est,  rationabili- 
ter  a  Deo  disposita.  Itaque  qui  resistit  potes- 
tati, nolens  tributa  dare,  honorem  deferre,  et 
his  similia,  Dei  ordinationi  resistit,  qui  hoc  or- 
dinavit,  ut  talibus  subjiciamur.  Hoc  enim  con- 
tra illos  dicitur,  qui  se  putabant  ita  debere  uti 
libertate  Christiana,  ut  nulli  vel  honorem  de- 
ferrent,  vel  tributa  redderent.  Unde  magnum 
poterat  ad  versus  Christianam  religionem  scan- 
dalum  nasci  a  principibus  seculi.  De  bona  po- 
testate  patet,  quod  earn  perfecit  Deus  rationa- 
biliter.  De  mala  quoque  videri  potest,  dum  et 
boni  per  earn  purgantur,  et  mali  damnantur,  et 
ipsa  deterius  prascipitatur.  Qui  potestati  re- 
sistit, cum  Deus  earn  ordinaverit,  Dei  ordina- 
tioni resistit.  Sed  hoc  tarn  grave  peccatum  est, 
quod  qui  resistunt,  ipsi  pro  contumacia  et 
perversitate  sibi  damnationem  aeternae  mortis 
acquirunt.  Et  ideo  non  debet  quis  resistere, 
sed  subjici." 

This  remarkable  passage  contains  all — the 
origin  of  power,  its  object,  its  duties,  and  its 
limits.  We  must  observe,  that  St.  Anselm  ex- 
pressly  confirms  what  I  have  hinted  in  the  text 
on  the  subject  of  the  wrong  meaning  some- 
times given  in  the  first  centuries  to  Christian 
liberty ;  many  imagining  that  this  liberty  car- 
ried with  it  the  abolition  of  the  civil  powers, 
and  particularly  of  those  which  were  infidel. 
He  also  shows  the  scandal  which  this  doctrine 
might  cause  ;  thus  explaining  how  the  Apos- 
tles, without  attempting  to  attribute  to  the  civil 
power  any  extraordinary  and  supernatural  ori- 
gin, like  that  of  the  ecclesiastical  power,  had 
nevertheless  powerful  reasons  for  inculcating 
that  this  power  emanates  from  God,  and  that 
whoever  resists  it,  resists  the  ordinance  of  God. 

Passing  on  to  centuries  nearer  our  own  time, 
we  find  the  same  doctrines  in  the  most  eminent 
commentators.  Cornelius  a  Lapide  interprets 
the  passage  of  St.  Paul  in  the  same  way  as  St. 
Anselm,  and  explains,  by  the  same  reasons,  the 
solicitude  with  which  the  Apostles  recommend- 
ed obedience  to  the  civil  powers.  These  are 
his  words : 

"  Omnis  anima  (omnis  homo)  potentatilus 
sublimioribus,  id  est  principibus  et  magistrati- 
bus,  qui  potestate  regendi  et  imperandi  sunt 
praediti;  ponitur  enim  abstractum  pro  concre- 
to;  potestatibus,  hoc  est  potestate  praaditis, 
subdita  sit,  scilicet  iis  in  rebus,  in  quibus  potes- 
tas ilia  sublimior  et  superior  est,  habetque  jus 
et  jurisdictionem,  puta  in  temporalibus,  sub- 
dita sit  regi  et  potestati  civili,  quod  propie  hie 
intendit  Apostolus  :  per  potestaten*  enim,  civi- 
lem  intelligit ;  in  spiritualibus  vero  subdita  sit 
Praelatis,  Episcopis  et  Pontifici. 

"  Nota. — Pro  potestatibus  sublimioribus,  po- 
testatibus supereminentibus  vel  prcecellentibus, 
ut,  Noster  vertit,  1  Pet.  ii.,  sive  regi  quasi  prce- 
cellenti,  Syrus  vertit, potestatibus  d ignitate  prce- 
ditis :  id  est  magistratibus  secularibus,  qui  po- 
testate regendi  praediti  sunt,  sive  duces,  sive 
gubernatores,  sive  consules,  praetores,  &c. 

"  Seculares  enim  magistratus  hie  intelligere 


NOTES. 


461 


Apostolum  patet,  quia  his  solvuntur  tributa  e 
vectigalia  quse  hisce  potestatibus  solvi  jube 
ipse  v.  7,  ita  Sanctus  Basilius  de  Constit.  Mo 
nast.c.  23. 

"  Nota. — Ex  Clemente  Alexand.  lib.  iv.  Stro 
matum,  et  S.  Aug.  in  Psal.  cxviii.  cont.  31 
Tnitio  Ecclesice,  puta  tempore  Christi  et  Pauli 
rumor  erat,  per  Evangelium  politias  humanas 
regna  et  respublicas  seculares  everti ;  uti  jam 
fit  ab  haereticis  praetendentibus  libertatem 
Evangelii :  unde  contrarium  decent,  et  studiose 
inculcant  Christus,  cum  solvit  didrachma,  e 
cum  jussit  Caesari  reddi  ea  quae  Caesaris  sunt 
et  Apostoli :  idque  ne  in  odium  traheretur 
Christiana  religio,  et  ne  Christian!  abuterentur 
libertate  fidei  ad  omnem  malitiam. 

"  Ortus  est  hie  rumor  ex  secta  Judae  et  Gali 
laeorum  de  qua  Actor.  5,  in  fine,  qui  pro  liber- 
tate sua  tuenda  omne  dominium  Caesaris  et  vec- 
tigal,  etiam  morte  proposita  abnuebant,  de  quo 
Josephus,  libr.  xviii.  Antiqu.  1.  Quae  secta  diu 
inter  Judaeos  viguit ;  adeoque  Christus  et  Apos- 
toli in  ejus  suspicionem  vocati  sunt,  quia  ori- 
gine  erant  Galilaei,  et  rerum  novarum  praecones 
Hos  Galilaeos  secuti  sunt  Judaei  omnes,  et  de 
facto  Romania  rebellarunt :  quod  dicerent  po- 
pulum  Dei  liberum  non  debcre  subjici  et  ser- 
vire  infidelibus  Romanis ;  ideoque  a  Tito  excisi 
sunt.  Hinc  etiam  eadem  calumnia  in  Christia- 
nos,  qui  origine  erant  et  habebantur  Judaei,  de- 
rivata  est :  unde  Apostoli,  ut  earn  amoliantur, 
saepe  decent  principibus  dandum  esse  honorem 
et  tributum. 

"  Quare  octo  argumentis  probat  hie  Aposto- 
lus  principibus  et  magistratibus  deberi  obedien- 
tiam.  ' 

"  His  rationibus  probat  Apostolus  Evange- 
lium, et  Christianismum,  regna  et  magistratus 
non  evertere,  sed  firmare  et  stabilire  :  quia  nil 
regna  et  principes  ita  confirmat,  ac  subditorum 
bona,  Christiana  et  sancta  vita.  Adeo,  ut  etiam 
nunc  principes  Japones  et  Indi  Gentiles  ament 
Christianos,  et  suis  copiam  faciant  baptismi  et 
Christianismi  suscipiendi,  quia  subditos  Chris- 
tianos, magis  quam  Ethnicos,  faciles  et  obse- 
quentes,  regnaque  sua  per  eos  magis  firmari, 
pacari  et  florere  experiuntur." 

With  regard  to  the  mode  in  which  civil  power 
proceeds  from  God,  the  celebrated  commenta- 
tor agrees  with  the  other  theologians.  Like 
them,  he  distinguishes  between  direct  and  in- 
direct communication,  and  takes  care  to  define 
the  particular  meaning  of  the  term,  divine 
origin  of  power,  when  applied  to  ecclesiastical 
authority. 

In  his  explanation  of  these  words,  all  power 
is  from  God,  he  thus  expresses  himself: 

"  Non  est  enim  potestas,  nisi  a  Deo  ;  quasi  di- 
ceret  principatus  et  magistratus -non  a  diabolo, 
nee  a  solo  nomine,  sed  a  Deo  ejusque  divina 
ordinatione  et  dispositione  conditi  et  instituti 
sunt :  eis  ergo  obediendum  est. 

"  Nota  primo. — Potestas  scecularis  est  a  Deo 
mediate  ;  quia  natura  et  recta  ratio,  quai  a  Deo 
eat,  dicat,  et  hominibus  persuasit  prceficere 
reipublicce  magistratus,  a  quibus  regantur. 
Potestas  vero  ecclesiastica  immediate  est  a  Deo 
instituta  ;  quia  Christus  ipse  Petrum  et  Apos- 
tolos  Ecclesice  prosfecit." 

The  celebrated  Dom  Calmet  explains  the 
same  passage  with  no  less  learning ;  he  quotes 
numerous  passages  from  the  holy  Fathers, 
showing  what  ideas  the  first  Christians  held 


2o2 


on  the  subject  of  civil  power,  and  how  calum- 
niously  they  have  been  accused  of  being  the 
disturbers  of  public  order. 

"  Omnis  anima  potestati bus,  Ac.  Pergit  hie 
Apostolus  docere  Fideles  vitae  ac  morum  oificia. 
Quae  superior!  capite  vidimus,  eo  desinunt,  ut 
bonus  ordo  et  pax  in  Ecclesia  interque  Fideles 
servetur.  Haec  potissimum  spectant  ad  obedi- 
entiam,  quam  unusquisque  superioribus  potes- 
tatibus debet.  Christianorum  libertatem  atque 
a  Mosaicis  legibus  immunitatem  commenda- 
verat  Apostolus  ;  at  ne  quis  monitis  abutatur, 
docet  hie,  quae  debeat  esse  subditorum  sub- 
jectio  erga  Reges  et  Magistratus. 

"  Hoc  ipsum  gravissime  monuerant  primos 
Ecclesiae  discipulos  Petrus  et  Jacobus ;  repetit- 
que  Paulus  ad  Titum  scribens,  sive  ut  Christi- 
anos, insectantium  injuriis  undique  obnoxios, 
in  patientia  contineret,  sive  ut  vulgi  opinionem 
deleret,  qua  discipuli  Jesu  Christi,  omnes  ferme 
Galilcei,  sententiam  JudcK  Gaulonitce  sequif  et 
principum  authoritati  repugnare  censebantur. 

"  Omnis  anima,  quilibet,  quavis  conditione 
aut  dignitate,  potestatibus  sublimioribus  subdita 
sit;  Regibus,  Principibus,  Magistratibus,  iis 
denique  quibus  legitima  est  authoritas,  sive 
absoluta,  sive  alteri  obnoxia.  Neminem  exci- 
pit  Apostolus,  non  Presbyteros,  non  Praesules, 
non  Monachos,  ait  Theodoretus ;  illaesa  tamen 
Ecclesiasticorum  immunitate.  Tune  solum 
modo  parere  non  debes,  cum  aliquid  Divinae 
Legi  contrarium  imperatur :  tune  enim  praefer- 
enda  est  debita  Deo  obedientia;  quin  tamen 
vel  arma  capere  adversus  Principes,  vel  in  se- 
ditionem  abire  liceat.  Repugnandum  est  in 
iis  tantum,  quae  justitiam,  ac  Dei  legem  vio- 
lant;  in  caeteris  parendum.  Si  imperaverint 
aut  idolorum  cultum  aut  justitiae  violationem 
cum  necis  vel  bonorum  jacturae  intermina- 
tione,  vitam  et  fortunas  discrimini  objicito,  ac 
repugnato ;  in  reliquis  autem  obtempera. 

"  Non  est  enim  potestas  nisi  a  Deo.  Abso- 
lutissima  in  libertate  conditus  est  homo,  nulli 
creatae  rei,  at  uni  Deo  subditus.  Nisi  mun- 
dum  invasisset  una  cum  Adami  transgressione 
peccatum,  mutuam  sequalitatem  libertatemque 
homines  servassent.  At  libertate  abusos  dam- 
navit  Deus,  ut  parerent  iis,  quos  ipse  princi- 
pes illis  daret,  ob  poenam  arrogantise,  qua  pares 
Conditori  effici  voluerunt.  At,  inquies,  quis 
nesciat,  quorumdam  veterum  Imperiorum  ini- 
tia  et  incrementa  ex  injuria  atque  ambitione 
profecta.  Nemrod,  exempli  causa,  Ninus,  Na- 
buchodonosor,  aliique  quamplures,  an  Princi- 
pes erant  a  Deo  constituti?  Nonne  similius 
vero  est,  violenta  Imperia  primum  exorta  esse 
ab  imperandi  libidine  ?  liberorum  vero  Impe- 
riorum originem  fuisse  hominum  metum,  qui 
sese  iinpares  propulsandae  externorum  injurias 
sentientes,  aliqtiem  sibi  Principem  creavere, 
datamque  sibi  a  Deo  naturalem  ulciscendi  in- 
jurias  potestatem,  volentes  libentesque  alteri 
;radiderunt?  Quam  vere  igitur  docet  Apos- 
;olus,  quamlibet  potestatem  a  Deo  esse,  eum- 
que  esse  positse  inter  homines  authoritatis  in- 
stitutorem  ?" 

He  points  out  four  ways  in  which  power  may 
e  said  to  emanate  from  God,  and  it  is  re- 
markable that  none  of  them  are  extraordinary 
r  supernatural  j  all  of  them  serve  to  confirm 
more  and  more   what  reason   and  the  very 
nature  of  things  teach  us. 

Omnino  Deus  potestatis  autor  et  causa  est. 


462 


NOTES. 


L  Quod,  hominibus  tacite  inspiraverit  con- 
silium  subjiciendi  se  uni,  a  quo  defenderentur. 
II.  Quod  imperia  inter  homines  utilissima  sint 
servandaa  coneordiae,  disciplinae,  ac  religioni. 
Porro  quicquid  boni  est,  a  Deo  ceu  fonte  pro- 
ficisciter.  III.  Cum  potestas  tuendiabaggres- 
sore  vitam  vel  opes,  hominibus  a  Deo  tradita, 
atque  ab  ipsis  in  Principem  conversa,  a  Deo 
primum  proveniat,  Principes  ea  potestate  ab 
hominibus  donati,  hanc  ab  ipso  Deo  accepisse 
jure  dicuntur;  quamobrem  Petrus  humanam 
creaturam  nuncupat,  quam  Paulus  potestatem 
a  Deo  institutam :  humana  igitur  et  divinaest, 
varia  ratione  spectata,  uti  diximus.  IV.  De- 
nique  suprema  authoritas  a  Deo  est,  utpote 
quam  Deus,  a  sapientibus  institutam,  probavit. 

"  Nulla  unquam  gens  ssecularibus  potestati- 
bus  magis  paruit,  quamprimae  aetatis  Christiani, 
qui  a  Christo  Jesu  et  ab  Apostolis  edocti,  nun- 
quam  ausi  sunt  Principibus  a  Providentia  sibi 
datis  repugnare.  Discipulos  fugere  tantum 
jubet  Christus.  Ait  Petrus,  Christum  nobis 
exemplum  reliquisse,  cum  sese  Judicum  in- 
iquitate  pessime  agi  passus  est.  Monet  hie 
Paulus,  resistere  te  Dei  voluntati,  atque  aeternae 
damnationis  reum  effici,  si  potestati  repugnas. 
'Quamvis  nimius  et  copiosus  noster  populus, 
non  tamen  adversus  violentiam  se  ulciscitur : 
patitur,'  ait  sanctus  Cyprianus.  '  Satis  virium 
est  ad  pugnam;  at  omnia  perpeti  ex  Christo 
didicimus.  Cui  bello  non  idonei,  non  prompt! 
fuissemus,  etiam  copiis  impares,  qui  tarn  liben- 
ter  trucidamur  ?  si  non  apud  istam  disciplinam 
magis  occidi  liceret,  quam  occidere,'  inquit 
Tertullianus.  '  Cum  nefanda  patimur,  ne  ver- 
bo  quidem  reluctamur,  sed  Deo  remittimus  ul- 
tionem/  scribebat  Lactantius.  Sanctus  Am- 
brosius  :  '  coactus,  repugnare  non  novi.  Dolere 
potero,  potero  flere,  potero  gemere :  abversus 
arma,  milites,  Gothos  quoque ;  lacrymae  meae 
arma  sunt.  Talia  enim  sunt  munimenta  Sa- 
cerdotis.  Aliter  ne  debeo  nee  possum  resis- 
tere.' " 

I  have  said  in  the  text,  that  there  was  to  be 
remarked  a  singular  coincidence  of  opinions 
on  the  origin  of  society  between  the  philoso- 
phers of  antiquity,  deprived  of  the  light  of 
faith,  and  those  of  our  days  who  have  aban- 
doned this  light;  both  wanting  the  only  guide, 
which  is  the  Mosaic  history,  have  found  in 
their  researches  after  the  origin  of  things, 
nothing  more  than  chaos,  in  the  physical  as 
well  as  in  the  moral  order.  In  support  of  my 
assertion,  I  will  insert  passages  from  two  cele- 
brated men,  in  which  the  reader  will  find,  with 
very  little  difference,  the  same  language  as  in 
Hobbes,  Rousseau,  and  other  writers  of  the 
same  school. 

"  There  was  a  time,"  says  Cicero,  "  when 
men  wandered  in  the  fields  like  the  brutes, 
feeding  on  prey  like  wild  beasts,  deciding 
nothing  by  reason,  but  every  thing  by  force. 
No  religion  was  then  professed,  no  morality 
observed;  there  were  no  laws  of  marriage; 
the  father  could  not  distinguish  his  own  chil- 
dren, and  the  possession  of  property  by  virtue 
of  principles  of  equity  was  unknown.  Hence 
the  blind,  unrestrained  passions  ruled  tyranni- 
cally in  the  midst  of  error  and  ignorance,  and 
used  the  powers  of  the  body  for  their  gratifi- 
cation as  their  most  injurious  satellites." 

"  Nam  fuit  quoddam  tempus  cum  in  agris 
homines  passim  bestiarum  more  vagabantur, 


et  sibi  victu  ferino  vitam  propagabant;  nee 
ratione  animi  quidquam,  sed  pleraque  viribus 
corporis  administrabant.  Nondum  divinaa  re- 
ligionis,  non  humani  officii  ratio  colebatur ; 
nemo  nuptias  viderat  legitimas,  non  certos 
quisquam  inspexerat  liberos ;  non  jus  aequa- 
bile  quid  utilitatis  haberet,  acceperat.  Ita 
propter  errorem  atque  inscitiam,  caeca  ac  tein- 
eraria  dominatrix  animi  cupiditas  ad  se  ex- 
plendam  viribus  corporis  abutebatur,  perni- 
ciosissimis  satellitibus."  (De  Inv.  1.) 

The  same  doctrine  is  to  be  found  in  Horace  : 

"  Cum  prorcpscrunt  primis  animalia  terris, 
Mutum  et  turpe  pecus,  glandem  atque  cubilia  propter 
Unguibus  et  pugnia,  dein  fustibus,  atque  ita  porro 
Puguabant  armis,  quae  post  fabricaverat  usus  : 
Donee  verba,  quibus  voces  sensusque  notarent, 
Nominaque  in venere :  dehinc  absistere  bello, 
Oppida  coeperunt  munire  et  ponere  leges, 
Neu  quis  fur  esset,  neu  latro,  neu  quis  adulter. 
Nam  fuit  ante  Helenam  mulier  teterrima  belli 
Causa :  sed  ignotis  perierunt  mortibus  illi, 
Quos  Venerem  incertam  rapicnU-s,  more  ferarum, 
Viribus  editior  caedebat,  ut  iu  grege  taurus. 
Jura inveuta  metu  inju.sti  fateare  neccsse  est, 
Tempora  si  fastosque  yelis  evolvere  mundi, 
Nee  natura  potest  justo  secernere  iniqunm, 
Dividit  ut  bona  diversis,  fugienda  petendis." 

Satir.  lib.  i.  sat.  3. 

"When  men  first  began  to  crawl  upon  the 
earth,  they  were  only  like  a  herd  of  brute  and 
speechless  animals,  contending  with  their  nails 
or  their  fists  for  a  few  acorns  or  for  a  den. 
They  afterwards  contended  with  sticks  and 
such  arms  as  experience  taught  them  to  invent. 
At  length  they  discovered  the  use  of  words  to 
express  their  thoughts ;  gradually  they  be- 
came weary  of  fighting,  and  built  cities,  and 
made  laws  to  prevent  theft,  robbery,  and  adul- 
tery ;  for,  before  Helen,  women  had  been  the 
cause  of  terrible  wars.  He  who  was  the 
strongest,  abusing  his  power,  after  the  manner 
of  brutes,  attacked  the  weak,  like  a  bull  among 
a  subject  herd;  they  thus  contended  for  the 
favors  of  inconstant  Venus ;  but  their  end  was 
inglorious.  If  you  consult  the  origin  of  things, 
you  will  acknowledge  that  laws  have  been 
made  in  apprehension  of  injustice.  Nature 
enables  us  to  discern  good  from  evil,  what  is 
to  be  sought  after  from  what  is  to  be  avoided, 
but  she  is  incapable  of  distinguishing  justice 
from  injustice." 

NOTE  29,  p.  311. 

Concerning  this  question,  as  to  the  direct  or 
indirect  origin  of  civil  power,  it  is  remarkable, 
that,  in  the  time  of  Louis  of  Bavaria,  the  im- 
perial princes  solemly  sanctioned  the  opinion 
that  power  emanates  directly  from  God.  In 
an  imperial  Constitution,  published  against  the 
Roman  Pontiff,  they  established  the  following 
proposition  :  "  In  order  to  avoid  so  great  an 
evil,  we  declare  that  imperial  dignity  and 
power  proceed  directly  from  God. — Ad  tantum 
malum  evitandum,  declaramus,  quod  imperialis 
dignitas  et  potestas  est  immediate  a  Deo  solo." 
That  we  may  form  an  idea  of  the  spirit  and 
tendency  of  this  doctrine,  let  us  see  what  kind 
of  man  this  Louis  of  Bavaria  was.  Excom- 
municated by  John  XXII.,  and  at  a  later 
period  by  Clement  VI.,  he  went  so  far  as  to 
depose  this  latter  Pontiff,  in  order  to  exalt  to 
the  Pontifical  Chair  the  antipope  Peter,  for 


NOTES. 


463 


which  reason  the  Pope,  after  repeated  admo- 
nitions, divested  him  of  his  imperial  dignity, 
substituting  Charles  IV.  in  his  stead. 

Ziegler  the  Lutheran,  a  zealous  supporter 
of  direct  communication,  in  order  to  explain 
his  doctrine,  compares  the  election  of  a  prince 
to  that  of  a  minister  of  the  Church.  The  lat- 
ter, says  he,  does  not  receive  his  spiritual 
authority  from  the  people,  but  immediately 
from  God.  From  this  explanation  it  is  evident 
»vith  how  much  reason  I  have  said,  that  such 
a  doctrine  tended  to  place  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  powers  on  a  level,  by  making  it  ap- 
pear that  the  latter  could  not  claim,  by  reason 
of  its  origin,  any  superiority  over  the  former. 
I  do  not  mean,  however,  to  assert,  that  this 
declaration,  made  in  the  time  of  Louis  of  Ba- 
varia, had  directly  this  aim,  since  it  may  rather 
be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  weapon  employed 
against  the  pontifical  authority,  the  ascendency 
of  which  was  dreaded.  But  it  is  well  known 
that  doctrines,  besides  the  influence  resulting 
immediately  from  them,  possess  a  peculiar 
force,  which  continues  to  develope  itself  as  op- 
portunities occur.  Some  time  after,  we  see 
the  kings  of  England  defenders  of  the  reli- 
giore  supremacy  which  they  had  just  usurped, 
supporting  the  proposition  advanced  in  the 
imperial  Constitution. 

I  know  not  with  what  foundation  it  can  be 
said  that  Ziegler's  opinion  was  general  before 
the  time  of  Puffendorf ;  in  consulting  ecclesi- 
astical and  secular  writers,  we  do  not  find  the 
least  support  for  such  an  assertion.  Let  us  be 
just  even  to  our  adversaries.  Ziegler's  opin- 
ion, defended  by  Boeder  and  others,  was  at- 
tacked by  certain  Lutherans,  amongst  others 
by  Boehmer,  who  observes,  that  this  opinion 
is  not  favorable,  as  its  partisans  pretend,  to  the 
security  of  states  and  princes.  To  repeat  what 
I  have  already  explained  in  the  text,  I  do  not 
consider  that  the  opinion  of  direct  communica- 
tion, rightly  understood,  is  so  inadmissible  and 
dangerous  as  some  have  imagined ;  but  as  it 
lay  open  to  an  evil  interpretation,  Catholic 
theologians  have  done  well  to  combat  its  ten- 
dency to  encroach  upon  the  divine  origin  of 
ecclesiastical  power. 

NOTE  30,  p.  317. 

I  might  quote  a  thousand  remarkable  pas- 
sages showing  the  reader  how  unjust  it  is  in 
the  enemies  of  the  clergy  to  accuse  them  of 
being  favorable  to  despotism.  But,  to  be  brief, 
and  to  spare  him  the  fatigue  of  perusing  so 
many  texts  and  quotations,  I  shall  merely  pre- 
sent to  him  a  specimen  of  the  current  opinions 
on  this  point  in  Spain  at  the  beginning  of  the 
17th  century,  a  few  years  after  the  death  of 
Philip.  II.,  the  monarch  who  is  represented  to 
us  as  the  personification  of  religious  fanati- 
cism and  political  tyranny.  Among  the  numer- 
ous books  published  at  that  time  on  these 
delicate  points,  there  is  a  very  singular  one, 
which  does  not  appear  to  be  very  well  known  : 
its  title  is  as  follows  : 

A  Treatise  on  the  State  and  Christian  Politics, 
for  the  use  of  Kings  and  Princes,  and  those 
holding  government  appointments,  by  Brother 
John  de  Ste.- Marie,  a  religious  in  the  pro- 
vince of  St.  Joseph,  of  the  order  of  our  glori- 
ous Father  St.  Francis. 


This  book,  printed  at  Madrid  in  1615,  fur- 
nished with  all  the  privileges,  approbations, 
and  other  formalities  in  use,  must  have  been 
well  received  at  that  epoch,  since  it  was  re- 
printed at  Barcelona  in  1616,  by  Sebastian  de 
Cormellas.  Who  shall  say  whether  this  work 
did  not  inspire  Bossuet  with  the  idea  of  that 
intituled  Politics  derived  from  the  very  words 
of  Scripture  ?  The  title  is  certainly  analo- 
gous, and  the  idea  is  in  fact  the  same,  although 
differently  carried  out.  "  I  think,"  says  Brother 
John  de  Ste.-Marie,  "  I  shall  escape  all  diffi- 
culty, by  laying  before  kings  in  this  work,  not 
my  own  reasonings,  nor  those  afforded  by  emi- 
nent philosophers  and  the  records  of  profane 
history,  but  the  words  of  God  and  His  saints, 
and  the  divine  and  canonical  histories,  whose 
teaching  commands  respect,  and  whose  au- 
thority cannot  be  prejudicial  to  any  one,  how- 
ever powerful  a  sovereign  he  may  be  ;  in  fact, 
to  these  a  Christian  cannot  but  submit,  since 
every  thing  in  them  is  dictated  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  author  of  these  divine  maxims.  If 
I  cite  examples  of  Gentile  kings,  if  I  appeal 
to  antiquity,  and  adduce  passages  from  phi- 
losophers unconnected  with  the  people  of  God, 
I  shall  do  so  incidentally  only,  and  as  we  re- 
sume possession  of  what  of  right  belongs  to 
us,  and  has  been  unjustly  usurped  by  others." 
(Chap.  2.) 

The  work  is  dedicated  to  the  king.  Ad- 
dressing him,  and  praying  him  to  read  it,  and 
not  to  allow  himself  to  be  imposed  upon  by 
those  who  would  dissuade  him  from  its  peru- 
sal, the  good  religious  says,  with  a  pleasing 
candor,  "  Let  no  one  tell  you  that  these  things 
are  metaphysical,  impracticable,  and  all  but 
impossible." 

The  following  inscription  is  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  1st  chapter:  "Ad  vos  (OReges) 
sunt  hi  sermones  mei,  ut  discatis  sapientiam 
et  non  excidatis :  qui  enim  custodierint  justa 
juste,  justificabuntur :  et  qui  didiscerint  ista, 
invenient  quid  respondeant."  (Sap.  6,  v.  10.) 

In  the  first  chapter,  the  title  of  which  is, 
"A  treatise  in  which  the  import  and  definition 
of  this  word  commonwealth  are  briefly  dis- 
cussed," we  read  these  remarkable  words : 
"  So  that  monarchy  must  degenerate  if  it  be 
absolute  and  without  restraint  (for  power  and 
authority  thus  become  unreasonable);  in  all 
things  falling  under  the  cognizance  of  law,  it 
should  be  bound  by  the  law ;  and  in  special 
and  incidental  matters  it  should  be  subject  to 
advice,  from  the  connection  which  it  ought  to 
have  with  the  aristocracy,  which  is  its  assist- 
ant, and  forms  a  council  of  learned  and  pow- 
erful men.  Without  this  wise  modification, 
monarchy  will  create  great  errors  of  govern- 
ment, will  give  but  little  satisfaction,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  will  cause  great  discontent  among 
the  governed.  The  wisest  and  most  enlighten- 
ed men  of  every  age  have  invariably  consider- 
ed this  form  of  government  the  best;  and 
without  such  a  modification  no  city  or  king- 
dom has  ever  been  considered  well  governed. 
Good  kings  and  the  wisest  statesmen  have 
always  been  in  favor  of  this  system;  bad 
kings,  on  the  contrary,  elated  by  their  power, 
have  pursued  the  opposite  course.  Hence,  if 
a  monarch,  whoever  he  be,  decides  by  himself, 
without  taking  advice,  or  against  the  advice 
of  his  councillors,  he  passes  the  legitimate 


464 


NOTES. 


bounds  of  monarchy,  and  even  when  his  de- 
cisions are  fortunate,  he  is  a  tyrant.  History 
is  full  of  these  examples  and  of  their  disas- 
trous consequences ;  it  will  be  enough  to  ad- 
duce one  only,  that  of  Tarquin  the  Proud,  as 
related  in  the  1st  book  of  Livy,  a  king  whose 
pride  was  unbounded,  and  who,  to  render  him- 
self absolute,  and  to  put  every  thing  under  his 
feet,  strove  to  weaken  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  Senate  by  diminishing  the  number  of 
Senators,  thus  arrogating  to  himself  an  abso- 
lute right  of  decision  in  all  the  affairs  of  the 
empire." 

In  chapter  2,  in  which  the  author  treats  of 
"  the  meaning  of  the  word  king,"  we  read  as 
follows:  "We  meet  here  very  opportunely 
with  the  third  meaning  of  the  word  king, 
which  is  the  same  as  that  of  father;  as  we  find 
in  Genesis,  when  the  Sichemites  gave  to  their 
king  the  name  of  Abimelech,  which  means 
'Father  and  Lord.'  Kings  were  formerly 
styled  the  fathers  of  their  states.  Whence 
King  Theodoric,  defining  royal  majesty  (as 
Cassiodorus  relates),  makes  use  of  these  words  : 
'  Princeps  et  Pastor  publicus  et  communia. — The 
king  is  the  public  and  common  father  of  the 
state/  From  the  extreme  resemblance  be- 
tween the  office  of  a  king  and  that  of  a  father, 
Plato  was  induced  to  call  the  king  the  father 
of  a  family ;  and  the  philosopher  Xenophon 
says  :  Bonus  Princeps  nihil  differt  a  bono  Pa- 
tre.  The  difference  solely  consists  in  one 
having  few  and  the  other  a  great  number  of 
persons  under  his  dominion.  And  it  is  cer- 
tainly very  reasonable  to  give  kings  this  title 
of  father ;  for  they  ought  to  be  the  fathers  of 
their  subjects  and  of  their  kingdoms,  watch- 
ing over  their  welfare  and  preservation  with 
the  love  and  solicitude  of  a  Father.  Royalty, 
says  Homer,  is  nothing  else  than  a  paternal 
government,  like  that  of  a  father  over  his 
children  :  *  Ipsum  namque  regnum  imperium  eat 
fiuapte  natura  paternum.'  The  best  manner  of 
governing  well  is,  for  the  king  to  be  possessed 
with  the  love  of  a  father,  and  to  regard  his  sub- 
jects at  his  own  children.  The  love  of  a  father 
for  his  children,  his  solicitude  that  they  should 
want  for  nothing,  his  dcvotedness  to  each  of  them, 
all  this  bears  the  greatest  resemblance  to  the  love 
of  a  king  for  his  subjects.  .He  is  called  father, 
and  this  name  lays  him  under  the  obligation  of 
acting  in  accordance  with  the  meaning  it  conveys. 
This  name,  so  well  adapted  to  kings,  and  which, 
when  well  considered,  is  the  greatest  of  all 
titles  and  epithets  of  majesty  and  power,  since 
it  embraces  all,  the  genus  and  the  species,  the 
father  being  alone  the  lord,  the  master,  or  the 
chief ;  this  name,  I  say,  is  above  all  human 
names  for  expressing  authority  and  solicitude. 
Antiquity,  with  a  view  to  confer  upon  an  em- 
peror an  extraordinary  degree  of  honor,  called 
him  the  Father  of  the  State,  which  was  greater 
than  Caesar,  Augustus,  or  any  other  glorious 
name ;.  it  decreed  him  this  title,  either  to  nat- 
ter him,  or  to  lay  him  under  the  weighty  obli- 
gations required  by  the  name  of  father.  In 
fine,  to  give  kings  this  name  is  to  remind  them 
of  their  duty,  viz.  to  direct,  govern,  and  main- 
tain their  states  and  kingdoms  in  justice  ;  like 
good  pastors,  to  feed  their  rational  sheep;  like 
physicians,  to  care  for  them  and  heal  them ; 
to  take  care  of  their  subjects,  as  a  father  does 
of  his  children,  with  prudence,  love,  and  soli- 


citude ;  for  the  king  is  for  them,  rather  than  for 
himself.  '  Kings  are  under  greater  obligations 
to  their  kingdoms  and  states  than  to  them- 
selves ;'  in  fact,  if  we  consider  the  institution 
of  kings  and  monarchs,  we  shall  find  that  the 
king  was  appointed  for  the  good  of  the  king- 
dom, and  not  the  kingdom  for  the  good  of  the 
king." 

In  his  3d  chapter,  of  which  the  following  is 
the  title,  "  Whether  the  name  of  king  neces- 
sarily implies  an  office,"  he  thus  expresses  him- 
self:— "Besides  what  we  have  advanced,  it 
may  be  proved  that  the  name  of  a  king  is  the 
name  of  an  office,  by  the  common  maxim,  '  the 
benefice  is  the  reward  of  the  office/  Since, 
therefore,  kings  receive  such  great  benefices, 
not  only  from  the  considerable  tributes  they  re- 
ceive from  the  State,  but  also  from  the  advan- 
tage they  derive  from  benefices  and  ecclesias- 
tical rents,  they  certainly  do  hold  an  office,  and 
that  the  greatest  of  all,  for  which  reason  the 
entire  kingdom  so  bountifully  assists  them. 
This  is  what  St.  Paul  says  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Romans:  Ideo  et  tributa prcestatis,  Ac.  King- 
doms do  not  contribute  for  nothing ;  all  those 
states,  taxes,  and  great  revenues,  that  name, 
that  high  authority  and  eminent  dignity,  are 
not  given  gratuitously.  They  would  have  their 
title  of  king  for  nothing  if  they  had  no  sub- 
jects to  rule  and  govern,  and  if  they  were  freed 
from  this  obligation:  In  multitudine  populi 
dignitas  regie.  This  great  dignity,  wealth, 
rank,  majesty,  and  honor,  are  possessed  by 
them  with  the  perpetual  obligation  of  ruling 
and  governing  their  states,  so  as  to  preserve 
them  in  peace  and  justice.  Let  kings  bear  in 
mind,  therefore,  that  they  are  only  invented  with 
this  title  to  serve  their  kingdoms  ;  and  the  lat- 
;  ter,  that  kings  ought  to  be  paid.  They  hold  an 
]  office  requiring  them  to  labor  :  Qui  protest  in 
|  sollicitudine,  says  St.  Paul.  Such  is  the  title 
and  the  name  of  king,  and  of  him  who  rules: 
one  who  is  the  first  not  only  as  regards  honors 
and  enjoyments,  but  also  as  regards  cares  and 
solicitude.  Let  them  not  imagine  that  they  are 
kings  merely  in  name  and  representation,  and 
appointed  only  to  make  themselves  honored ; 
merely  to  exhibit  their  royal  person  and  sove- 
reign dignity  in  a  pompous  manner,  like  some 
of  the  kings  of  the  Persians  and  Medes,  who 
were  mere  shadows  of  kings,  forgetful  of  their 
office,  as  though  they  had  never  received  it. 
Nothing  is  more  destitute  of  life  and  substance 
than  the  shadowy  image  which  stirs  its  arm  or 
its  head  only  when  some  one  acts  upon  it.  God 
forbade  the  Israelites  to  have  statues  or  paint- 
ed images,  representing  a  hand  where  there 
was  none,  and  a  face  that  did  not  exist,  exhi- 
biting to  the  eye  an  imaginary  body,  and  feign- 
ing by  apparently  living  actions  to  see  and  to 
speak  ;  for  God  loves  not  feigned  images,  paint- 
ed men,  or  sculptured  kings,  like  those  spoken 
of  by  David  :  Os  habent  et  non  loqnentur,  ocu- 
los  habent  et  non  videbunt.  What  does  it  avail 
to  have  a  tongue  that  speaks  not,  eyes  that  see 
not,  ears  that  hear  not,  or  hands  which  do  not 
work  ?  Is  it  any  thing  more  than  an  idol  of 
stone,  bearing  only  the  external  representation 
of  a  king  ?  To  bear  the  supreme  name  and  all 
authority,  and  not  to  be  capable  of  any  thing, 
sounds  badly.  The  names  which  God  has 
given  to  things  are  like  the  title  of  a  book, 
which,  in  a  few  words,  contains  every  thing 


NOTES. 


465 


that  is  included  in  the  book.  This  name  of 
king  was  given  to  kings  by  God  himself,  and 
contains  every  thing  to  which  they  are  obliged 
by  virtue  of  their  office.  If  their  actions  are 
not  in  accordance  with  the  name,  it  is  as  if  the 
mouth  should  affirm  what  the  head  denies,  like 
a  buffoon,  whom  no  one  believes  in  earnest. 
Every  one  would  regard  as  a  mockery  and  a 
delusion  a  signboard  bearing  the  inscription, 
'  Pure  gold  sold  here,'  if,  in  reality,  nothing  but 
tinsel  was  sold.  The  name  of  king  should  not 
be  an  empty  thing,  a  mere  superfluity  in  the 
royal  person — it  should  be  what  it  implies  and 
gives  itself  out  for.  Your  name  indicates  that 
you  rule  and  govern;  rule  and  govern,  there- 
fore, in  reality.  Do  not  be  mere  pasteboard 
kings,  to  use  a  common  expression,  that  is, 
kings  in  name  only.  In  France,  there  was  a 
time  when  kings  had  nothing  but  the  name, 
and  the  government  was  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  their  generals,  whilst  they,  like  animals, 
were  occupied  only  with  gluttony  and  luxuri- 
ous living.  That  it  might  be  known  they  were 
living,  for  they  never  went  out,  they  used  to 
appear  in  public  once  a  year,  on  the  1st  of 
May,  in  the  squares  of  Paris,  seated  on  a 
throne,  as  kings  in  a  dramatic  representation, 
and  there  they  were  saluted,  gifts  were  pre- 
sented to  them,  and  they,  on  their  part,  grant- 
ed certain  favors  to  whomsoever  they  thought 
proper.  In  order  to  show  to  what  a  degree  of 
degradation  they  had  fallen,  Eginard  tells  us, 
in  the  beginning  of  his  Life  of  Charlemagne, 
that  they  were  devoid  of  courage  and  incapa- 
ble of  great  actions ;  they  merely  held  the 
empty  name  of  king ;  for>  in  reality  they  were 
not  kings,  neither  had  they  any  participation 
in  the  government  or  riches  of  the  kingdom ; 
every  thing  was  entrusted  to  the  mayors  of  the 
palace,  styled  majors-domo  of  the  royal  house- 
hold; and  the  latter  usurped  every  thing  to 
such  a  degree,  that  they  left  the  wretched  king 
nothing  but  his  title.  Seated  on  his  throne, 
with  his  long  hair  and  beard,  the  monarch 
played  his  part,  pretending  to  give  audiences 
to  ambassadors  arriving  from  all  parts,  and  to 
furnish  them  with  answers  to  convey  to  their 
masters;  whilst  in  reality  they  merely  answer- 
ed according  to  the  instructions  they  had  re- 
ceived, either  by  word  or  writing,  although 
they  appeared  to  answer  on  their  own  respon- 
sibility. So  that  royal  power  for  such  a  king 
was  reduced  to  the  mere  name,  to  this  throne 
and  this  ridiculous  majesty ;  the  real  kings  and 
masters  were  those  favorites  by  whom  the  mo- 
narch was  oppressed.  God  said  of  one  of  the 
kings  of  Samaria,  that  he  was  merely  to  be 
compared  to  a  little  vapor,  which,  seen  from 
afar,  appeared  something,  but  when  touched 
was  no  longer  any  thing.  Simia  in  tecto  rex 
fatuus  in  solio  suo.  (St.  Bernard,  de  Consider 
ad  Euy.  cap.  7.)  A  monkey  on  a  housetop, 
which,  presenting  the  appearance  of  a  man,  is 
taken  for  such  by  those  who  know  not  ivhat  it 
in  ;  such  is  a  useless  king  upon  a  throne.  Mon- 
kvyx  also  serve  to  amuse  children,  and  the  king 
is  a  laughing- stock  \o  him  who  looks  upon  him 
apart  from  any  royal  act,  invested  with  autho- 
rity, and  making  no  use  of  it.  A  king  dressed 
in  purple,  seated  on  a  throne  with  great  ma- 
jesty, suited  to  his  grandeur,  grave,  severe,  and 
terrible  in  appearance,  but  in  reality  an  abso- 
lute nonentity.  Like  a  painting  de  la  main  du 
59 


Greco,  which,  placed  in  an  elevated  position, 
and  seen  from  a  distance,  looks  very  beautiful, 
and  produces  a  great  effect,  but  when  nearly 
approached  is  but  a  rough  sketch.  All  pomp 
and  majesty,  properly  considered,  are  a  mere 
sketch  and  shadow  of  a  king.  Simulacra  gen- 
tium, says  David,  speaking  of  kings  who  have 
nothing  but  the  name;  and  according  to  the 
Hebrew  text :  Imago  fictilis  et  contrita.  A 
figure  of  pounded  earth,  crumbling  on  all  sides ; 
an  empty  phantom,  great  in  appearance,  but  a 
mere  piece  of  deception.  The  name  which 
Elifaz  unjustly  applied  to  Job  is  perfectly  ap- 
plicable here,  when  he  designated  this  good 
and  just  king,  a  man  void  of  foundation  and 
substance,  bearing  only  external  appearances  ; 
he  styled  him  Myrmicoleon,  that  is,  the  name 
of  the  animal  which,  in  Latin,  is  called  For- 
mica-leo,  because  it  is  a  monstrous  conforma- 
tion, one  half  of  its  body,  in  fact,  representing 
a  fearful  lion,  an  animal  always  used  as  an 
emblem  of  a  king,  and  the  other  half  an  ant, 
that  is,  a  most  feeble  and  insignificant  thing. 
Such  are  the  authority,  the  name,  throne,  and 
majesty  of  a  fierce  lion  and  of  a  powerful  mo- 
narch ;  but  as  regards  the  essence,  you  will  find 
only  that  of  an  ant.  There  have  been  kings 
whose  very  name  filled  the  world  with  terror  ; 
but  these  kings  were  void  of  substance  in  them- 
selves, in  their  kingdoms  they  were  as  mere  ants; 
their  names  and  offices  were  very  great,  but  with- 
out effect.  Let  the  king,  therefore,  bear  in  mind 
that  he  has  an  office  to  fulfill,  and  not  only  an 
office,  but  that  he  is  obliged  to  speak  and  la- 
bor on  all  offices,  of  which  he  is  the  general 
superintendent.  St.  Augustine  and  St.  Tho- 
mas, explaining  that  passage  of  St.  Paul  which 
treats  of  episcopal  dignity,  say,  that  the  word 
bishop,  in  Greek,  is  composed  of  two  roots 
signifying  the  same  thing  as  superintendent. 
The  name  of  bishop,  king,  and  every  other  su- 
perior, are  names  signifying  superintendence 
over,  and  co-operation  with,  every  office.  This 
is  what  is  expressed  by  the  sceptre  used  by 
kings  in  public  acts,  a  ceremony  used  by  the 
Egyptians,  who  borrowed  it  from  the  Israelites. 
The  latter,  in  order  to  point  out  the  duty  of  a 
good  king,  painted  an  open  eye  placed  in  an 
elevated  position  on  the  point  of  a  rod  in  the 
form  of  a  sceptre,  representing,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  great  power  of  the  king,  the  solici- 
tude and  vigilance  which  he  ought  to  exer- 
cise ;  on  the  other,  that  he  ought  not  to  be  sa- 
tisfied with  holding  the  supreme  power,  with 
occupying  the  most  exalted  and  most  eminent 
position,  and,  in  possession  of  these,  passing 
his  life  in  sleep  and  repose ;  on  the  contrary, 
he  should  be  the  first  in  commanding  and 
counselling,  he  should  appear  in  every  office, 
incessantly  watching  and  inspecting,  like  a 
man  doing  the  business  in  which  he  is 
engaged.  Jeremiah  also  understands  it  in 
this  sense,  for  when  God  asked  him  what  he 
saw,  he  answered :  Virgam  vigilantem  ego  vi- 
deo. Thou  hast  seen  well ;  and  verily  I  tell 
thee,  that  I  who  am  supreme,  will  watch  over 
my  flock ;  I  who  am  a  shepherd,  will  watch 
over  my  sheep ;  I  who  am  a  king  and  a  mo- 
narch, will  watch  without  ceasing  over  all  my 
inferiors.  Regem  festinantem,  says  the  Chal- 
dean, a  king  who  is  in  haste ;  for,  although  he 
has  eyes  and  sees,  if  he  remains  in  repose,  in 
his  pleasures  and  amusements,  if  he  does  not 


466 


NOTES. 


go  about  from  place  to  place,  if  he  does  not  act 
so  as  to  become  acquainted  with  all  the  good 
and  evil  that  is  going  on  in  his  kingdom,  he  is 
as  though  he  did  not  exist.  Let  him  consider 
that  he  is  the  head,  and  even  the  head  of  the 
lion,  which  even  in  its  sleep  keeps  its  eyes 
open;  that  he  is  the  rod  with  eyes,  that  he  is 
the  torch ;  let  him  open  his  eyes,  therefore,  and 
sleep  no  longer,  trusting  to  those  who  are  blind- 
ed, and  see  no  better  than  moles ;  who,  if  they 
have  eyes,  only  employ  them  to  see  their  own 
interest,  and  to  distinguish  at  a  greater  dis- 
tance what  may  conduce  to  their  own  profit 
and  aggrandizement.  Such  persons  have  eyes 
for  themselves,  and  it  would  be  better  if  they 
had  them  not,  for  their  eyes  are  those  of  birds 
of  prey — of  vultures." 

In  his  fourth  chapter,  the  title  of  which  is, 
"  On  the  office  of  kings,"  the  author  thus  ex- 
plains the  origin  of  royal  power  and  its  obli- 
gations : — "  From  this  it  follows,"  says  he, 
"  that  the  institution  of  the  state  of  royalty, 
or  king,  represented  by  the  head,  was  not 
merely  for  the  use  and  profit  of  the  king  him- 
self, but  for  that  of  his  whole  kingdom.  Hence 
he  ought  to  see,  hear,  feel,  and  understand, 
not  only  by  himself  and  for  himself,  but  by 
all  and  for  all.  He  ought  not  merely  to  fix  his 
regards  upon  his  own  greatness,  but  on  the 
good  of  his  subjects,  since  it  is  for  them,  and 
not  for  himself,  that  he  was  born  a  king.  Ad- 
verte,  said  Seneca  to  the  Emperor  Nero,  rem- 
publicam  non  ease  tiiam,  aed  te  reipublicce. — 
When  men  first  issued  from  solitude,  and 
united  to  live  in  common,  they  knew  that 
e,very  one  would  naturally  labor  for  himself 
or  his  own  family,  and  that  no  one  would  take 
an  interest  in  all ;  they  agreed  to  select  a  man 
of  great  merit,  that  all  might  have  recourse 
to  him ;  a  man  who,  distinguished  above  all 
the  rest  by  his  virtue,  his  prudence,  and  cour- 
age, should  be  the  chief  over  all,  should  govern 
all,  watch  over  all,  and  should  exert  himself 
for  the  advantage  of  all  —  for  the  common 
weal — like  a  father  for  his  children,  or  a  shep- 
herd for  his  sheep.  Now,  considering  that 
this  man,  abandoning  his  own  affairs  to  look 
after  those  of  others,  could  not  maintain  him- 
self and  his  family  (every  one  was  then  main- 
tained by  the  labor  of  his  hands),  it  was  agreed 
that  all  should  contribute  to  his  support,  in 
order  that  he  might  not  be  distracted  by  any 
other  occupations  than  those  of  the  common 
weal  and  the  public  government.  Such  was 
the  end  for  which  kings  were  instituted— such 
was  their  beginning.  The  good  king  ought  to  be 
more  solicitous  for  the  public  than  for  his  own 
private  interest.  He  possesses  his  grandeur  at 
the  expense  of  great  solicitude;  the  anxiety, 
the  disquietude  of  mind  and  body,  which  is 
fatigue  for  him,  is  repose,  support,  and  protec- 
tion for  others.  Thus  smiling  flowers  and 
fruits,  whilst  they  adorn  the  tree,  exist  not  so 
much  for  the  tree,  nor  on  account  of  the  tree, 
as  for  the  sake  of  others.  Do  not  imagine  that 
all  happiness  is  in  the  beauty  and  grace  of 
the  flower,  and  in  those  who  are  the  flowers 
of  the  world :  powerful  kings  and  princes  may 
be  termed  the  flowers  of  the  world,  but  flowers 
who  consume  their  lives,  who  are  full  of  solici- 
tude, and  whose  fruit  will  rather  contribute 
to  the  enjoyment  of  others  than  to  their  own. 
'For/  says  the  Jew  Philo,  'the  king  is  to  the 


kingdom  what  the  wise  is  to  the  ignorant  man, 
what  the  shepherd  is  to  his  sheep,  the  father 
to  his  children,  light  to  darkness,  and  what 
God  is  upon  earth  to  all  his  creatures.'  The 
investiture  he  gave  to  Moses,  when  he  ap- 
pointed him  the  chief  and  king  over  his 
people,  was  to  tell  him  that  he  ought  to  be  as 
God,  the  common  father  of  all ;  for  the  office 
and  dignity  of  a  king  require  all  this.  Omnium 
domos  illius  vigila  defendit,  omnium  otium  illius 
industria,  omnium  vacationem  illius  occupatio. 
(Seneca,  Lib.  de  Consol.)  This  is  what  the 
prophet  Samuel  says  to  Saul,  recently  elected 
king,  when  he  expounds  to  him  the  obligations 
of  his  office :  '  Consider,  Saul,  that  God  has 
this  day  constituted  thee  king  over  all  this 
kingdom;  thou  art  bound  by  the  office  to 
govern  the  whole  of  it.  Thou  hast  not  been 
made  a  king  to  enjoy  repose,  to  become  proud, 
and  to  glory  in  the  dignity  of  a  king;  but  to 
govern  thy  kingdom,  to  maintain  it  in  peace 
and  justice,  to  defend  and  protect  it  against 
its  enemies.'  Rex  eligitur,  non,  ut  aui  ipsiua 
curam  habeat,  says  Socrates,  et  sese  molliter 
curet,  aed  ut  per  ipsum  ii,  qui  elegerunt,  bene 
beateque  vivant.  They  were  not  created  and 
introduced  into  the  world  for  their  own  con- 
venience and  pleasure  or  to  be  fed  upon  every 
dainty  morsel  of  food  (if  such  were  the  case, 
no  one  would  willingly  submit  to  them) ;  but 
they  were  appointed  for  the  advantage  and 
common  good  of  all  their  subjects,  to  govern 
them,  protect  them,  enrich  them,  preserve  and 
serve  them.  All  this  is  perfectly  admissible ; 
;  for  although  the  sceptre  and  crown  appear  to 
I  be  the  emblems  of  domination,  the  office  of  a 
king  is,  strictly  speaking,  that  of  a  slave. 
Servua  communis,  sive  servua  honoratus,  are 
words  which  have  sometimes  been  applied  to 
a  king,  quid  a  tota  republica  stipendia  accipit 
ut  serviat  omnibus.  And  the  Supreme  Pontiff 
glories  in  this  title,  Servua  aervorum  Dei.  In 
ancient  times  this  name  of  slave  was  one  of 
infamy ;  but  since  Christ  bore  it  it  has  become 
a  name  full  of  honor.  Now,  since  it  is  neither 
repugnant  nor  derogatory  to  the  essence  nor 
nature  of  the  Son  of  God,  neither  can  it  be 
derogatory  to  the  nature  and  grandeur  of  the 
king. 

"  Antigonus,  king  of  Macedon,  was  perfectly 
aware  of  this,  and  said  candidly  to  his  son, 
when  he  rebuked  him  for  the  severity  with 
which  he  governed  his  subjects :  An  ignoras, 
fill  mi,  regnum  nostrum  nobilem  esse  servitutem  ? 
Before  his  time  Agamemnon  expressed  him- 
self in  the  same  manner  :  f  We  live  apparently 
in  the  midst  of  grandeur  and  exaltation;  but 
in  reality  we  are  the  servants  and  slaves  of 
our  subjects.'  Such  is  the  office  of  good  kings 
— an  honorable  servitude.  From  the  moment 
of  their  being  created  kings,  their  actions  no 
longer  depend  upon  iheir  own  will,  but  on  the 
laws  and  rules  which  have  been  given  them, 
and  on  the  conditions  upon  which  they  have 
undertaken  their  office.  And  although  they 
may  fail  to  comply  with  these  conditions 
(which  are  the  effects  of  a  human  convention), 
they  may  not  fail  to  comply  with  that  dictated 
by  natural  and  divine  law,  the  mistress  of 
kings  as  well  as  of  subjects.  Now,  these  rules 
are  almost  all  included  in  the  words  of  Jere- 
miah, which  God,  according  to  St.  Jerome, 
addresses  to  kings  on  giving  them  the  com- 


NOTES. 


467 


mand  : — Facite  judieium  et  justitiam,  liberate 
vi  oppressum  de  manu  calumniatoris,  et  advenam, 
et  pupillum,  et  viduam  nolite  contristare,  neque 
opprimatis  inique,  et  sanguinem  innocentum  non 
effundatis.  Such  is  the  summary  of  the  obli- 
gations of  a  king ;  such  the  laws  of  his  insti- 
tution, which  lay  him  under  the  obligation  of 
maintaining  in  peace  and  justice  the  orphan, 
the  widow,  the  poor,  the  rich  and  the  powerful 
man,  and  him  who  can  do  nothing  for  himself. 
Upon  him  rest  the  wrongs  of  his  ministers 
towards  some,  the  injustice  suffered  by  others, 
the  sorrows  of  the  afflicted,  the  tears  of  those 
who  weep,  not  to  mention  many  other  bur- 
dens— a  flood  of  cares  and  obligations — im- 
posed upon  every  prince  or  chief  of  a  state. 
For  if  he  is  the  head  to  command  and  govern, 
and  to  bear  the  burdens  of  others,  he  should 
also  be  the  feet  upon  which  the  whole  weight 
of  the  state  is  sustained.  Kings  and  mon- 
arch s,  says  the  holy  man  Job,  as  we  have  seen, 
bear  and  carry  the  world  upon  their  shoulders, 
on  account  of  their  office.  Hence  the  figure 
we  meet  with  in  the  Book  of  Wisdom  :  In  veste 
poderis,  quam  kabebat  summus  sacerdos,  totus 
erat  orbis  terrarum.  From  the  moment  a  man 
is  created  king,  let  him  consider  himself  load- 
ed with  a  burden  so  heavy  that  a  strong  car- 
riage would  not  support  it.  Moses  felt  this 
strongly ;  for  God  having  made  him  His 
viceroy,  His  captain-general,  His  lieutenant 
in  the  government,  instead  of  returning  thanks 
for  so  distinguished  a  favor,  he  complains  that 
so  heavy  a  burden  should  be  placed  upon  him. 
Cur  afflixieti  servum  tuum  ?  Cur  imposuisti 
pondus  universi  popidi  hujus  super  me?  Again, 
continuing  his  complaint,  he  says,  Numquid 
ego  concepi  omnem  hanc  multitudinem  ?  A.ut 
genui  earn,  ut  dicas  mihi  :  Porta  eos  ? — '  Lord, 
have  I  conceived  all  this  multitude,  or  begot- 
ten them,  and  thou  shouldst  say  to  me,  Carry 
them  on  thy  shoulders  ?'  Now,  it  is  remark- 
able that  God  said  nothing  of  that  to  Moses ; 
he  merely  tells  him  to  rule  and  govern  them, 
to  fulfill  towards  them  the  office  of  captain  and 
chief.  Nevertheless,  what  says  Moses  ?  That 
God  commanded  him  to  bear  them  on  his 
shoulders — Porta  eos.  It  appears,  then,  that 
he  has  no  reason  to  complain,  since  he  is  merely 
told  to  be  the  captain,  to  direct,  rule,  and 
govern.  It  is  a  common  expression,  '  A  word 
to  the  wise  is  sufficient.'  He  who  knows  and 
understands  what  it  is  to  govern  and  to  be  the 
chief,  knows  also  that  government  and  obliga- 
tion are  the  same  thing.  The  very  words 
regere  and  portare  are  synonymous,  and  have 
the  same  meaning:  there  is  no  government 
nor  employment  without  obligation  and  labor. 
In  the  distribution  of  the  offices  which  Jacob 
made  among  his  children,  he  appointed  Reu- 
ben to  be  the  first  in  his  inheritance  and  the 
highest  in  command — prior  in  donis,  major  in 
imperio.  And  St.  Jerome  translates  major  ad 
portandum,  for  command  and  obligation  are 
the  same  thing ;  and  the  obligation  and  the 
labor  are  so  much  more  considerable  as  the 
command  is  more  exalted.  St.  Gregory,  in  his 
Morales,  says,  that  the  power,  domination,  and 
rule  of  kings  over  the  whole  world  should  not 
be  looked  upon  as  an  honor  but  as  a  labor. 
Potestas  accepta  non  honor,  sed  onus  cestimatur. 
And  this  truth  was  ever  received  by  the  blind- 
est among  the  Gentiles.  One  of  them,  taking 


the  same  view  of  the  subject,  says,  speaking 
of  another  Pagan,  that  his  god  Apollo  had 
made  him  all  glorious  and  happy  by  the  gift 
of  a  certain  office  :  Lcetua  erat,  mixtoque  oneri 
udebat  honore.  So  that  power  and  command 
composed  of  a  little  honor  and  weighty  ob- 
ligations. The  Latin  word  for  honor  only 
differs  from  that  for  burden  by  one  letter  —  onos 
and  onus.  Besides,  there  always  were  and 
always  will  be  persons  willing  to  undertake 
the  responsibility  for  the  sake  of  the  honor, 
although  every  one  avoids  as  much  as  possible 
any  thing  that  lays  him  under  an  obligation, 
and  seeks  after  what  is  glorious  ;  a  dangerous 
choice,  for  the  latter  is  not  always  the  most 
secure." 

If  such  language  is  taxed  with  flattery,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  comprehend  what  is  meant 
by  telling  the  truth.  And  observe,  that  the  above 
truths  are  not  told  without  reflection  ;  the  good 
religious  takes  such  pains  to  inculcate  them, 
that  were  it  not  for  the  childlike  candor  of 
his  language,  which  discloses  the  purest  of  in- 
tentions, we  might  accuse  him  of  irreverence. 
This  passage  is  long,  but  exceedingly  interest- 
ing, for  it  faithfully  reflects  the  spirit  of  the 
age.  Innumerable  other  texts  might  be  ad- 
duced to  prove  how  unjustly  the  Catholic  clergy 
are  accused  of  being  favorable  to  despotism. 
I  cannot  conclude  without  inserting  here  two 
excellent  passages  from  the  learned  Father 
Fr.  Ferdinand  de  Zeballos,  a  religious  of  the 
order  of  St.  Jerome  in  the  Monastery  of  St. 
Isidore  del  Campo,  and  known  by  a  work  inti- 
tuled, "False  Philosophy,  or  Atheism,  Deism, 
Materialism,  and  other  new  sects  convicted  of 
State  Crimes  against  their  Sovereigns  and 
Rulers,  against  the  Magistrates  and  Lawful 
Authorities."  Madrid,  1776.  Observe  with 
what  tact  the  learned  writer  appreciates  the 
influence  of  religion  upon  society.  (Book  ii. 
dissertation  12,  art.  2.) 

"A  mild  and  moderate  government  is  most 
agreeable  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel. 


One  excellent  and  estimable  point  in  our 
holy  religion  is,  that  she  offers  to  human  poli- 
cy, in  her  important  truths,  assistance  in  pre- 
serving good  order  among  men  with  less  trou- 
ble. 'The  Christian  religion/  says  Montes- 
quieu, with  much  truth,  '  is  far  removed  from 
pure  despotism.  Mildness  being  so  strongly 
recommended  in  the  gospel,  it  is  opposed  to 
the  despotic  fury  with  which  princes  might 
administer  justice  and  practise  cruelties.'  This 
opposition  on  the  part  of  Christianity  to  the 
cruelty  of  the  monarch  should  not  be  active, 
but  passive  and  full  of  mildness,  which  Chris- 
tianity can  never  lose  sight  of  without  losing 
its  character.  This  is  the  difference  between 
Catholic  Christians  and  the  Calvinists  and 
other  Protestants.  Basnages  and  Jurieu,  in 
the  name  of  all  their  reformation,  wrote  that 
it  is  allowable  for  the  people  to  wage  war 
against  their  princes  whenever  they  are  op- 
pressed by  them,  or  their  conduct  appears 
tyrannical. 

"The  Catholic  Church  has  never  changed 
the  doctrines  she  received  from  Jesus  Christ 
and  His  Apostles.  She  loves  moderation,  she 
rejoices  in  good  :  but  she  does  not  resist  evil, 


468 


NOTES. 


she  overcomes  it  by  patience.  Governments 
established  under  the  direction  of  false  reli- 
gions cannot  be  satisfied  with  a  moderate  po- 
licy. With  them  the  despotism  or  tyranny  of 
princes,  the  ferocity  of  penalties,  the  rigor  of 
an  inflexible  and  cruel  legislation,  are  so  many 
necessary  evils.  But  why  has  it  been  given  to 
the  Catholic  religion  only  to  purge  human 
governments  from  such  inhumanity?  First, 
on  account  of  the  forcible  impression  produced 
by  her  dogmas;  secondly,  through  the  effect 
of  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  renders 
men  docile  in  doing  good,  and  energetic  in 
combating  evil.  Wherever  false  religion  pre- 
dominates, and  where,  in  consequence,  these 
two  means  of  aid  are  wanting,  the  government 
is  under  the  necessity  of  supplying  them  as  far 
as  possible  by  efforts  of  a  severe,  harsh,  and 
terror-inspiring  policy,  in  default  of  that  virtue 
which  ought  to  exist  in  religion  to  restrain 
citizens. 

"  Hence  the  Catholic  religion,  by  the  influ- 
ence of  her  dogmas  over  human  affairs,  relieves 
governments  from  the  necessity  of  being  harsh. 
In  Japan,  where  the  prevailing  religion  has 
no  dogmas,  and  gives  no  idea  of  heaven  or  hell, 
laws  are  made  to  supply  this  defect — laws  ren- 
dered useful  by  the  cruelty  with  which  they 
are  conceived  and  the  punctuality  with  which 
they  are  executed.  In  every  society  in  which 
deists,  fatalists,  and  philosophers  have  promul- 
gated this  error,  that  our  actions  are  unavoid- 
able, it  is  impossible  to  prevent  laws  from 
becoming  more  terrible  and  sanguinary  than 
any  we  have  known  among  barbarian  nations : 
for  in  such  a  society,  men,  after  the  manner  of 
brutes,  being  urged  by  palpable  motives  to  do 
what  they  are  commanded  and  omit  what  they 
are  forbidden,  these  motives,  with  -  chastise 
ments,  must  be  daily  more  formidable,  in  order 
to  avoid  losing  from  habit  the  power  of  making 
themselves  felt.  The  Christian  religion,  which 
admirably  teaches  and  explains  the  dogmas  ol 
rational  liberty,  has  no  need  of  an  iron  rod  to 
govern  mankind.  The  fear  of  the  pains  oi 
hell,  whether  eternal,  to  punish  crimes  unre- 
pented  of,  or  temporal,  to  wash  away  the 
stains  of  sins  confessed,  relieves  judges  from 
the  necessity  of  augmenting  punishments.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  hope  of  gaining  heaven 
as  a  reward  for  laudable  actions,  words,  anc 
thoughts,  induces  men  to  be  just,  not  only  in 
public  but  also  in  the  secrecy  of  the  heart 
What  laws  or  penalties  would  avail  govern 
ments  not  possessed  of  this  dogma  of  hell  and  o 
glory,  to  make  their  citizens  men  of  real  merit ', 
Materialists,  denying  the  dogma  of  a  future 
state,  and  deists,  holding  out  to  the  wicked  the 
flattering  security  of  paradise,  place  govern 
ments  under  the  painful  necessity  of  arming 
themselves  with  all  the  instruments  of  terror 
and  of  always  inflicting  the  most  cruel  punish- 
ments, to  restrain  the  people  from  destroying 
one  another. 

"  Protestants  have  already  come  to  this  poin 
by  rejecting  the   dogma  of  the   eternity   of 
hell,  or,  at  least,  by  preserving  merely  the  fear 
of  a  temporary  pain.     The  first  reformers,  as 
d'Alembert  observes   to  the  clergy  of  Gene 
va,  denied  the  doctrine  of  purgatory,  and  re 
tained  that   of  hell;  but   the    Calvinists,  and 
modern  reformers,  by  their  limitation  of  th< 
duration  of  hell,  leave  only  what  may  be  pro 
perly  termed  purgatory.     Is  not  the  dogma  of 


he  last  judgment,  when  each  one's  secret  of- 
fences, however  small,  shall  be  exposed  to  the 
whole  world,  of  singular  efficacy  in  restraining 
;he  thoughts  and  desires,  and  all  the  perversi- 
ty of  the  heart  and  of  the  passions  ?  It  is  evi- 
dent that  this  dogma  so  far  relieves  political 
overnments  from  the  painful  and  continual 
vigilance  which  it  would  have  to  exercise  over 
a  town  in  which  the  idea  of  this  judgment  has 
perished,  together  with  the  thoughts  which  it 
nspires." 

in. 

"There  are  certain  aberrations  observable 
among  philosophers,  which  lead  us  to  think  that 
these  men  were  possessed  of  some  true  discern- 
ment in  their  lucid  moments,  or  whilst  they  were 
n  the  Catholic  religion.  Hence  they  have  said, 
that  religion  was  invented  for  a  political  pur- 
pose, to  spare  sovereigns  the  necessity  of  being 
just,  of  making  good  laws,  and  of  governing 
well.'  This  folly,  which  stands  self-condemn- 
ed when  we  come  to  speak  of  religion  previ- 
ously formed,  supposes,  nevertheless,  the  truth 
we  are  speaking  of.  It  is  evident  to  every 
one,  even  to  the  philosophers  whose  extrava- 
gant assertion  we  have  just  adduced,  that  the 
Christian  religion,  by  her  dogmas,  is  service- 
able to  human  governments,  and  aids  in  mak- 
ing good  citizens,  even  in  this  world.  Yet 
they  avail  themselves  of  this  very  point  to  put 
forth  their  insane  malice  :  but,  in  reality,  and 
in  spite  of  themselves,  they  mean  to  say,  that 
the  dogmas  of  religion  are  of  such  service  to 
governments,  and  so  efficacious  in  facilitating 
a  great  part  of  -their  work,  that  they  appear  to 
be  formed  on  purpose,  and  according  to  the 
designs  of  a  magistrate  or  a  political  govern- 
ment. We  cannot  say,  on  this  account,  that 
religion  alone  is  sufficient  to  govern  men, 
without  any  judicial  aid,  without  the  interven- 
tion of  the  laws  and  of  penalties.  In  speak- 
ing of  this  efficacy  of  the  dogmas  inculcated 
by  religion,  we  are  not  rash  and  presumptuous  ; 
we  do  not  reject  as  superfluous  the  office  of  law 
and  police.  We  are  told  by  the  Apostle,  that 
for  the  just  there  would  have  been  no  need  of 
laws;  but  there  are  so  many  wicked,  who, 
through  their  forgetfulness  of  their  destiny 
and  the  terrible  judgments  of  God,  live  under 
the  exclusive  rule  of  their  passions,  that  it 
has  been  found  necessary  to  make  laws  and 
institute  punishments,  in  order  to  restrain 
them.  Hence,  the  Catholic  religion  does  not 
reject  the  wise  vigilance  of  police,  nor  abro- 
gate its  office ;  she  seconds  it,  on  the  contrary, 
and  receives  assistance  from  it,  to  the  very 
great  advantage  of  good  governments ;  the 
people,  through  its  influence,  are  ruled  better, 
and  with  less  austerity  and  severity." 

§  III. 

"  The  second  reason  which  renders  the  most 
mild  and  moderate  governments  sufficient  in 
Catholic  States  is,  the  assistance  which  the 
grace  of  the  gospel  affords  for  doing  good  and 
avoiding  evil, — an  assistance  imparted  by  the 
use  of  the  sacraments,  or  other  means  employ- 
ed by  the  Spirit  from  above.  Without  this, 
every  law  is  harsh ;  this  unction  softens  every 
yoke,  renders  every  burden  light." 

In  his  third  article,  Father  Zeballos  repels  the 
accusation  of  despotism  with  which  the  ene- 


NOTES. 


mies  of  monarchy  reproach  it.  On  this  occa- 
sion he  points  out  the  just  limits  of  royal  au- 
thority, and  overthrows  an  argument  which 
some  persons  have  pretended  to  found  on  the 
Scriptures,  for  the  exaggeration  of  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  throne.  He  expresses  himself  as 
follows  : 

"When  the  objection,  that  the  sovereign  had 
the  power  of  seizing  the  property  of  every 
citizen,  was  made  against  monarchy,  it  was 
rather  an  argument  against  the  nature  of  des- 
potism than  against  the  form  of  monarchical 
government.  *  What  does  it  avail,'  says  The- 
seus in  Euripides,  'to  amass  riches  for  our  heirs, 


servants;  and  you  shall  cry  out  in  that  day 
from  the  face  of  the  king  whom  you  have 
chosen  to  yourselves ;  and  the  Lord  will  not 
hear  you  in  that  day,  because  you  desired  unto 
youselves  a  king.  And  the  people  would  not 
hear  the  voice  of  Samuel,  and  they  said,  Nay, 
but  there  shall  be  a  king  over  us,  and  we  also 
will  be  like  all  nations.'  (l«t  Kings,  chap, 
viii.,  from  verse  11  to  middle  of  verse  20  in- 
clusively.) 

"  Some  persons,  being  determined  to  extend 
the  power  of  kings  beyond  its  limits,  draw  from 
these  words  the  formula  of  royal  right.  A 
blind  pretension,  and  reflecting  little  honor  on 


to  bring  up  our  daughters  with  care,  if  we  are    legitimate  monarchs  such  as  the  Catholic  sove- 


to  be  deprived  of  the  greater  portion  of  these 
riches  by  a  tyrant,  if  our  daughters  are  to 
serve  the  most  unruly  passions  ?'  You  perceive, 
then  clearly,  that  in  pretending  to  argue  against 
the  office  of  a  monarch,  it  is  a  tyrant  only  that 
is  spoken  of.  True,  the  frequent  abuse  of 
power  resorted  to  by  kings  has  caused  these 
names  and  forms  to  be  confounded.  Others 
have  already  observed  that  the  ancients  were 
scarcely  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  true 
monarchy  ;  this  was  very  natural,  since  they 
never  witnessed  any  thing  but  the  abuse  of  it. 
This  gives  me  the  opportunity  of  making  a 
remark  upon  the  circumstance  of  the  Hebrews 
asking  to  be  governed  by  kings.  '  Make  us  a 
king  to  judge  us,  as  all  nations  have/  said  they 
to  the  prophet.  Samuel  saw  with  grief  this 
levity,  which  was  about  to  cause  a  total  revo- 
lution in  the  government  appointed  by  God. 
Nevertheless,  God  commands  the  prophet  to 
take  no  notice  of  this  affront,  which  was  prin- 
cipally offered  to  the  Lord ;  for  they  were 
abandoning  Him,  being  unwilling  that  He 
should  rule  over  them  any  longer.  'As  they 
have  forsaken  Me,  and  served  strange  gods,  so 
do  they  also  unto  thee,'  and  ask  for  kings  like 
unto  those  of  the  nations.  Observe  what  an 
intimate  connection  always  exists  between  a 
change  of  government  and  a  change  in  religion, 
especially  when  the  change  is  from  a  true  to  a 
false  one. 

"  But  what  is  particularly  deserving  of  no- 
tice is,  the  acquiescence  granted  to  the  people's 
demand.  They  wish  to  be  ruled  by  kings,  ex- 
actly as  all  other  nations  were.  The  Lord 
chastises  their  spirit  of  revolt  by  leaving  them 
to  their  desires.  He  commands  Samuel  to 
comply  with  their  request,  but  to  point  out  to 
them,  at  the  same  time,  the  rights  of  the  king 
who  was  to  rule  over  them  like  unto  the  nations, 
and  said:  'This  will  be  the  right  of  the  king 
that  shall  reign  over  you :  he  will  take  your 
sons,  and  will  put  them  in  his  chariots,  and 
will  make  them  his  horsemen,  and  his  running 
footmen,  to  run  before  his  chariots;  and  he 
will  appoint  them  to  be  his  tribunes,  and  his 
centurions,  and  to  plough  his  fields,  and  to  reap 
his  corn,  and  to  make  him  arms  and  chariots. 
Your  daughters  also  will  he  take  to  make  him 
ointments,  and  to  be  his  cooks  and  bakers ;  and 
he  will  take  your  fields,  and  your  vineyards, 
and  your  best  olive-yards,  and  give  them  to  his 
servants.  Moreover,  he  will  take  the  tenth  of 
your  corn,  and  of  the  revenues  of  your  vine- 
yards, to  give  to  his  eunuchs  and  servants. 
Your  servants  also,  and  hand-maids,  and  your 
goodliest  young  men,  and  your  asses,  he  will 
take  away,  and  put  them  to  his  work.  Your 
flocks  also  he  will  tithe,  and  you  shall  be  his 


reigns.  Unless  a  person  wishes  knowingly 
to  deceive  himself  on  this  portion  of  the  Scrip- 
ture, or  is  blind,  he  may  see  by  the  context, 
and  by  comparing  this  passage  with  others, 
that  it  is  not  legitimate  right  that  is  here  meant, 
but  de  facto  right.  I  mean  to  say,  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  does  not  explain  what  just  mo- 
narchs ought  to  do ;  but  what  had  been  done, 
and  was  still  done,  by  the  kings  of  Pagan  na- 
tions, mere  tyrants,  and  commonly  so  called. 
Observe,  that  the  people  demanded  nothing 
but  to  be  placed  on  an  equality  with  the  Pa- 
gan nations  in  a  political  point  of  view.  They 
had  not  the  prudence  to  demand  a  king  such 
as  he  ought  to  be,  but  such  as  was  common  in 
those  days ;  and  this  was  what  God  granted 
them.  If  God,  as  the  prophet  observes,  has 
sometimes  given  the  people  kings  in  His  wrath, 
what  people  were  more  deserving  of  this  than 
those  who  had  abandoned  God  himself,  and 
refused  to  be  ruled  by  Him?  Indeed,  God  did 
chastise  His  people  severely  by  granting  them 
their  foolish  demand.  He  did  give  them  a  king, 
but  a  king  who  was  to  exercise  what,  according 
to  the  perverse  custom  of  the  times,  formed  the 
royal  right  described  in  the  sacred  text  just 
quoted. 

"  What  man  in  our  days,  conversant  with 
what  has  been  written  upon  the  different  na- 
tures of  governments,  upon  their  abuse,  and 
without  even  understanding  what  is  said  in  the 
Scriptures,  could  imagine  that  the  text  of 
Samuel  contains  the  legitimate  form  of  royalty 
or  of  monarchy  ?  Does  this  power  impart  the 
right  of  seizing  the  property  of  the  subjects, 
their  lands,  their  riches,  their  sons  and  daugh- 
ters, and  even  their  natural  liberty  ?  Is  this 
the  model  of  a  monarchy,  or  of  the  most  ty- 
rannical despotism?  To  dispel  every  illusion 
on  this  point,  we  need  only  compare  with  what 
we  have  just  read  the  21st  chap,  of  the  third 
Book  of  Kings,  in  which  the  history  of  Na- 
both,  an  inhabitant  of  Jezrael,  is  narrated. 
Achab,  the  king  of  Israel,  wished  to  enlarge 
the  palace,  or  pleasure-house  wiich  he  pos- 
sessed in  that  town.  A  vineyard  of  Naboth's, 
near  the  palace,  came  within  the  plan  of  the 
gardens  that  were  to  be  added.  The  king  did 
not  seize  it  at  once,  of  his  own  authority,  but 
asked  the  proprietor  to  let  him  have  it  on  the 
honest  condition  of  paying  him  the  price  at 
which  he  should  value  it,  or  giving  him  a  better 
in  another  place.  Naboth  would  not  consent 
to  this,  because  it  was  the  inheritance  of  his 
ancestors.  The  king,  not  being  accustomed 
to  meet  with  a  refusal,  threw  himself  upon  his 
couch  oppressed  with  grief;  the  queen,  Jezabel, 
came,  and  told  him  to  calm  his  agitation  :  '  Thy 
authority  is  great  indeed/  said  she  to  him; 
P 


470 


NOTES. 


Grandis  authoritatis  e« :  she  promises  to  put 
him  in  possession  of  the  vineyard.  This 
abominable  woman  wrote  to  the  judges  of 
Jezrael  to  commence  an  action  against  Naboth 
for  a  calumny,  to  be  proved  against  him  by 
two  suborned  witnesses  j  and  she  demanded 
that  he  should  be  condemned  to  death.  The 
queen  was  obeyed j  Naboth  was  stoned  to 
death.  All  this  was  necessary  that  the  vine- 
yard might  enter  into  the  royal  treasury,  and 
that,  watered  by  the  blood  of  the  proprietor, 
it  might  produce  flowers  for  the  palace  of  these 
princes.  But,  in  reality,  it  produced  none, 
neither  for  the  king  nor  for  the  queen  ;  it  fur- 
nished them  with  nothing  but  briars  and  mortal 
poisons.  Elias  presents  himself  before  Achab 
when  he  was  going  to  take  possession  of  Na- 
both's  vineyard ;  he  announces  to  him  that  he, 
and  all  his  house,  even  to  the  dog  that  ap- 
proacheth  the  wall,  shall  be  erased  from  the 
face  of  the  earth. 

"  You  look  upon  royal  right  as  explained  to 
the  people  by  Samuel  as  legitimate ;  tell  me, 
then  why  Achab  and  Jezabel  are  so  severely 
punished  for  taking  the  vineyard  and  the  life 
of  Naboth,  since  the  king  had  a  right  to  take 
from  his  subjects  their  most  valuable  vineyards 
and  olive  trees,  according  to  the  declaration  of 
the  prophet.  If  Achab  possesses  this  right 
after  he  is  established  the  king  of  the  people 
of  God,  whence  comes  it  that  he,  so  violent  a 
prince,  should  entreat  Naboth  with  so  much 
civility  ?  And  why  is  it  necessary  to  accuse 
Naboth  of  some  calumny  ?  His  resistance  to 
the  king's  right,  by  refusing  to  accept  the  just 
value  of  what  was  suitable  to  the  enlargement 
of  the  palace  and  gardens,  would  have  been 
a  sufficient  motive  for  instituting  an  action 
against  him.  We  find,  however,  that  Naboth 
committed  no  injustice  against  the  king  by 
refusing  to  sell  his  patrimony,  not  even  in  the 
estimation  of  the  queen,  who  boasted  of  her 
husband's  great  authority.  This  great  author- 
ity, which  Jezabel  admitted  in  the  king,  was 
neither  more  nor  less  than  the  royal  right 
spoken  of  by  Samuel  to  the  people ;  it  was,  as 
I  have  said,  a  de  facto  right  to  take  and  seize 
upon  every  thing  by  mere  force,  as  Montes- 
quieu says  of  the  tyrant. 

"Do  not  therefore,  mention  this  passage,  nor 
any  other  of  the  Scriptures,  to  justify  the  idea 
of  a  government  so  ill-conceived.  The  doctrine 
of  the  Catholic  religion  is  attached  to  legitimate 
monarchy,  with  its  suitable  characteristics,  and 
in  accordance  with  the  qualities  which  modern 
publicists  recognise,  viz.  as  a  paternal  and  sove- 
reign power,  but  conformable  to  the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  state.  Within  limits  so  suitable, 
nothing  can  be  more  regular  than  this  power, 
the  most  extensive  of  all  temporal  powers,  and 
that  which  is  most  favored  and  supported  by  the 
Catholic  Church." 

Such  is  the  horrible  despotism  taught  by 
these  men  so  basely  calumniated !  Happy  the 
people  who  are  ruled  by  a  prince  whose  go 
vernment  is  regulated  by  these  doctrines ! 

NOTE  31,  p.  330. 

The  importance  of  the  matter  treated  of  in 
this  part  of  my  work  obliges  me  to  insert  here, 
at  some  length,  passages  proving  the  truth  of 
what  I  have  advanced.  I  did  not  think  it 


advisable  to  give  a  translation  of  the  Latin 
passages,  that  I  might  avoid  augmenting  ex- 
cessively the  number  of  pages ;  besides,  among 
the  persons  who  may  wish  to  make  themselves 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  subject,  and 
who  will  consequently  take  an  interest  in  con- 
sulting the  original  texts,  there  are  few  ignor- 
ant of  the  Latin  language. 

Observe  how  St.  Thomas  expresses  himself 
on  royal  power,  and  with  what  solid  and  gen- 
erous doctrine  he  points  out  its  duties  in  the 
third  book,  chap.  11,  of  his  treatise  De  Regi- 
mine  Principum. 

DIVUS    THOMAS. 

"De  Regimine  Principum,  liber  iii.  capu  t  xi. 

'Hie  Sanctus  Doctor  declarat  de  dominio 
regali,  in  quo  consistit,  et  in  quo  diflfert  a  po- 
litico, et  quo  modo  distinguitur  diversimodo 
secundum  diversas  rationes. 

'  Nunc  autem  ad  regale  dominium  est  pro- 
cedendum,  ubi  est  distinguendum  de  ipso  se- 
cundum diversas  regiones,  et  prout  a  diversis 
varie  invenitur  traditum.  Et  primo  quidem, 
in  Sacra  Scriptura  aliter  leges  regalis  dominii 
traduntur  in  Deuteronomio  per  Moysen,  aliter 
in  1  Regum  per  Samuelem  prpphetam,  uterque 
tamen  in  persona  Dei  differenter  ordinat  regem 
ad  utilitatem  subditorum,  quod  est  proprium 
regum,  ut  Philosophus  tradit  in  8  ethic.  Cum, 
inquit,  constitutus  fuerit  rex,  non  multiplicabit 
sibi  equos,  nee  reducet  populum  in  JEgyptum, 
equitatus  numero  sublevatus,  non  habebit  ux- 
ores  plurimas,  quao  alliciant  an  imam  ejus, 
neque  argenti,  aut  auri  immensa  pondera: 
quod  quidem  qualiter  habet  intelligi,  supra 
traditur  in  hoc  lib.  describetque  sibi  Deuter- 
onominm  legis  hujus,  et  habebit  secum,  leget- 
que  illud  omnibus  diebus  vitio  smo,  ut  discat 
timere  dominum  Deum  suum,  et  custodire 
verba  ejus  et  caeremonias,  etut  videlicet  possit 
populum  dirigere  secundum  legem  divinam, 
unde  et  rex  Salomon  in  principio  sui  regiminis 
hanc  sapientiam  a  Deo  petivit,  ad  directionem 
sui  regiminis  pro  utilitate  subditorum,  sicut 
scribitur  in  3  lib.  Regum.  Subdit  vero  dictus 
Moyses  in  eodem  lib.  Nee  elevetur  cor  ejus  in 
superfluum  super  fratres  suos,  neque  declinet 
in  partem  dexteram,  vel  sinistram,  ut  longo 
tempore  regat  ipse  et  fllius  ejus  super  Israel. 
Sed  in  primo  Regum,  traduntur  leges  regni, 
magis  ad  utilitatem  Regis,  ut  supra  patuit  in 
lib.  2  hujus  operis,  ubi  ponuntur  verba  omnino 
pertinentia  ad  conditionem  servilem,  et  tamen 
Samuel  leges  quas  tradit  cum  sint  penitus  de- 
spoticse  dicit  esse  regales.  Philosophus  autem 
in  8  ethic,  magis  concordat  cum  primis  legibus. 
Tria  enim  ponit  de  rege  in  eo.  4,  videlicet, 
quod  ille  legitimus  est  rex  qui  principaliter 
bonum  subditorum  intendit.  Item,  ille  rex  est, 
qui  curam  subditorum  habet,  ut  bene  operentur 
quemadmodum  pastor  ovium.  Ex  quibus  om- 
nibus manifestum  est,  quod  juxta  istum,  mo- 
dum  despoticum  multum  differat  a  regali,  ut 
idem  Philosophus  videtur  dicere  in  1  politic. 
Item,  quod  regnum  non  est  propter  regem,  sed 
rex  propter  regnum,  quia  ad  hoc  Deus  providit 
de  eis,  ut  regnum  regant  et  gubernent,  et  unum- 
quemque  in  suo  jure  conservent  :  et  hie  est  finis 
regiminis,  quod  si  ad  aliud  faciunt  in  seipsot 
commodum  retorquendo,  non  sunt  reges  sed  ty- 
ranni.  Contra  quoa  dicit  Dominue  in  Ezech. 


NOTES. 


471 


V»  pastoribus  Israel,  qui  pascunt  semetipsos. 
Nonne  greges  pascuntur  a  pastoribus?  Lac 
comedebatis,  et  lanis  operiebamini,  et  quod 
crassum  erat  occidebatis  :  gregem  autem  meum 
non  pascebatis :  quod  infirmum  fuit,  non  con- 
solidastis,  et  quod  aegrotum  non  sanastis,  quod 
confractum  non  alligastis,  quod  abjectum  non 
reduxistis,  et  quod  perierat  non  qusesistis ; 
sed  cum  austeritate  imperabatis  eis  et  cum  po- 
tentia.  In  quibns  verbis  nobis  sumcienter 
forma  regiminis  traditur  redarguendo  contra- 
rium.  Amplius  autem  regnum  ex  hominibus 
constituitur,  sicut  domus  ex  parietibus,  et 
corpus  humanum  ex  membris,  ut  Philos.  dicit  in 
3  politic.  Finis  ergo  regia  eat,  ut  regimen proa- 
peretur,  quod  homines  conserventur  per  regem. 
Et  bine  habet  commune  bonum  cujuslibet 
principatus  participationem  divinae  bonita.tis  : 
unde  bonum  commune  dicitur  a  Philosopho  in 
1  ethic,  esse  quod  omnia  appetunt,  et  esse 
bonum  divinum,  ut  aicut  Deua  qui  eat  rex  re- 
gum,  et  dominua  dominantium,  cujus  virtute 
principes  imperant,  ut  probatum  eat  supra,  noa 
regit  et  gubernat  non  propter  seipaum,  aed  prop- 
ter  noatram  salutem  :  ita  et  regea  fo.eio.nt  et  alii 
dominatores  in  orbe." 

NOTE  32,  p.  336. 

I  have  noticed  the  opinion  of  D.  Felix  Amat, 
Archbishop  of  Palmyra,  with  respect  to  the 
obedience  due  to  de  facto  governments.  I  have 
remarked,  that  this  writer's  principles,  besides 
being  false,  are  opposed  to  the  rights  of  the 
people.  The  Archbishop  of  Palmyra  appears 
to  have  been  at  a  loss  to  discover  a  maxim  to 
which  it  is  possible  to  conform  under  all  cir- 
cumstances that  may  occur,  and  which  do  oc- 
cur but  too  often.  He  dreaded  the  obscurity 
and  confusion  of  ideas  when  the  legitimacy  of 
a  given  case  was  to  be  defined ;  he  wished  to 
remedy  an  evil,  but  he  appears  to  have  aggra- 
vated it  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  Observe 
how  he  sets  forth  his  opinion  in  his  work  en- 
titled Idea  of  the  Church  Militant,  chap.  iii. 
art.  2 : 

"  The  more  I  reflect,"  says  he,  "on  the  diffi- 
culties I  have  just  pointed  out,  the  more  I  am 
convinced  that  it  is  impossible  to  resolve  them, 
even  those  which  are  ancient,  with  any  degree 
of  certainty ;  and  it  is  equally  impossible  to 
derive  any  light  from  them  to  aid  us  in  resolv- 
ing those  which  are  formed  at  the  present  day 
.by  the  struggle  between  the  prevailing  spirit 
of  insubordination  in  opposition  to  the  judg- 
ment and  will  of  the  governor,  and  the  con- 
trary effort  made  to  limit  more  and  more  the 
liberty  of  those  who  obey.  Starting  from  the 
divers  points  and  notions  that  I  have  laid  down 
relative  to  the  supreme  power  in  all  really  civil 
societies,  it  appears  to  me,  that,  instead  of  los- 
i  ing  time  in  mere  speculative  discussions,  it  will 
be  more  useful  to  propose  a  practical,  just,  and 
opportune  maxim  for  the  preservation  of  pub- 
lic tranquillity,  especially  in  Christian  king- 
doms and  states,  and  for  affording  the  means 
of  re-establishing  it  when  it  has  been  troubled 
or  destroyed. 

"  The  Maxim. — No  one  can  doubt  the  legiti- 
macy of  the  obligation  of  every  member  of  any 
civil  society  whatever  to  obey  the  government 
which  is  de  facto  and  unquestionably  estab- 
lished. I  say  '  unquestionably  tetablished,'  be- 


cause there  is  here  no  question  of  a  mere  inva- 
sion or  temporary  occupation  in  time  of  war. 
From  this  maxim  follow  two  consequences: 
1st,  to  take  part  in  insurrections,  or  assem- 
blages of  people,  addressing  themselves  to  the 
constituted  authorities  with  a  view  to  compel 
them  to  grant  what  they  consider  unjust,  is 
always  an  act  contrary  to  right  reason ;  always 
unlawful,  condemned  by  the  natural  law  and 
by  the  Gospel.  2dly,  individual  members  of 
society,  who  combine  together  and  take  up 
arms,  in  small  or  large  numbers,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  attacking  the  established  government 
by  physical  force,  are  always  guilty  of  rebel- 
lion, a  crime  strongly  opposed  to  the  spirit  of 
our  divine  religion." 

I  will  not  here  repeat  what  I  have  already 
said  on  the  unsoundness,  the  inconveniences, 
and  the  dangers  of  such  a  doctrine,  but  merely 
add,  that  with  respect  to  governments  only 
established  de  facto,  to  grant  them  the  right  of 
commanding  and  exacting  obedience  involves 
a  contradiction.  To  say  that  a  de  facto  go- 
vernment is  bound,  whilst  it  does  exist,  to  pro- 
tect justice,  to  avoid  crimes,  to  prevent  the 
dissolution  of  society,  is  merely  to  maintain 
truths  universally  admitted,  and  denied  by  no 
one ;  but  to  add,  that  it  is  unlawful,  and  con- 
trary to  our  holy  religion,  to  combine  together 
and  raise  forces  for  the  overthrow  of  a  de  facto 
government,  is  a  doctrine  which  Catholic  Elieo- 
logians  have  never  professed,  which  true  phi- 
losophy has  never  admitted,  and  which  no  na- 
tion has  ever  observed. 

NOTE  33,  p.  343. 

I  insert  here  certain  remarkable  passages  from 
St.  Thomas  and  Suarez,  in  which  these  authors 
explain  the  opinions  to  which  I  have  alluded 
in  the  text,  respecting  the  differences  which 
may  arise  between  governors  and  the  governed. 
I  refer  to  what  I  have  already  pointed  out  in 
another  place;  we  are  not  about  to  examine  so 
much  whether  such  or  such  doctrines  are  true, 
as  to  discover  what  were  the  doctrines  at  the 
time  we  are  speaking  of,  and  what  opinion 
the  most  distinguished  doctors  formed  on  the 
delicate  questions  of  which  we  are  treating. 

D.  THOMAS. 

(2.  2.  Q.  42.  art.  2°  ad  tertium.— Utrum  seditio  sit 
semper  pecatum  mortals  ?) 

3.  Arg.  Laudantur  qui  multitudinem  a  potes- 
tate  tyrannica  liberant,  sed  hoc  non  de  facili 
potest  fieri  sine  aliqua  dissensione  multitudinis, 
dum  una  pars  multitudinis  nititur  retinere 
tyrannum,  alia  vero  nititur  eum  abjicere,  ergo 
seditio  potest  fieri  sine  peccato. 

Ad  tertium  dicendum ;  quod  regimen  tyran- 
nicum  non  est  justum  quia  non  ordinatur  ad 
bonum  commune,  sed  ad  bonum  privatum 
regentis  ut  patet  per  Philosophum ;  et  ideo 
perturbatio  hujus  regiminis  non  habet  rationem 
seditionis,  nisi  forte  quando  sic  inordinate  per- 
turbatur  tyranni  regimen,  quod  multitudo  sub- 
jecta  majus  detrimentum  patitur  ex  pertur- 
batione  consequent!  quam  ex  tyranni  regimine  ; 
magis  autem  tyrannus  seditiosus  est,  qui  in 
populo  sibi  subjecto  discordias  et  seditiones 
nutrit,  ut  tutius  dominari  possit;  hoc  enim 
tyrannieum  est,  cum  sit  ordinatum  ad  bonum 


472 


NOTES. 


proprium  praesidentis  cum  multitudinis  nocu- 
mento. 

Cardinalis  Cayetanus  in  hunc  textum.  "  Quis 
sit  autem  modus  ordinatus  perturbandi  tyran- 
num  et  qualem  tyrannum,  puta  secundum  re- 
gimen tantum,  vel  secundum  regimen  et 
titulum,  non  est  praesentis  intentionis :  sat  est 
nunc,  quod  utrumque  tyrannum  licet  ordinate 
perturbare  absque  seditione  quandoque  ;  ilium 
ut  bone  reipublicaa  vacet,  istum  ut  expella- 
tur." 


De  Regimine  Principum.  (Cap.  x.) 

Quod  rex  et  princeps  studere  debet  ad  bonum  regi- 
men propter  bonum  sui  ipsius,  et  utile  quod  inde 
sequitur,  cujus  contrarium  sequitur  regimen 
tyrannicum. 

Tyrannorum  vero  dominium  diuturnum  esse 
non  potest,  cum  sit  multitudini  odiosum.  Non 
potest  enim  diu  conservari,quod  votis  multorum 
repugnat.  Vix  enim  a  quoquam  praesens  vita 
transigitur  quin  aliquas  adversitates  patiatur. 
Adversitatis  autem  tempore  occasio  deesse  non 
potest  contra  tyrannum  insurgendi ;  et  ubi 
adsit  occasio,  non  deerit  ex  multis  vel  unus  qui 
occasione  non  utatur.  Insurgentem  autem  po- 
pulus  votive  prosequitur :  nee  de  facili  carebit 
effectu,  quod  cum  favore  multitudinis  attenta- 
tur.  Vix  ergo  potest  contingere,  quod  tyranni 
dominium  protendatur  in  longum.  Hoc  etiam 
manifesto  patet,  si  quia  consideret  unde  tyranni 
dominium  conservatur.  Non  n.  conservatur 
amore,  cum  parva,  vel  nulla  sit  amicitia  sub- 
jectae  multitudinis  ad  tyrannum  ut  ex  praeha- 
bitis  patet :  de  subditorum  autem  fide  tyrannis 
confidendum  non  est.  Non  n.  invenitur  tanta 
virtus  in  inultis,  ut  fidelitatis  virtute  repriman- 
tur,  ne  indebitae  servitutis  jugum,  si  possint, 
excutiant.  Fortassis  autem  nee  fidelitati  con- 
trarium reputabitur  secundum  opinionem  mul- 
torum, si  tyrannicae  nequitiae  qualitercumque 
obvietur.  Restat  ergo  ut  solo  timore  tyranni 
regimen  sustentetur ;  unde  et  timeri  se  a 
subditis  tota  intentione  procurant.  Timor 
autem  est  debile  fundamentum.  Nam.  qui 
timore  subduntur,  si  occurrat  occasio  qua  pos- 
sint impunitatem  sperare,  contra  praesidentes 
insurgunt  eo  ardentius,  quo  magis  contra  vo- 
luntatem  ex  solo  timore  cohibebantur.  Sicut 
si  aqua  per  violentiam  includatur,  cum  aditum 
invenerit,  impetuosius  fluit.  Sed  nee  ipse  timer 
caret  periculo,  cum  ex  nimio  timore  plerique  in 
desperationem  inciderint.  Salutis  autem  des- 
peratio  audacter  ad  quaelibet  attentanda  prae- 
cipitat.  Non  potest  igitur  tyranni  dominium 
esse  diuturnum.  Hec  etiam  non  minus 
exemplis,  quam  rationibus  apparet. 

LIB.  I.  CAP.  VI. 

Conclusio  ;  quod  regimen  unius  simpliciter  sit  opti- 
mum ;  ostendit  qualiter  multitude  se  debet  habere 
circa  ipsum,  quia  auferenda  est  ei  occasio  ne  tyran- 
nizet,  ei  quod  etiam  in  hoc  est  tolerandus  propter 
inajus  malum  vitandum. 

Quia  ergo  unius  regimen  prae  eligendum  est, 
quod  est  optimum,  et  contingit  ipsum  in  tyran- 
uidem  converti,  quod  est  pessimum,  ut  ex  dictis 
patet,  laborandum  est  diligenti  studio,  ut  sic 
multitudini  provideatur  de  rege,  ut  non  incidat 
in  tyrannum.  Primum  autem  est  necessarium, 
ut  tails  conditionis  homo  ab  illis  ad  quos  hoc 


spectat  omcium,  promoveatur  in  regem,  quod 
non  ait  probabile  in  tyrannidem  declinare. 
Unde  Samuel  Dei  providentiani  erga  institu- 
tionem  regis  commendans,  ait,  1  Begum  xiii. : 
Quaesivit  sibi  Dominus,  virum  secundum  cor 
suum :  deinde  sic  disponenda  est  regni  guber- 
natio,  ut  regi  jam  instituto  tyrannidis  subtra- 
hatur  occasio.  Simul  etiam  sic  ejus  temperetur 
potestas,  ut  in  tyrannidem  de  facili  declinare 
non  possit.  Quae  quidem  ut  fiant,  insequenti- 
bus  considerandum  erit.  Demum  vero  curan- 
dum  est,  si  rex  in  tyrannidem  diverteret, 
qualiter  posset  occuri.  Et  quidem  si  non  fuerit 
excessus  tyrannidis,  utilius  est  remissam  tyran- 
nidem tolerare  ad  tempus,  quam  tyrannum 
agendo  multis  hnplicari  periculis,  quee  sunt 
graviora  ipsa  tyrannide.  Potest,  n.  contingere 
ut  qui  contra  tyrannum  agunt  praevalere  non 
possint,  et  sic  provocatus  tyrannus  magis  de- 
sseviat.  Quod  si  praevalere  quis  possit  adver- 
sus  tyrannum,  ex  hoc  ipso  pro veniuntmulto ties 
gravissiinae  dissensiones  in  populo,  sive  dum 
in  tyrannum  insurgitur,  sive  post  dejectionem 
tyranni  erga  ordinationem  regiminis  multitude 
separatur  in  partes.  Contingit  etiam  ut  inter- 
dum  dum  alicujus  auxilio  multitudo  expellit 
tyrannum,  ille  potestate  accepta  tyrannidem 
arripiat,  et  timens  pati  ab  alio  quod  ipse  in 
alium  fecit,  graviori  servitute  subditos  oppri- 
mat.  Sic  enim  in  tyrannide  solet  contingere, 
ut  posterior  gravior  fiat  quam  praecedens,  dum 
praecedentia  gravamina  non  deserit,  et  ipse  ex 
sui  cordis  malitia  nova  excogitat :  undo  Syra- 
cusis  quondam  Dyonisii  mortem  omnibus  desi- 
derantibus,  anus  quaedem  ut  incolumnis  et  sibi 
guperstes  esset,  continue  orabat :  quod  ut 
tyrannus  cognovit,  cur  hoc  faceret  intcrrogavit. 
Turn  ilia,  puella,  inquit,  existens  cum  gravein 
tyrannum  haberemus,  mortem  ejus  cupiebam, 
quo  interf^cto,  aliquantulum  durior  successit; 
ejus  quoque  dominationem  finiri  magnum  exis- 
timabain,  tertium  te  importuniorem  habere 
cospiinus  rectorem  ;  itaque  si  tu  f'ueris  absump- 
tus,  deterior  in  locum  tuum  succedet.  Et  si 
sit  intolerabilis  excessus  tyrannidis,  quibusdam 
visum  fuit,  utad  fortium  virorum  virtutem  per- 
tineat  tyrannum  interimere,  seque  pro  libera- 
tione  multitudinis  exponere  periculis  mortis : 
cujus  rei  exernplum  etiam  in  veteri  Testamento 
habetur.  Nam  Ajoth  quidam  Eglon  regem 
Moab,  qui  gravi  servitute  populum  Dei  preine- 
bat,  sica  infixa  in  ejus  femore  interemit,  et 
factus  est  populi  judex.  Sed  hoc  Apostolicae 
doctrinae  non  congruit.  Docet  n.  nos  Petrus, 
non  bonis  tantum  etmodestis,  verum  etiam  dis- 
colis  Dominis  reverenter  subditos  esse.  2  Petr. 
ii.  Hccc  est  enim  gratia,  si  propter  conscien- 
tiam  Dei  sustiueat  quis  tristitias  patiens  in- 
juste  :  unde  cum  multi  Roman!  Imperatores 
fidem  Christi  persequerentur  tyrannice,  inag- 
naque  multitude  tarn  nobilium,  quam  populi 
esset  ad  fidem  conversa,  non  resistendo,  sed 
mortem  patienter  et  armati  sustinentes  pro 
Christo  laudantur,  ut  in  sacra  Thebaeorum  le- 
gione  manifesto  apparet;  magisque  Ajoth  judi- 
candus  est  hostem  interemisse,  quam  populi 
rectorem,  licet  tyrannum ;  unde  et  in  veteri 
Testamento  leguntur  occisi  fuisse  hi  qui  occi- 
derunt  Joas  regem  Juda,  quamvis  a  cultu  Dei 
recedentem,  eorumque  filiis  reservatis  secun- 
dum legis  praeceptum.  Esset  autem  hoc  mul- 
titudini periculosum  et  ejus  rectoribus,  si 
privata  praesumptione  aliqui  attentarent  prsesi- 


NOTES. 


473 


dentium  necem  etiam  tyrannorum.  Plerumque 
enim  hujusmodi  periculis  magis  exponunt  se 
mali  quam  boni.  Malis  autem  solet  esse  grave 
dominium  non  minus  regum  quam  tyrannorum, 
quia  secundum  sententiam  Salomonis  :  Dissipat 
impios  rex  sapiens.  Magis  igitur  ex  hujus 
praesumptione  immineret  periculum  multitu- 
dini  de  amissione  regis,  quam  remedium  de 
subtractione  tyranni.  Videtur  autem  magis 
contra  tyrannorum  ssevitiam  non  privata  prae- 
sumptione aliquorum,  sed  auctoritate  publica 
procedendum,  Primo  quidem,  si  ad  jus  multi- 
tudinis  alicujus  pertineat  sibi  providere  de 
rege,'non  injuste  ab  eadem  rex  institutus  potest 
destitui,  vel  refraenari  ejus  potestas,  si  potes- 
tate  regia  tyrannice  abutatur.  Nee  putanda 
est  tails  multitude  infideliter  agere  tyrannum 
destituens,  etiamsi  eidem  in  perpetuo  se  ante 
subjecerat:  quia  hoc  ipse  meruit  in  multitudi- 
nis  regimine  se  non  fideliter  gerens,  ut  exigit 
regis  officium,  quod  ei  pactum  a  subditis  non 
reservetur.  Sic  Romani  Tarquinium  superbum 
quein  in  regem  susceperant,  propter  ejus  et 
filiorum  tyrannidem  a  regno  ejecerunt  substi- 
tuta  minori,  scilicet  consularia  potestate.  Sic 
etiam  Domitianus,  qui  modestissimis  Impera- 
toribus  Vespasiano  patri,  et  Tito  fratri  ejus 
successerat,  dum  tyrannidem  exercet,  a  senatu 
Romano  interemptus  est,  omnibus  quae  perverse 
Romanis  fecerat  per  Senatusconsultum  juste  et 
salubriter  in  irritum  revocatis.  Quo  factum 
est,  ut  beatus  Joannes  Evangelista  dilectus  Dei 
discipulus,  qui  per  ipsum  Domitianum  in  Path- 
mos  insulanv  fuerat  exilio  relegatus,  ad  Ephe- 
sum  per  Senatusconsultum  remitteretur.  Si 
vero  ad  jus  alicujus  superioris  pertineat  multi- 
tudini  providere  de  rege,  spectandum  est  ab  eo 
remedium  contra  tyranni  nequitiam.  Sic 
Archelai,  qui  in  Judaea  pro  Herode  patre  suo 
regnare  jam  coeperat,  paternam  malitiam  imi- 
tantis,  Judaais  contra  eum  querimoniam  ad 
Cesarem  Augustum  deferentibus,  primo  qui- 
dem potestas  diminuitur,  ablato  sibi  regio  no- 
mine, et  medietate  regni  sui  inter  duos  fratres 
suos  divisa:  deinde  cum  nee  sic  a  tyrannide 
compesceretur  a  Tiberio  Cesare  relegatus  est 
in  exilium  apud  Lugdunum  Galliae  civitatein. 
Quod  si  omnino  contra  tyrannum  auxilium  hu- 
manum  haberi  non  potest,  recurrendum  est  ad 
regem  omnium  Deum,  quid  est  adjutor  in  op- 
portunitatibus  in  tribulatione.  Ejus  enim  po- 
tentise  subest,  ut  cor  tyranni  crudele  convertat 
in  mansuetudinem,  secundum  Salomonis  sen- 
tentiam. Proverb,  xii.  Cor  regis  in  manu  Dei 
quocumque  voluerit  inclinavit  illud.  Ipse  enim 
regis  Assueri  crudelitatem,  qui  Judaeis  mortem 
parabat,  in  mansuetudinem  vertit.  Ipse  est  qui 
ita  Nabuchodonosor,  crudelem  regem  convertit, 
quod  factus  est  divinae  potentiae  praedicator. 
Nunc  igitur,  inquit,  ego  Nabuchodonosor  laudo, 
et  magnifico,  et  glorifico  regem  coeli,  quia  opera 
ejus  vera  et  viae  ejus  judicia,  et  gradientes  in 
superbia  potest  humiliare.  Dan.  iv.  Tyrannos 
vero  quos  reputat  conversione  indignos,  potest 
auferre  de  medio  vel  ad  infimum  statum  redu- 
cere,  secundum  illud  Sapientes  Eccles.  x.  Se- 
dem  ducum  superborum  destruxit  Deus,  et  se- 
dere  fecit  mites  pro  eis.  Ipse  enim  qui  videns 
aiflictionem  populi  sui  in  JEgyipto,  et  audiene 
eorum  clamorem  Pharaonem  tyrannum  dejecit 
eum  exercitu  suo  in  mare ;  ipse  est  qui  memo- 
ratum  Nabuchodonosor  prius  superbientem  non 
solum  ejectum  de  regni  solio,  sed  etiam  de  ho- 
60  2 


minum  consortio,  in  similitudinem  bestiae  com- 
mutavit.  Nee  enim  abreviata  manus  ejus  est, 
ut  populum  suum  a  tyrannis  liberare  non  possit. 
Promittit  enim  populo  suo  per  Isaiam,  requiem 
se  daturum  a  labore  et  confusione,  ac  servitute 
dura,  qua  ante  servierat,  et  per  Ezech.  xxxiv. 
dicit :  Liberabo  meum  gregem  de  ore  eorum 
pastorum,  qui  pascunt  seipsos.  Sed  ud  hoc 
beneficiuin  populus  a  Deo  consequi  mereatur, 
debet  a  peccatis  cessare,  quia  in  ultionem  pec- 
cati  divina  permissione  impii  accipiunt  princi- 
patum,  dicente  Domino  per  Osee  xiii. :  Dabo 
tibi  regem  in  furore  meo,  et  in  Job.  xxxiv.  di- 
citur,  quod  regnare  facit  hominem  hypocritam 
propter  peccata  populi.  Tollenda  est  igitur 
culpa,  ut  cesset  a  tyrannorum  plaga. 


(Disp.  13.  De  Bello.  sect.  8.— Utrum  seditio  sit 
intrinsece  mala?) 

Seditio  dicitur  bellum  commune  intra  eam- 
dem  Rempublicam,  quod  geri  potest,  vel  inter 
duas  partes  ejus,  vel  inter  Principem  et  Rem- 
publicam. Dico  primo  :  Seditio  inter  duas  par- 
tes Reipublicae  semper  est  mala  ex  parte  ag- 
gressoris :  ex  parte  vero  defendentis  se  justa 
est.  Hoc  secundum  per  se  est  notum.  Pri- 
mum  ostenditur :  quia  nulla  cernitur  ibi  legitima 
auctoritas  ad  indicendum  bellum ;  hsec  enim 
residet  in  supremo  Principe,  ut  vidimus  sect. 
2.  Dices,  interdum  poterit  Princeps  earn  aucto- 
ritatem  concedere,  si  magna  necessitas  publica 
urgeat.  At  tune  jam  non  censetur  aggredi 
pars  Reipublicaa,  sed  Princeps  ipse ;  sicque 
nulla  erit  seditio  de  qua  loquimur.  Sed,  quid 
si  ilia  Reipublicae  pars  sit  vere  offensa  ab  alia 
neque  possit  per  Principem  jus  suum  obtinere? 
Respondeo,  non  posse  plus  efficere,  quam  pos- 
sit persona  privata,  ut  ex  superioribus  constare 
facile  potest. 

Dico  secundo :  Bellum  Reipublicae  contra 
Principem,  etiamsi  aggressivum,  non  est  in- 
trinsece malum :  habere  tamen  debet  condi- 
tiones  justi  alias  belli,  ut  honestetur,  Con- 
clusio  solum  habet  locum,  quando  Princeps  est 
tyrannus ;  quod  duobus  modis  contingit,  ut 
Cajet.  not.  2.  2.  q.  64  articulo  primo  ad  tertium  : 
primo  si  tyrannus  sit  quoad  dominium,  et  po- 
testatem :  secundo  solum  quoad  regimen. 
Quando  priori  modo  accidit  tyrannus,  tota 
Respublica,  et  quodlibet  ejus  membrum  jus 
habet  contra  ilium  ;  unde  quilibet  potest  se  ac 
Rempublicam  a  tyrannide  vindicare.  Ratio 
i  est ;  quia  tyrannus  ille  aggressor  est,  et  inique 
bellum  movet  contra  Rempublicam,  et  singula 
membra;  unde  omnibus  competit  jus  defensio- 
nis.  Ita  Cajetanus  eo  loco,  sumique  potest  ex 
D.  Thorn,  in  secundo,  distinctione  44,  quaestione 
secunda,  articulo  secundo.  De  posteriori 
tyranno  idem  docuit  Joann.  Hus,  imo  de  omni 
iniquo  superiore;  quoddamnatum  est  in  Conci- 
lio  Constant.  Sessione  8  et  15.  Unde  certa  veri- 
tas  est,  contra  hujusmodi  tyrannum  nullam  pri- 
vatam  personam,  aut  potestatem  imperfectam 
posse  juste  movere  bellum  aggressivum,  atque 
illud  esset  propie  seditio.  Probatur,  quoniam 
ille,  ut  supponitur,  verus  est  Dominus  :  infe- 
riores  autem  jus  non  habent  indicendi  bellum, 
sed  defendendi  se  tantum ;  quod  non  habet  lo- 
cum in  hoc  tyranno :  namque  ille  non  semper 
singulis  facit  injuriam,  atque  si  invaderent,  id 
solum  possent  efficere,  quod  ad  suam  defen- 
p2 


474 


NOTES. 


sionem  sufficeret.  At  vero  tota  Respublica 
posset  bello  insurgere  contra  ejusmodi  tyran- 
num,  neque  tune  excitaretur  propia  seditio  (hoc 
siquidem  nomen  in  malam  partem  sumi  con- 
suevit).  Ratio  est :  quia  tune  tota  Respublica 
superior  est  Rege :  nam,  cum  ipsa  dederit  illi 
potestatem,  ea  conditione  dedisse  censetur,  ut 
politice,  non  tyrannice  regeret,  alias  ab  ipsa 
posset  deponi.  Est  tamen  observandum,  ut  ille 
vere,  et  manifesto  tyrannice  agat ;  concurrant- 
que  alias  conditiones  ad  honestatem  belli  posi- 
tas.  Lege  Divum  Thomum  1  de  regimine 
Principum,  cap.  6. 

Dico  tertio  :  Bellum  Reipublicae  contra  Re- 
gem  neutro  modo  tyrannum,  est  propiissime 
seditio,  et  intrinsece  malum.  Est  certa,  et  inde 
constat :  quia  deest  tune  et  causa  justa,  et  po- 
testas.  Ex  quo  etiam  e  contrario  constat,  bel- 
lum  Principis  contra  Rempublicam  sibi  subdi- 
tam,  ex  parte  potestatis  posse  esse  justum,  si 
adsint  alias  conditiones ;  si  vero  desint,  injus- 
tum  omnino  esse.* 

Listen  to  the  language  of  P.  Marquez  in 
Spain,  in  the  so-called  despotic  times  :  it  is  well 
known  that  his  work  intituled  El  Gobernador 
Crixtiano  was  not  one  of  those  obscure  books 
which  are  never  widely  circulated;  it  met 
with  such  success  that  it  went  through  several 
editions,  as  well  in  Spain  as  in  foreign  coun- 
tries. I  will  give  the  title  at  length,  and  I  will 
add,  at  the  same  time,  a  note  of  the  editions 
published  at  different  epochs,  in  different  coun- 
tries, in  different  languages, — a  note  which  is 
to  be  found  in  the  edition  of  Madrid  in  1773. 

"The  Christian  Magistrate  (El  Gobernador 
Crintfano),  according  to  the  Life  of  Moses,  the 
Ruler  of  the  People  of  God,  by  the  R.  P.  M. 
J.  R.  John  Marquez,  0.  S.  A.,  preacher  to  his 
Majesty  King  Philip  III.,  Examiner  of  the 
Holy  Office  of  the  Inquisition,  and  Evening 
Professor  of  Theology  at  the  University  of 
Salamanca.  New  and  sixth  edition,  with  per- 
mission. Madrid,  1773." 

"The  Christian  Magistrate,  composed  at  the 
request  and  in  honor  of  His  Excellency  the 
Duke  of  Feria,  first  published  at  Salamanca, 
in  the  year  1612;  a  second  edition  in  the  same 
town  in  1619;  a  third  edition  at  Alcalain  1634, 
and  a  fourth  at  Madrid  in  1640  •,  the  fifth  edi- 
tion was  published  out  of  Spain,  at  Brussels, 
in  1664.  This  is  the  masterpiece  among  works 
of  this  nature  which  have  been  written  among  us. 

"Father  Martin  of  St.  Bernard,  of  the  Order 
^)f  Citeaux,  translated  this  work  into  Italian, 
and  had  it  printed  at  Naples,  in  1646.  It  was 
also  translated  into  French  by  M.  de  Viripn, 
counsellor  to  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  and  it  was 
printed  at  Nancy  in  1621." 

BOOK  I.  CHAP.  8. 

"  We  have  now  to  answer  the  contrary  ob- 
jections. We  maintain  that  neither  the  di- 
vine nor  the  natural  law  has  given  to  states 
the  power  of  arresting  the  progress  of  tyranny 
by  means  so  violent  as  that  of  shedding  the 
blood  of  princes,  they  being  the  vicars  of  God, 
divinely  invested  with  the  right  of  life  and 
death  over  other  men.  But  so  far  as  resisting 
their  cruelty  is  concerned,  it  is  incontestable 

*  An  extract  from  Bellannine  de  Romano  Pout, 
in  here  omitted. 


that  it  may  and  ought  to  be  done.  They  are 
not  to  be  obeyed  in  any  thing  opposed  to  the 
law  of  God ;  we  must,  therefore,  escape  from 
their  wicked  commands,  and  prevent  their 
blows,  as  Jonathan  did  with  regard  to  Saul, 
his  father,  when  he  saw  him  take  his  spear  to 
smite  David,  and  when,  rising  from  the  table, 
he  went  in  search  of  the  latter,  and  warned 
him  of  his  danger.  It  is  also  sometimes  allow- 
able to  resist  princes  by  force  of  arms,  in  order 
to  prevent  them  from  executing  notoriously 
rash  and  cruel  determinations ;  for,  according 
to  the  words  of  St.  Thomas,  this  is  not  to  ex- 
cite sedition,  but  to  stop  and  prevent  it.  Ter- 
tullian  affirms  the  same  thing  when  he  says  : 
'Illis  nomen  factionis  accommodandum  est, 
qui  in  odium  bonorum  et  proborum  conspirant, 
cum  boni,  cum  pii  congregantur,  non  est  factio 
dicenda,  sed  curia.' 

"  This  is  the  reason  why  the  blessed  St.  Her- 
menegildus,  a  glorious  Spanish  martyr,  took 
up  arms  and  entered  the  field  against  King 
Leovigildus,  an  Arian,  to  resist  the  great  per- 
secution directed  by  this  prince  against  the 
Catholics.  This  fact  is  related  by  the  contem- 
porary historians.  True,  St.  Gregory  of  Tours 
condemns  this  act  of  our  king-martyr,  not  for 
having  resisted  his  sovereign,  but  because  the 
former  was  both  his  king  and  his  father :  and 
he  maintains  that  although  he  was  a  heretic, 
his  son  ought  not  to  have  resisted  him.  This 
reply,  however,  is  not  well  founded,  as  Baro- 
nius  observes.  Moreover,  the  authority  of  this 
Gregory  was  combated  by  another  Gregory, 
greater  than  he,  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  who, 
in  the  preface  to  his  book  of  Morales,  approves 
of  the  embassy  of  Leander,  sent  to  Constanti- 
nople by  St.  Hermenegildus,  to  solicit  the  aid 
of  Tiberius  against  Leovigildus,  his  father.  It 
is  indubitable  that  however  strong  may  be  the 
obligation  of  filial  piety,  that  of  religion  is 
still  stronger.  The  Blatter  obliges  us  to  sacri- 
fice every  thing  if  it  be  necessary  ;  and  it  is 
on  account  of  cases  of  this  nature,  that  it  is 
written  of  the  tribe  of  Levi :  '  Qui  dixerunt 
patri  suo  et  matri  suae,  necio  vos,  et  fratribus 
suis  ignore  vos,  nescierunt  filios  suos.'  Such 
was  the  conduct  of  the  Levites  when  they  took 
up  arms,  by  the  command  of  Moses,  to  punish 
their  relations  for  the  sin  of  idolatry. 

"If  the  prince  should  go  so  far  as  personally 
to  make  an  attempt  upon  the  life  of  the  subject 
who  has  no  other  means  of  defending  himself 
than  killing  him, — as  when  Nero,  parading  the 
streets  of  Rome,  followed  by  a  troop  of  armed 
men,  attacked  the  quiet  and  unsuspecting  citi- 
zens ;  I  say,  that  in  such  a  case  it  would  be  al- 
lowable to  kill  him ;  for  if  it  is  true,  as  Fr. 
Dominic  de  Soto  observes,  that  the  subject  in 
this  extremity  is  to  suffer  himself  to  be  killed, 
and  so  prefer  the  monarch's  life  to  his  own,  it 
is  solely  in  the  case  when  the  death  of  the 
monarch  would  give  rise  to  great  troubles  and 
civil  wars  in  the  state;  in  any  other  case  it 
would  be  monstrously  inhuman  to  force  men  to 
a  thing  so  insupportable.  But  when  the  sub- 
ject's property  is  merely  to  be  defended  against 
the  cupidity  of  the  monarch,  it  should  not  be 
allowable  to  lay  hands  on  him ;  for  it  is  a  pri- 
vilege granted  to  princes  by  divine  and  human 
laws,  that  their  blood  shall  not  be  spilt  for  any 
outrage  which,  committed  by  any  other  viola- 
tor of  private  property,  would  be  a  sufficient 


NOTES. 


475 


motive  for  taking  away  his  life.  The  reason 
of  this  is,  that  the  life  of  the  king  is  the  soul 
and  bond  of  the  state ;  that  it  is  of  more  im- 
portance than  the  property  of  individuals  ; 
that  it  is  better  to  tolerate  grievances  of  this 
nature,  than  to  destroy  the  head  of  the  state." 

NOTE  34,  p.  348. 

In  order  to  give  an  idea  of  the  means  em- 
ployed at  this  epoch  to  limit  the  power  of  the 
monarch,  by  forming  associations,  whether 
among  the  people  themselves,  or  between  the 
people,  the  grandees,  and  the  clergy,  I  insert 
here  the  letter,  or  Charter  of  Fraternity  (Her- 
tnandad ),  which  the  kingdoms  of  .Leon  and 
Galicia  made  with  Castile.  I  have  extracted 
this  piece  literally  from  the  collection  intituled 
Bullarium  ordinis  militice  santi  Jacobi  Glorio- 
sissimi  Hiapaniarum  patroni,  p.  223.  It  will 
prove  to  us  the  existence  already,  at  a  remote 
epoch  of  our  history,  of  a  lively  instinct  for 
liberty,  although  ideas  were  still  limited  to  a 
secondary  order. 

"  1.  In  the  name  of  God  and  of  the  blessed 
Virgin.  Amen. 

"Be  it  known  to  all  those  who  shall  read 
this  letter,  that  on  account  of  the  innumerable 
acts  of  injustice,  injuries,  deeds  of  violence, 
murders,  imprisonments,  insolent  refusals  of 
audience,  opprobriums,  and  other  outrages 
without  measure,  committed  against  us  by  the 
king  D.  Alphonso,  to  the  contempt  of  God,  of 
justice,  of  right,  and  to  the  great  detriment 
of  all  these  kingdoms;  we,  the  infantes,  the 
prelates,  the  rich  men,  the  councils,  the  orders, 
the  knights  of  the  kingdoms  of  Leon  and  Ga- 
licia, seeing  ourselves  overwhelmed  with  in- 
justice and  ill-treatment,  as  we  have  stated 
above,  and  finding  it  insupportable ;  our  lord 
the  infante  Don  Sancho  has  thought  good  and 
appointed  that  we  should  be  of  one  mind  and 
of  one  heart,  he  with  us  and  we  with  him,  to 
maintain  our  laws,  our  privileges,  and  our 
charters,  in  our  usages,  our  manners,  our  liber- 
ties, and  franchises,  which  we  enjoyed  under 
king  Don  Alphonso,  his  great-grandfather,  the 
conqueror  at  the  battle  of  Merida,  and  under 
king  Don  Ferdinand,  his  grand-father ;  under 
the  emperor  and  all  the  other  kings  of  Spain, 
their  predecessors;  and  under  the  king  Don 
Alphonso,  his  father, — all  princes  who  have 
best  merited  our  gratitude ;  and  our  said  lord 
the  infante  Don  Sancho  has  bound  us  to  this  ef- 
fect by  oath  and  promise,  as  it  is  certain  by  let- 
ters between  him  and  us.  Considering  that  it  is 
agreeable  to  the  service  of  God,  of  the  blessed 
Virgin,  of  the  court  of  Heaven,  to  the  defence 
and  honor  of  the  holy  Church,  of  the  infante 
Don  Sancho,  and  of  the  kings  who  shall  suc- 
ceed him,  in  fine,  to  the  advantage  of  the 
whole  country,  we  ordain  and  establish  frater- 
nity (hermandad),  now  and  for  ever,  we  the 
whole  of  the  kingdoms  above  named,  with  the 
councils  of  the  kingdom  of  Castile,  with  the 
infantes,  the  rich  men,  the  hidalgos,  the  prelates, 
the  orders,  the  knights,  and  all  others  who  are 
in  this  kingdom,  and  who  are  willing  to  be 
with  us,  as  it  has  just  been  said. 

''2.  Be  it  known  to  them,  that  we  will  insure 
to  our  lord  the  infante  Don  Sancho,  and  to  all 
other  kings  who  shall  succeed  him,  all  their 
rights,  all  their  suzerainty,  wholly  and  entirely,  , 


as  we  have  promised,  and  as  they  are  contain- 
ed in  the  privilege  which  he  has  given  us  to 
this  effect.  Justice  shall  continue  to  be  de- 
creed by  the  suzerainty.  The  Martiniega* 
shall  be  paid  in  the  place  and  in  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  customary  to  pay  it,  according 
to  right,  to  Don  Alphonso,  the  conqueror  at 
the  battle  of  Merida.  The  money  f  shall  be 
paid  at  the  end  of  seven  years  in  the  usual 
place  and  manner,  the  kings  not  enjoining  the 
coining  of  money.  The  repast  (yantar)  J  shall 
be  taken  in  the  place  in  which  it  was  usual  for 
the  kings  to  take  it,  according  to  the  fuero, 
once  a  year,  while  visiting  the  very  place,  as 
it  was  given  to  the  king  Don  Alphonso,  his 
great-grandfather,  and  to  the  king  Don  Ferdi- 
nand, his  grandfather.  The  fonsadera,  $  when 
the  king  is  with  the  army,  in  the  customary 
place,  according  to  the  fuero  and  right  in  the 
days  of  the  ahovenamed  kings,  guaranteeing 
to  each  the  privileges,  charters,  liberties,  and 
franchises  appertaining  to  us. 

"3.  Be  it  known  to  them  moreover,  that  we 
will  maintain  all  our  rights,  usages,  customs, 
privileges,  charters,  all  our  liberties  and  fran- 
chises, always  and  in  such  a  manner,  that  should 
the  king,  the  infante  Don  Sancho,  or  the  kings 
who  shall  succeed  them,  or  any  of  the  lords, 
alcades,  merinos,  or  any  other  persons,  attempt 
to  infringe  upon  them,  in  whole  or  in  part,  in 
any  way  or  at  any  time,  we  will  unite  into  one 
entire  whole,  and  inform  the  king,  the  infante 
Don  Sancho,  or  those  who  shall  succeed  them, 
of  the  nature  of  our  complaint,  and  ask  them 
if  they  are  willing  to  reform ;  and  if  not,  we 
will  unite  into  one  entire  body  to  defend  and 
protect  ourselves,  as  it  is  ordained  in  the 
charter  granted  us  by  the  infante  Don  Sancho. 

"  4.  Moreover,  be  it  known  to  them  that  no 
member  of  this  hermandad  shall  be  chastised, 
and  nothing  shall  be  taken  from  him  contrary 
to  right  and  the  custom  of  the  place,  in  the 
councils  of  the  said  hermandad/  and  it  shall 
not  be  allowable  to  take  from  him  more  than 
is  demanded  by  the  fuero,  in  the  place  in  which 
he  shall  be. 

"  5.  We  protest,  that  if  an  alcade,  a  merino, 
or  any  other  person,  on  the  authority  of  a  letter 
of  the  king,  of  the  infante  Don  Sancho,  by  his 
command,  or  that  of  the  kings  who  shall  suc- 
ceed him,  shall  kill  a  man  of  our  hermandad 
without  hearing  him  and  judging  him  accord- 
ing to  law,  that  we,  the  hermandad,  will  take 
away  his  life  for  such  an  act.  And  if  we  cannot 
arrest  him,  he  shall  be  declared  an  enemy  to 
the  hermandad  ;  every  member  of  the  herman- 
dad who  shall  have  concealed  him  shall  fall 
under  the  penalty  of  perjury  and  felony,  and 
shall  be  treated  in  his  turn  as  an  enemy  to  this 
hermandad. 

"6.  We  declare,  moreover,  that  the  port- 
duties  shall  be  paid  by  us  only  in  conformity 
to  the  rights  and  usages  of  the  times  of  Don 
Alphonso,  or  the  king  Don  Ferdinand,  and 
the  councils  of  the  hermandad  will  not  permit 
any  person  to  receive  them  beyond  this  mea- 
sure. 

*  Tribute  that  was  paid  on  St.  Martin's  day. 

f  Another  tribute. 

|  A  tribute  for  the  king's  repast  during  his  jour. 

"Y  Tribute  for  maintaining  the  ditches  of  the  caetleB 
in  Castile,  and  the  armiee. 


476 


NOTES. 


"  7.  Moreover,  no  infante  or  rich  man  shall 
be  a  merino  or,  grand  bailiff  in  the  kingdoms 
of  Leon  and  G-alicia.  Neither  can  these  func- 
tions be  exercised  by  an  infanc,on,  or  a  knight 
having  notoriously  a  great  number  of  knights 
or  other  men  of  the  country  in  vassalage; 
neither  can  they  be  exercised  by  a  stranger  to 
the  country.  And  we  so  will  it,  because  such 
was  the  custom  in  the  days  of  the  king  Don 
Alphonso  and  of  the  king  Don  Ferdinand. 

"  8.  All  those  who  may  wish  to  appeal  from 
the  judgment  of  the  king,  or  of  Don  Sancho, 
or  of  other  kings  who  shall  succeed  him,  may 
do  so ;  they  shall  have  recourse  to  the  book 
of  the  Fuero  Juzgo,  in  the  kingdom  of  Leon, 
as  was  usual  in  the  days  of  the  kings  who  pre- 
ceded this.  That  if  the  right  of  appeal  be 
refused  to  any  who  may  wish  to  invoke  it,  we, 
on  our  part,  will  act  according  to  the  injunc- 
tions contained  in  the  charters  granted  us  by 
Don  Sancho. 

"  9.  That  we  may  guarantee  and  execute  all 
the  acts  of  this  hermandad,  we  make  a  seal  of 
two  plates,  bearing  the  following  impressions : 
upon  one  of  the  plates,  the  figure  of  a  lion  ;  and 
upon  the  other,  the  figure  of  St.  James  on 
horseback,  with  a  sword  in  his  right  hand ;  in 
his  left,  a  standard  with  a  cross  at  the  top,  and 
shells.  The  inscription  shall  be  thus  expressed : 
'  The  Seal  of  the  Hermandad  of  the  Kingdoms 
of  Leon  and  Galicia.'  This  seal  shall  be  affixed 
to  the  documents  which  shall  be  required  by 
this  hermandad. 

"  10.  We  the  whole  hermandad  of  Castile, 
make  a  promise  and  render  homage  to  all  the 
hermandad  of  the  kingdoms  of  Leon  and  Gali- 
cia, that  we  will  assist  each  other  well  and 
loyally  to  keep  and  maintain  every  one  of  the 
above-named  things.  That  if  we  fail  to  do  so, 
we  are  traitors  for  this  alone,  like  him  who 
slays  his  lord  or  surrenders  a  castle ;  and  may 
we  never  in  that  case  have  either  hands,  or 
tongues,  or  arms  to  protect  ourselves. 

"  11.  But  lest  there  should  be  any  doubt 
about  the  pact,  we  are  now  making,  in  order 
that  this  pact  may  be  for  ever  inviolate,  we  seal 
this  letter  with  the  two  seals  of  the  hermandad 
of  Castile,  Leon,  -and  Galicia,  and  place  it  in 
the  hands  of  D.  Pedro  Nunez,  and  the  Order 
of  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  who  are  united 
with  us  in  this  hermandad.  Given  at  Valla- 
dolid,  the  8th  day  of  July,  in  the  year  one 
thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty." 

Spain  had  passed  through  many  centuries 
without  knowing  of  any  other  religion  than 
the  Catholic.  She  still  preserved  in  all  its 
force  and  vigor,  the  idea  that  the  king  should 
be  the  first  to  observe  the  laws ;  that  he  could 
not  rule  the  people  according  to  his  caprice; 
that  he  ought  to  govern  by  principles  of  jus- 
tice and  views  of  public  expediency.  Saavedra, 
in  his  Devises,  thus  expressed  himself: — 

"1st.  Laws  are  vain  when  the  prince  who 
promulgates  them  does  not  confirm  and  uphold 
them  by  his  own  life  and  example.  A  law  will 
appear  lenient  to  the  people  when  observed  by 
its  author. 

"  In  commune  jubes  si  quid,  censesve  tenendum, 
Primus  jussa  sibi,  tune  obscrvantior  aequi 
Fit  populus,  nee  ferre  retat,  cum  videri  ipsum 
Auctorem  parere  sibi. 

"  The  laws  promulgated  by  Servius  Tullius 
were  not  only  intended  for  the  people,  but  also 


for  kings.  The  disputes  between  the  monarch 
and  his  subjects  were  to  be  settled  in  conformity 
with  these  laws,  as  Tacitus  relates  of  Tiberius  : 
'Although  we  are  not  subject  to  the  laws,'  said 
the  emperors  Severus  and  Antonius,  'let  us  con- 
form our  lives  to  these  laws.'  The  monarch  is 
bound  by  the  law  not  merely  from  the  fact  of 
its  being  a  law,  but  from  the  very  reason  upon 
which  it  is  founded,  when  it  is  natural  and 
common  to  all,  and  not  particular  and  exclu- 
sively destined  -to  the  right  government  of  sub- 
jects ;  for  in  this  case  the  observance  of  the 
law  merely  concerns  the  subject,  although  the 
monarch,  if  it  should  so  happen,  is  bound  to 
obey  it,  in  order  to  render  it  tolerable  to  others. 
Such  appears  to  have  been  the  meaning  of  the 
mysterious  command  given  by  God  to  Ezechiel, 
to  eat  the  volume,  that  others  seeing  him  the 
first  to  taste  the  laws  and  declare  them  good, 
might  be  induced  to  imitate  him.  The  kings 
of  Spain  are  so  far  subject  to  the  laws,  that 
the  Treasury,  in  causes  relating  to  the  royal 
patrimony,  is  absolutely  subject  to  the  same 
laws  as  the  least  of  his  subjects ;  and  in  doubt- 
ful cases,  the  Treasury  is  condemned.  Philip 
II.  thus  ordained  it ;  and  on  an  occasion  in 
which  his  grandson  Philip  IV.,  the  glorious 
father  of  V.  A.,  was  personally  brought  to 
judgment  in  an  important  trial  of  the  Chamber, 
before  the  royal  council,  the  judges  had  the 
noble  determination  to  condemn  him,  and  his 
majesty  had  the  rectitude  to  hear  the  sentence 
without  expressing  any  indignation.  Happy 
empire,  in  which  the  cause  of  the  monarch  is 
always  the  least  favored !" 

NOTE  35,  p.  356. 

Sufficient  attention  has  not  perhaps  been  paid 
to  the  merit  of  the  industrial  organization  intro- 
duced into  Europe  from  the  earliest  ages,  and 
which  became  more  and  more  diffused  after  the 
twelfth  century.  I  allude  to  the  trades-unions, 
and  other  associations,  which,  established  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  Catholic  religion,  com- 
monly placed  themselves  under  the  patronage 
of  some  Saint,  and  had. pious  foundations  for 
the  celebration  of  their  feasts,  and  for  assist- 
ing each  other  in  their  necessities.  Our  cele- 
brated Capmany,  in  his  Historical  memoirs  on 
the  Marine,  Commerce,  and  the  Arts  of  the  an- 
cient City  of  Barcelona,  has  published  a  collec- 
tion of  documents,  very  valuable  for  the  history 
of  the  working  classes  and  of  the  development 
of  their  influence  on  politics.  Few  works  have 
appeared  in  foreign  countries,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  last  century,  of  such  great  merit  as  that 
of  our  fellow-countryman,  published  in  1779. 
One  very  interesting  chapter  of  this  work  is 
devoted  to  the  institution  of  trades-corpora- 
tions. I  give  here  a  copy  of  the  chapter,  which 
I  particularly  recommend  to  the  perusal  of 
those  persons  who  imagine  that  nothing  had 
been  thought  of  in  Europe  for  the  benefit  of  the 
laboring  classes,  of  those  who  are  so  foolish  as 
to  look  upon  that  as  a  means  of  slavery  and 
exclusivism,  which  was  in  reality  a  means  of 
>port.  It  also 


appears  to  me  that,  by  reading  the  philosophi- 
cal remarks  of  Capmany,  every  sensible  man 
will  be  convinced  that  Europe,  from  the  earliest 
ages,  has  possessed  systems  adapted  to  the  en- 
couragement of  industry,  to  the  preservation 


NOTES. 


477 


of  it  from  the  fatal  agitations  of  those  times, 
to  secure  esteem  for  it,  and  to  the  legitimate  j 
and  salutary  development  of  the  popular  ele- 
ment. It  will  be  no  less  useful  to  present  this 
sketch  to  certain  foreign  writers,  continually 
occupied  with  social  and  political  economy,  and 
who,  nevertheless,  in  compiling  the  history  of 
that  science,  have  not  even  been  acquainted 
with  a  work  so  important  for  every  thing  con- 
nected with  the  middle  ages  of  Europe,  from 
the  eleventh  to  the  eighteenth  century. 

"  Of  the  institution  of  the  Trades- Corporations 
and  other  Associations  of  Artisans  at  Barce- 
lona. 

"No  memoir  has  hitherto  been  discovered 
which  might  serve  to  enlighten  and  guide  us 
in  fixing  the  exact  epoch  of  the  institution  of 
the  trades-associations  at  Barcelona.*  But 
according  to  all  the  conjectures  furnished  by 
ancient  monuments,  it  is  very  probable  that 
the  political  erection  or  formation  of  the  bodies 
of  laborers  took  place  in  the  time  of  Don  Jaime 
L,  under  whose  glorious  reign  the  arts  were 
developed  under  a  favorable  influence ;  whilst 
commerce  and  navigation  took  a  higher  flight, 
owing  to  the  expeditions  of  the  Aragonese  arms 
beyond  the  seas.  Increased  facilities  in  the 
means  of  transport  have  given  an  impetus  to 
industry ;  and  an  increasing  population,  the 
natural  result  of  labor,  by  its  reaction  apon 
labor,  augmented  the  demand  for  it.  At  Bar- 
celona, as  every  where  else,  trades-corporations 
naturally  arose  when  the  wants  and  the  tastes 
of  society  had,  of  necessity,  grown  so  multi- 
farious, that  artisans  were  forced,  with  a  view 
to  secure  protection  to  their  industry,  to  form 
themselves  into  communities.  Luxury,  and 
the  tastes  of  society,  like  every  other  object 
of  commerce,  are  subject  to  continual  change; 
hence,  new  branches  of  trade  are  continually 
springing  up  and  displacing  other's ;  so  that  at 
one  period  each  separate  art  runs  into  various 
branches,  whilst  at  another,  several  arts  are 
combined  into  one.  At  Barcelona,  corporate 
industry  has  passed  through  all  these  vicissi- 
tudes in  the  course  of  five  centuries.  The 
hardware  trade  has  comprised  at  different  peri- 
ods eleven  or  twelve  branches,  and  consequently 
afforded  subsistence  to  as  many  classes  of  fa- 
milies, whilst  at  the  present  time  these  same 
branches  are  reduced  to  eight,  in  consequence 
of  certain  changes  in  fashions  and  customs. 

"  In  accordance  with  the  social  system  which 
generally  prevailed  at  that  time  in  most  Eu- 
ropean countries,  it  was  found  necessary  to 
bestow  liberty  and  privileges  upon  an  indus- 
trious and  mercantile  people,  who  thus  became 
a  great  source  of  strength  and  support  to  kings  ; 
and  this  could  not  be  effected  without  classify- 

*  "It  is  extremely  difficult  to  ascertain  the  origin 
of  the  trades-corporations,  even  in  those  towns  which 
have  been  the  longest  and  the  best  disciplined. — 
Sandi,  in  his  Civil  History  of  Venice  (t.  ii.  part  1,  lib. 
iv.  p.  767),  after  having  reckoned  sixty-one  trades- 
corporations  existing  in  that  capital  at  the  beginning 
of  his  century,  declares  that  it  is  impossible  to  assign 
to  each  of  these  corporations  the  date  of  its  origin, 
or  that  of  its  first  statutes.  This  historian  neverthe- 
less consulted  all  the  archives  of  the  republic;  he 
contents  himself  with  observing,  that  none  of  the 
corporations  are  anterior  to  the  fourteenth  century." 
(The  notes  which  accompany  this  chapter  are  those  of 
Capniany  himself.) 


ing  the  citizens.  But  these  lines  of  demarca- 
tion could  not  be  maintained  distinct  and  in- 
violate without  a  political  division  of  the  va- 
rious corporations  in  which  both  men  and  their 
occupations  were  classified.  This  division  was 
the  more  necessary  in  a  city  like  Barcelona, 
which,  ever  since  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  had  assumed  a  sort  of  democratic  in- 
dependence in  its  mode  of  government.  Thus, 
in  Italy,  the  first  country  in  the  West  that  re- 
established the  name  and  the  influence  of  the 
people,  after  these  had  been  effaced  in  the  iron 
ages  by  Gothic  rule,  the  industrial  classes  had 
already  been  formed  into  corporations,  which 
gave  stability  to  the  arts  and  trades,  and  con- 
ferred great  honors  upon  them  in  those  free 
cities,  where,  amidst  the  flux  and  reflux  of  in- 
vasions, the  artisan  became  a  senator,  and  the 
senator  an  artisan.  Wars  and  factions,  en- 
demic evils  in  that  delightful  country  at  the 
time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  could  not,  in 
spite  of  all  their  ravages,  effect  the  destruction 
of  the  associated  trades,  whose  political  exis- 
tence, when  once  their  members  were  admitted 
to  a  share  in  the  government,  formed  the  very 
basis  of  the  constitution  of  both  nations,  inas- 
much as  both  were  industrial  and  mercantile. 
At  Barcelona  the  trades  were  well  regulated, 
prosperous,  and  flourishing,  under  that  muni- 
cipal system,  and  that  consular  jurisprudence, 
of  which  commerce,  and  its  invariable  concom- 
itant, industry,  have  always  stood  in  need.  It 
was  thus  that  this  capital  became  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  centres  of  the  manufacturing 
industry  of  the  middle  ages — a  reputation 
which  it  has  maintained  and  increased  up  to 
the  present  time.  In  like  manner,  it  was  un- 
der the  name  and  rule  of  corporations  and  bro- 
therhoods that  trades  were  established  in  Flan- 
ders, in  France,  and  in  England,  countries  in 
which  the  arts  have  been  carried  to  their 
highest  degree  of  perfection  and  renown.  The 
trades-corporations  of  Barcelona,  even  when 
viewed  merely  as  a  necessary  institution  for 
the  due  regulation  of  the  primitive  form  of 
municipal  government,  should  be  regarded  as 
most  important,  whether  for  the  preservation 
of  the  arts,  or  as  forming  the  basis  of  the  in- 
fluence of  the  artisans  themselves.  It  is  at 
once  evident,  from  the  experience  of  five  cen- 
turies, that  trades-unions  have  effected  un- 
speakable good  in  Barcelona,  were  it  only  by 
preserving,  as  an  imperishable  deposite,  the 
love,  the  tradition,  and  the  memory  of  the  arts. 
They  have  formed  so  many  rallying  points,  so 
many  banners,  as  it  were,  under  which  more 
than  once  the  shattered  forces  of  industry  have 
found  refuge ;  and  have  thus  been  enabled  to  re- 
cover their  energy  and  activity,  and  to  perpe- 
tuate their  existence  to  our  own  days,  in  spite 
of  pestilence,  wars,  factions,  and  a  multitude 
of  other  calamities,  which  exhaust  men's  ener- 
gies, overthrow  their  habitations,  and  change 
their  manners.  If  Barcelona,  so  often  visited 
by  these  physical  and  political  plagues,  had 
possessed  no  community,  no  bond,  no  common 
interest  among  its  artisans,  it  would  certainly 
have  witnessed  the  destruction  of  their  skill, 
their  economy,  and  their  activity,  as  is  the 
case  with  beavers,  when  their  communities 
have  been  broken  up  and  dispersed  by  the 
hunters.* 
*  We  here  recognise  many  ideas  taken  from  a 


478 


NOTES. 


"  By  a  happy  effect  of  the  security  enjoyed 
by  families  in  their  different  trades,  and  thanks 
to  the  aid,  or  mont-de-piete,  established  in  the 
very  bosom  of  the  corporation  for  its  necessi- 
tous members,  who,  without  this  assistance, 
might  have  been  plunged  into  misery,  these 
economical  establishments  at  Barcelona  have 
directly  contributed  to  maintain  the  prosperity 
of  the  arts,  by  shutting  out  misery  from  the 
workshop,  and  preserving  the  operatives  from 
indigence.  Without  this  corporate  police,  by 
which  each  trade  is  surrounded,  the  property 
and  the  fortune  of  the  artisan  would  have  been 
exposed  to  the  greatest  risks;  moreover,  the 
credit  and  stability  of  the  trades  themselves 
would  have  been  perilled  ;  for  then  the  quack, 
the  unskilled  operative,  and  the  obscure  ad- 
venturer, might  have  imposed  upon  the  public 
with  impunity,  and  a  pernicious  latitude  might 
have  taken  the  place  of  liberty.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  trades-corporations  being  powerful 
associations,  each  one  by  itself  being  governed 
by  a  unanimity  of  intelligence  and  a  communi- 
ty of  interests,  could  purchase  their  stocks  of 
raw  materials  seasonably  and  advantageously. 
They  supplied  the  wants  of  the  masters ;  they 
made  advances,  or  stood  security,  for  those  of 
their  members  who  lacked  either  time  or  funds 
for  making  great  preliminary  disbursements 
of  capital  at  their  own  cost.  Besides,  these 
corporations,  comprehending  and  representing 
the  industry  of  the  nation,  and  consequently 
feeling  an  interest  in  its  maintenance,  address- 
ed from  time  to  time  memorial?  to  the  Muni- 
cipal Council,  or  to  the  Cortes,  relative  to  the 
injuries  they  were  sustaining,  or  the  approach 
of  which  they,  as  it  often  happened,  foresaw 
from  the  introduction  of  counterfeit  goods,  or 
of  foreign  productions,  which  is  a  cause  of  ruin 
to  our  industry.  In  fine,  without  the  institu- 
tion of  trades-corporations,  instruction  would 
have  been  void  of  order  and  fixed  rules ;  for 
where  there  are  no  masters  duly  authorized 
and  permanently  established,  neither  will 
there  be  any  disciples ;  and  all  regulations,  in 
default  of  an  executive  power  to  see  them  ob- 
served, will  be  disregarded  and  trodden  under 
foot.  Trades-corporations  are  so  necessary  to 
the  preservation  of  the  arts,  that  the  various 
trades  known  at  the  present  day  in  this  capital 
have  derived  their  appellations  and  their  origin 
from  the  economical  divisions,  and  from  the 
arts  established  by  these  corporations.  When 
the  blacksmith  in  his  shop  made  ploughshares, 
nails,  keys,  knives,  swords,  <fcc.,  the  names  of 
the  trades  of  the  blacksmith,  the  nailer,  the 
cutler,  the  armorer,  <fcc.  were  unknown;  and 
as  there  was  no  special  and  particular  instruc- 
tion in  each  of  these  branches  of  labor,  the 
separation  of  which  afterwards  formed  so  many 
new  arts  maintained  by  their  respective  com- 
munities, these  trades  were  unknown. 

"  The  second  political  advantage  resulting 
from  the  institution  of  trades-corporations  at 
Barcelona  was,  the  esteem  and  consideration 

work  which  saw  the  light  in  1774,  from  the  press  of 
Sancha,  under  the  title  of  Dicours  economique-poli- 
tiqw  pour  la  defensedu  travail  mecanique  des  ouvriers, 
par  D.  Ramon  Miguel  Palacio.  The  author  of  these 
memoirs,  fearing  to  be  accused  of  a  gross  plagiarism, 
observes  that,  being  obliged  here  to  treat  of  this  same 
matter,  he  was  forced  to  adopt  many  of  the  ideas  con- 
tained in  this  work,  which  at  that  time  he  thought  it 
proper  to  publish  without  affixing  his  real  name." 


in  which  at  all  times  these  establishments 
caused  both  the  artisans  and  the  arts  to  be 
held.  This  wise  institution  won  respect  for 
the  operative  classes,  by  constituting  them  a 
visible  and  permanent  order  in  the  state. 
Hence  it  is  that  the  conduct  and  the  mode  of 
life  of  the  Barcelonians  have  ever  been  such 
as  are  to  be  found  only  amongst  an  honorable 
people.  Never  having  been  confounded  with 
any  exempted  and  privileged  body  (for  the 
trades-corporations  draw  a  circle  around  their 
members,  and  let  them  know  what  they  are, 
and  what  they  are  worth),  these  people  learn- 
ed that  there  was  honor  and  virtue  within 
their  own  sphere,  and  labored  to  preserve 
these  qualities  ;  so  certain  is  it  that  social  dis- 
tinctions in  a  nation  have  more  influence  than 
is  sometimes  believed  in  upholding  the  spirit 
of  each  social  class. 

"  Another  view  of  this  question  shows  us 
that  trades-corporations  form  communities, 
governed  by  an  economic  code,  which  assigns 
to  each  corporation  certain  employments  and 
certain  honors,  to  which  every  individual 
member  may  aspire.  Even  men's  prejudices, 
when  wisely  directed,  sometimes  produce  ad- 
mirable effects.  Thus  the  government,  the 
administration  of  these  bodies,  in  which  the 
artisan  always  enjoyed  the  prerogative  of 
managing  the  resources  and  the  interests  of 
his  trade  and  of  his  fellow-members,  with  the 
title  of  Counsellor,  or  Elder  (Prohombre),  won 
for  the  mechanical  arts  of  Barcelona  public  and 
general  esteem ;  whilst  the  pre-eminence  in  a 
festival  or  an  assembly  serves  with  these  men 
to  soften  the  rigors  of  manual  labor,  and  the 
disadvantages  of  their  inferior  condition.  At 
the  same  time  that  the  trades  of  Barcelona, 
formed  into  well-organized  bodies,  fixed  and 
preserved  the  arts  in  that  capital,  they  had  the 
further  credit,  by  acting  as  political  bodies 
of  the  most  numerous  class  of  the  people,  of 
gaining  a  high  esteem  for  their  members.  The 
obscure  artisan,  without  matriculation,  or  a 
common  bond,  continues  isolated  and  wander- 
ing; he  dies,  and  with  him  perishes  his  art; 
or  at  the  first  reverse  of  fortune,  he  emigrates 
and  abandons  his  craft.  What  consideration 
can  wretched  wandering  followers  of  any  trade 
obtain  in  a  country  1  Just  such  as  knife-grin- 
ders and  tinkers  possess  in  the  provinces  of 
Spain.  At  Barcelona,  all  the  trades  have  con- 
stantly enjoyed  the  same  general  esteem,  be- 
cause all  have  been  established  and  governed 
upon  a  system  which  has  rendered  them  fixed, 
respectable,  and  prosperous. 

"The  esteem  in  which  the  trades  of  Barcelo- 
na were  held  from  the  time  when  the  munici- 
pal government  had  formed  them  into  national 
corporations,  the  agents  of  public  economy, 
gave  rise  to  the  laudable  and  useful  custom  of 
perpetuating  trades  in  the  same  families.  In 
fact  the  people  having  learned  that,  without 
quitting  the  class  to  which  they  belonged, 
they  could  preserve  the  respect  and  considera- 
tion due  to  useful  and  honorable  citizens,  no 
longer  desired  to  quit  it,  and  were  no  longer 
ashamed  of  their  condition.  When  trades  are 
held  in  honor,  which  is  the  consequence  of 
the  stability  and  civil  properties  of  corpora, 
tions,  they  naturally  become  hereditary.  Now, 
the  advantages  both  to  the  artisan  and  the 
arts,  resulting  from  this  transmission  of  trades, 


NOTES. 


479 


are  so  real  and  so  well  known,  that  it  is  need- 
less to  specify  them  here,  or  to  dwell  upon  their 
salutary  effects.  This  demarcation  and  clas- 
sification of  trades  caused  many  of  the  arts  to 
become  sure  possessions  for  those  who  adopted 
them.  Hence  fathers  aimed  at  transmitting 
their  trade  to  their  sons  ;  and  thus  was  formed 
an  indestructible  mass  of  national  industry, 
which  made  labor  honorable,  by  implanting 
steady  and  homogeneous  manners,  if  we  may 
so  speak,  in  the  bosom  of  the  class  of  artisans. 

"Another  circumstance  contributed  still 
more  to  render  the  exercise  of  the  mechanical 
arts  honorable  at  Barcelona,  not  only  more 
than  in  most  other  parts  of  Spain,  but  more 
than  in  any  other  state,  ancient  or  modern. 
This  was  the  admission  of  the  trades-cor- 
porations upon  the  register  of  municipal  offices 
in  this  city,  which  enjoyed  so  many  royal 
grants  and  extraordinary  privileges  of  inde- 
pendence. Thus  the  nobility — that  Gothic 
nobility — with  their  great  domains,  sought  to 
be  incorporated  with  the  operatives  in  the 
Ayuntamiento,  there  to  fill  the  offices  and  su- 
preme stations  in  the  political  government, 
which,  during  more  than  five  hundred  years, 
continued  in  Barcelona  under  a  form  and  in  a 
spirit  truly  democratic.*'  All  mechanical  offices, 
without  any  odious  distinction  or  exclusion, 
were  held  worthy  to  be  declared  qualified  for 
the  consistorial  council  of  magistrates  ;  all  had 
a  voice  and  a  vote  among  the  conscript  fathers 
who  represented  this  city,  the  most  highly 
privileged  perhaps  that  ever  existed;  one  of 
the  most  renowned  for  its  laws,  its'  power,  and 
its  influence ;  one  of  the  most  respected  in  the 
middle  ages  amongst  all  the  states  and  mon- 
archies of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa.f 

"  This  political  system,  and  this  municipal 
form  of  government,  resembled  that  which 
prevailed  in  the  middle  ages  amongst  all  the 
principal  towns  of  Italy,  whence  Catalonia 
borrowed  many  of  its  customs  and  usages. 
Genoa,  Pisa,  Milan,  Pavia,  Florence,  Sienna, 
and  other  towns,  had  a  municipal  government 
composed  of  the  leading  men  in  commerce, 
and  the  arts,  under  the  name  of  consuls,  coun- 
sellors, <fcc.  Priores  Artium — such  was  the 
name  of  a  popular  form  of  elective  govern- 
ment, distributed  among  the  different  classes 
of  citizens,  without  excluding  the  artisans, 
who,  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries, 
were  in  their  most  flourishing  condition,  form- 
ing the  most  respectable  part  of  the  population, 
and  consequently  the  richest,  the  most  power- 
ful, and  the  most  independent.  This  demo- 
cratic liberty,  besides  giving  stability  and 
permanency  to  industry  in  the  towns  of  Italy, 
conferred  a  singular  degree  of  honor  on  the 
mechanical  professions.  The  grand  council  of 
these  towns  was  summoned  by  the  tolling  of 
the  bell,  when  the  artisans  arranged  themselves 

*  "  Consult  the  Appendix  of  Notes,  Nos.  28  and  30. 
You  will  there  see  what  respect  and  power  the  town 
of  Barcelona  enjoyed  at  another  period,  by  means  of 
the  municipal  magistrates,  who  represented  it  under 
the  ordinary  name  of  councillors." 

f  "  In  the  diplomatic  collection  of  these  memoirs, 
we  find  a  multitude  of  letters  and  other  documents 
proving  the  direct  and  mutual  relations  which  exist- 
ed between  the  city  of  Barcelona  and  the  emperors 
of  the  East,  of  Germany,  the  sultans  of  Egypt,  the 
kings  of  Tunis,  of  Morocco,  and  various  monarchs 
and  states,  or  other  great  powers  of  Europe." 


under  the  banners  or  gonfalons  of  their  respec- 
tive trades.  Such  was  also  the  political  con- 
stitution of  Barcelona  from  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  to  the  commencement  of  the  pre- 
sent century.  With  these  facts  before  us,  need 
we  feel  surprise  that,  in  our  own  days,  arts 
and  artisans  in  Barcelona  still  retain  undimi- 
nished  esteem  and  consideration;  that  a  love 
for  mechanical  professions  has  become  here- 
ditary ;  that  the  dignity  and  self-respect  of  the 
artisan  class  have  become  traditional,  even  to 
the  last  generations,  in  which  the  customs  of 
their  ancestors  have  been  transmitted  by  the 
succession  of  example,  even  after  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  political  reasons  in  which  these 
customs  had  their  origin  ?  Several  trades-cor- 
porations still  preserve  in  the  halls  of  their 
juntas  the  portraits  of  those  of  their  members 
who  formerly  obtained  the  first  employments 
in  the  state.  Must  not  this  laudable  practice 
have  engraven  on  the  memory  of  the  members 
of  the  corporation  all  the  ideas  of  honor  and 
dignity  consistent  with  the  condition  of  an 
artisan  ?  Assuredly  the  popular  form  of  the 
ancient  government  of  Barcelona  could  not  fail 
to  imprint  itself  generally  and  forcibly  on  the 
manners  of  the  people  ;  indeed,  where  all  the 
citizens  were  equal  in  the  participation  of 
honors,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  no  one  would 
willingly  remain  inferior  to  another  in  virtue 
or  in  merit,  although  inferior,  in  other  respects, 
by  his  condition  and  fortune.  This  noble  .emu- 
lation, which  must  naturally  have  been  awak- 
ened to  activity  in  the  concourse  of  all  orders 
in  the  state,  gave  birth  to  the  dignity,  the  lofty 
and  inviolate  probity  of  the  artisans  of  Barce- 
lona ;  and  this  character  they  have  maintained 
to  our  own  times,  to  the  admiration  of  Spain 
and  of  foreign  nations.  Such  has  beeji  the 
negligence  of  our  natidnal  authors,  that  this 
narrative  will  have  the  appearance  of  a  disco- 
very:  up  to  the  present  time  Barcelona  and 
the  Principality  had  not  attracted  the  scruti- 
nizing notice  of  the  political  historian,  so  that 
a  dark  shadow  still  concealed  the  real  princi- 
ples (always  unknown  to  the  crowd)  from  which 
in  all  times,  have  sprung  the  virtues  and  the 
vices  of  nations. 

"  To  these  causes  may  be  attributed,  in  great 
part,  the  esteem  which  the  artisans  have  ac- 
quired. Nothing  could  be  more  salutary  than 
this  obligation  they  were  always  under  of  com- 
porting themselves  with  dignity  and  distinction 
in  public  employments,  whether  in  the  corpo- 
ration or  the  municipal  government.  Moreover 
the  constant  example  of  the  master  of  the 
house,  who,  up  to  the  present  time,  has  always 
lived  in  common  with  his  apprentices  in  a 
praiseworthy  manner,  has  confirmed  the  chil- 
dren in  ideas  of  order  and  dignity;  for  the 
manners  and  habits  of  a  people,  which  are  as 
powerful  as  law,  must  be  inculcated  from  the 
tenderest  age.  Thus,  in  Barcelona,  the  opera- 
tive has  never  been  confounded  by  the  sloven- 
liness of  his  dress  with  the  mendicant,  whose 
idle  and  dissipated  habits,  says  an  illustrious 
writer,  are  easily  contracted  when  the  dress  of 
the  man  of  respectability  is  in  no  way  distin- 
guished from  that  of  the  rabble.  Nor  are  the 
laboring  population  ever  seen  wearing  those 
cumbersome  garments  which,  serving  as  a 
cover  for  rags  and  a  cloak  for  idleness,  cramp 
the  movements  and  activity  of  the  body,  and 


480 


NOTES. 


invite  to  a  life  of  indolent  ease.  The  people 
have  not  contracted  a  habit  of  frequenting  ta- 
verns, where  example  leads  to  drunkenness 
and  moral  disorders.  Their  amusements,  so 
necessary  for  working  people  to  render  their 
daily  t^oils  supportable,  have  always  been  in- 
nocent recreations,  which  either  afforded  them 
repose  from  their  fatigues  or  varied  them.  The 
games  formerly  permitted  were  either  the  ring 
(la  bague),  nine  pins,  bowls,  ball,  shooting  at 
a  mark,  fencing,  and  public  dancing,  authoriz- 
ed and  watched  over  by  the  authorities ;  an 
amusement  which  from  time  immemorial  has 
been  general  amongst  the  Catalans,  in  certain 
seasons  and  on  certain  festivals  of  the  year. 

"  The  respect  for  the  artisan  of  Barcelona 
has  never  been  diminished  on  account  of  the 
material  on  which  his  art  was  exercised,  whe- 
ther it  was  silver,  steel,  iron,  copper,  wood,  or 
wool.  We  have  seen  that  all  the  trades  were, 
equally  eligible  to  the  municipal  offices  of  the 
state  ;  none  were  excluded — not  even  butchers. 
Ancient  Barcelona  did  not  commit  the  political 
error  of  establishing  preferences  that  might 
have  produced  some  odious  distinctions  of 
trades.  The  inhabitants  considered  that  all 
the  citizens  were  in  themselves  worthy  of 
esteem,  since  all  contributed  to  the  growth  and 
maintenance  of  the  property  of  a  capital  whose 
opulence  and  power  were  founded  upon  the 
industry  of  the  artisan  and  the  merchant.  In 
fact,  Barcelona  has  ever  been  free  from  that 
idea,  so  generally  entertained,  that  every  me- 
chanical profession  is  low  and  vulgar — a  mis- 
chievous and  very  common  prejudice,  which, 
in  the  provinces  of  Spain,  has  made  an  irre- 
parable breach  in  the  progress  of  the  arts. 
At  Barcelona,  admission  into  certain  trades- 
corporations  has  never  been  refused  to  the 
members  of  other  trades  :  in  this  city  all  the 
trades  are  held  in  the  same  estimation.  In  a 
word,  neither  Barcelona  nor  any  other  town  in 
Catalonia  has  ever  entertained  those  vulgar 
prejudices  that  are  enough  to  prevent  honor- 
able men  from  devoting  themselves  to  the  arts, 
or  to  cause  the  spn  to  forsake  the  art  practised 
by  the  father."* 

NOTE  36,  p.  361. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  numerous  Councils 
held  by  the  Church  at  different  epochs ;  why, 
it  will  be  asked,  does  she  not  hold  them  more 
frequently  now  ?  I  will  answer  this  question 
by  quoting  a  judicious  passage  from  Count  de 
Maistre,  in  his  work  On  the  Pope,  book  i.  chap. 
2:— 

"  In  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,"  says  he, 
"  it  was  more  easy  to  assemble  Councils,  be- 
cause the  Church  was  not  so  numerous  as  now, 
and  because  the  emperors  possessed  powers 
that  enabled  a  sufficient  number  of  Bishops  to 
assemble,  so  that  their  decisions  needed  only 
the  assent  of  other  Bishops.  Yet  these  Coun- 
cils were  not  assembled  without  much  difficulty 
and  embarrassment.  But  in  modern  times, 
since  the  civilized  world  has  been  divided  into 
so  many  sovereignties,  and  immeasurably  in- 
creased by  our  intrepid  navigators,  an  (Ecu- 
menical Council  has  become  a  chimera,  f  Sim- 

*  See  the  remarks  of  his  Excellency  M.  Campo- 
maues  on  these  abuses  and  false  principles  of  policy, 
in  his  Discourse  on  the  Popular  Education  of  Arti- 
sans, from  page  119  to  160. 

f  We  ordinarily  call   a  chimera,  or  an  impossibi- 


ply  to  convoke  all  the  Bishops,  and  to  bring 
legally  together  such  a  convocation,  five  or  six 
years  would  not  suffice." 

NOTE  37,  p.  369. 

That  my  readers  may  be  convinced  of  the 
truth  and  accuracy  of  what  I  here  affirm,  I 
invite  them  to  read  the  history  of  the  heresies 
that  have  afflicted  the  Church  since  th«  first 
ages,  but  particularly  from  the  tenth  century 
down  to  our  own  days. 

NOTE  38,  p.  373. 

It  was  not,  I  have  said,  without  prejudice  to 
the  liberty  of  the  people  that  the  influence  of 
the  clergy  was  withdrawn  from  the  working  of 
the  political  machine.  In  order  to  ascertain 
how  far  this  is  true,  it  may  be  well  to  remark, 
that  a  great  number  of  theologians  were  fa- 
vorable  to  tolerably  liberal  doctrines  in  politi- 
cal matters,  and  that  it  was  the  clergy  who  ex- 
ercised the  greatest  freedom  in  speaking  to 
kings,  even  after  the  people  had  almost  en- 
tirely lost  the  right  of  intervention  in  political 
affairs.  Observe  what  opinions  St.  Thomas 
held  on  forms  of  government. 

(Quest,  cv.  1»  2».) 

De  ratione  judicialium  prceceptorum  art.  1. 
Respondeo  dicendum,  quod  circa  bonam  ordi- 
nationem  principum  in  aliqua  civitate,  vel 
gente,  duo  sunt  attendenda,  quorum  unuin  est, 
ut  omnes  aliquam  partem  habeant  in  princi- 
patu ;  per  hoc  enim  conservatur  pax  populi  et 
omnes  talem  ordinationem  amant  et  custodiunt 
ut  dicitur  (II.  Polit.,  cap.  i.) ;  aliud  est  quod 
attenditur  secundum  speciem  regiminis  vel 
ordinationis  principatum,  cujus  cum  sint  divcr- 
S8B  species,  ut  philosophus  tradit  in  III.  Polit. 
cap.  v.,  praecipue  tainen  uuum  regimen  est,  in 
quo  unus  principatur  secundum  virtutein:  et 
aristocratia,  id  est  potestas  optimorum,  in  qua 
aliqui  pauci  principantur  secundum  virtutem. 
Unde  optima  ordinatio  principum  est  in  aliqua 
civitate  vel  regno,  in  quo  unus  prseficitur 
secundum  virtutem  qui  omnibus  praesit  et  sub 
ipso  sunt  aliqui  principantes  secundum  virtu- 
tem, et  tamen  talis  principatus  ad  omnes  per- 
tinet,  turn  quia  ex  omnibus  eligi  possunt,  turn 
quia  etiam  ab  omnibus  eliguntur.  Talis  vero 
est  omnis  politia  bene  commixta  ex  regno  in 
quantam  unus  praeest,  et  aristocratia  in  quan- 
tum multi  principantur  secundum  virtutein,  et 
ex  democratia,  id  est  potestate  populi  in  quan- 
tum ex  popularibus  possunt  eligi  principes,  et 
ad  populum  pertinet  electio  principum,  et  hoc 
fuit  institutum  secundum  legem  divinam. 
Divus  Thomas.  (1»  2»  Q.  90,  art.  4«.) 

Et  sic  ex  quatuor  praedictis  potest  colligi 
definitio  legis  quae  nihil  est  aliud  quam  quae- 
dam  rationis  ordinatio  ad  bonum  commune  ab 
eo  qui  curam  communitatis  habet  prornulgata. 
Q.  95,  art.  4. 

lity,  that  which  offers  great  difficulties.  On  this  oc- 
casion we  cannot  help  observing  to  sincere  persons, 
that,  from  these  great  difficulties,  they  may  judjo  of 
the  lawfulness  and  sincerity  of  the  desires  manifest- 
ed by  the  soi-disant  reforme'rs  and  appellants  to  Coun- 
cils. They  do  not  wish  for  Councils;  but,  under  the 
shadow  of  this  word,  they  wish  to  escape  the  autho- 
rity of  their  legitimate  superiors.  (Note  by  the  au- 
thors of  the  Mbliotheque  de  Religion,  published  in 
Spain.) 


NOTES. 


481 


Tertio  est  de  ratione  legis  humanae  ut  insti- 
tuatur  a  gubernante  communitatem  civitatis  : 
sicut  supra  dictum  est.  (Quest.  90,  art.  3.)  Et 
secundum  hoc  distinguuntur  leges  humanae 
secundum  diversa  regimina  civitatum,  quorum 
unum,  secundum  philosophum  in  III.  Polit., 
cap.  xi.,  est  regnum,  quando  scilicet  civitas  gu- 
bernatur  ab  uno,  et  secundum  hoc  accipiuntur 
constitutiones  principum ;  aliud  vero  regimen 
est  aristocratia,  id  est  principatus  optimorum 
vel  optimatum,  et  secundum  hoc  sumuntur  re- 
eponsa  prudentum  et  etiam  senatusconsulta. 
Aliud  regimen  est  oligarchia,  id  est  principatus 
paucorum  divitum  et  potentum;  et  secundum 
hoc  sumitur  jus  praetorium,  quod  etiam  honora- 
rium dicitur.  Aliud  autem  regimen  est  populi, 
quod  nominatur  democratia;  et  secundum  hoc 
sumuntur  plebiscita.  Aliud  autem  est  tyranni- 
cum,  quod  est  omnino  corruptum  unde  ex  hoc 
non  sumitur  aliqua  lex.  Est  etiam  et  aliquod 
"regimen  ex  istis  commixtum,  quod  est  opti- 
mum, et  secundum  hoc  sumitur  lex  quam 
majores  natu  simul  cum  plebibus  sanxerunt,  ut 
Isidorus  dicit  lib.  5,  Etym.  0.  cap.  x. 

If  certain  declaimers  are  to  be  believed,  it 
would  seem  that  the  principle,  that  it  is  the  law 
which  governs,  and  not  the  will  of  man,  is 
quite  a  recent  discovery.  But  observe  with 
what  solidity  and  perspicuity  the  angelic  doctor 
expounds  this  doctrine. 

(!•  2»  Q.  93,  art.  1.) 

Utrum  fuerit  utile  aliquas  leges  poni  ab  ho- 
minibus. 

Ad  2m  dicendum,  quod  sicut  Philosophus 
dicit.  1.  Bhetor.  Melius  est  omnia  ordinari 
lege,  quam  dimittere  judicum  arbitrio,  et  hoc 
propter  tria.  Primo  quidem,  quia  facilius  est 
invenire  paucos  sapientes,  qui  sufficiant  ad  rec- 
tas  leges  ponendas,  quam  multos ;  qui  require- 
rentur  ad  recte  judicandum  de  singulis.  Se- 
cundo,  quia  illi  qui  leges  ponunt,  ex  multo 
tempore  considerant  quid  lege  ferendum  sit : 
sed  judicia  de  singularibus  factis  fiunt  ex  casi- 
bus  subito  exortis.  Facilius  autem  ex  multis 
consideratis  potest  homo  videre  quid  rectum 
sit,  quam  solum  ex  aliquo  uno  facto.  Tertio, 
quia  legislatores  judicant  in  universali,  et  de 
futuris  :  sed  homines  judiciis  praesidentes  judi- 
cant de  praesentibus ;  ad  quae  afficientur  amore 
vel  odio,  aut  aliqua  cupiditate;  et  sic  eorum 
depravatur  judicium.  Quia  ergo  justitia  ani- 
mata  judicis  non  invenitur  in  multis,  et  quia 
flexibilis  est :  ideo  necessarium  fuit  in  quibus- 
cumque  est  possibile,  legem  determinare  quid 
judicandum  sit,  etpaucissima  arbitrio  hbminum 
committere. 

In  Spain,  the  Procuradores  of  the  Cortes 
dared  not  raise  their  voices  against  the  excesses 
of  power;  and  their  timidity  drew  down  the 
keen  reproaches  of  P.  Mariana.  In  the  exami- 
nation to  which  he  was  subjected  in  the  cele- 
brated suit  commenced  against  him  on  the 
subject  of  the  seven  treatises,  he  confesses 
having  applied  to  the  Procuradores  the  epithets 
of  vile,  superficial,  and  utterly  venal,  only 
striving  to  obtain  the  favor  of  the  prince,  and 
their  own  particular  interests,  without  solici- 
tude for  the  public  good.  He  added,  that  such 
was  the  public  cry,  the  general  complaint,  at 
least  at  Toledo,  where  he  was  residing. 

I  will  leave  unnoticed  his  work  intituled  De 
Rege  et  Regis  inatitutione,  of  which  I  have 
61  2 


spoken  elsewhere.  Confining  mysdf  to  his 
History  of  Spain,  I  will  observe  with  what 
liberty  he  expresses  himself  on  the  most  deli- 
cate points,  without  meeting  with  any  opposi- 
tion, either  from  the  civil  or  from  the  ecclesi- 
astical authority.  In  his  1st  book,  chap.  4, 
speaking  of  the  Aragonese,  in  his  usual  grave 
and  severe  tone,  he  says:  "The  Aragonese 
possess  and  enjoy  laws  and  fueros  very  differ- 
ent from  those  of  the  other  people  of  Spain; 
they  possess  every  thing  most  adapted  for  pre- 
serving liberty  against  the  excessive  power 
of  kings,  for  preventing  this  power  from  de- 
generating and  changing,  by  its  natural  ten- 
dency, into  tyranny ;  for  they  are  not  ignorant 
of  this  truth,  that  the  right  of  liberty  is  gene- 
rally lost  by  degrees." 

It  was  precisely  at  this  epoch  that  the  clergy 
expressed  themselves  with  the  greatest  freedom 
on  the  most  delicate  of  all  subjects,  that  of  con- 
tributions. The  venerable  Palafox,  in  his  me- 
morial or  petition  to  the  king  for  ecclesiastical 
immunity,  said :  "  According  to  St.  Augustine, 
to  the  great  Tostat,  and  other  weighty  authors, 
the  Son  of  God  appointed  that  the  children  of 
God — that  is  the  ministers  of  the  Church,  his 
priests — should  not  pay  tribute  to  the  pagan 
princes.  In  fact,  he  addressed  to  St.  Peter  the 
following  question,  already  resolved  by  the  eter- 
nal wisdom  of  the  Father:  lieges  gentium  a 
quibus  accipiunt  tributum,  ajiliis,  anabalienis  ? 
St.  Peter  answered,  Ab  alienis ;  and  our  Lord 
concluded  with  these  words :  Ergo  liberi  aunt 
filii.  I  may  be  allowed,  sire,  to  make  this 
delicate  observation,  that  the  Divine  Majesty 
does  not  say,  Reges  gentium  a  quibus  capiunt 
tributum,  but  a  quibus  accipiunt.  By  this  word 
accipiunt,  we  understand  the  mildness  and 
mansuetude  with  which  the  payment  of  a  tri- 
bute should  always  be  exacted,  in  order  to  di- 
minish the  bitterness  and  repugnance  accom- 
panying a  tribute. 

"  46.  It  is  doubtless  useful  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  state,  that,  in  the  first  place,  subjects 
should  give,  in  order  that  princes  may  then 
receive.  It  is  proper  that  kings  should  receive, 
and  employ  the  tribute  paid  them,  for  on  this 
depends  the  safety  of  crowns ;  but  it  is  well  that 
subjects  should  first  give  it  voluntarily.  It  is 
doubtless  from  this  passage  of  Scripture,  from 
this  expression  of  the  Eternal  Word,  that  the 
Catholic  Crown,  always  so  pious,  has  received 
the  holy  doctrine,  by  virtue  of  which  neither 
your  majesty  nor  your  illustrious  predecessors 
have  ever  permitted  a  tribute  to  be  levied 
without  its  having  first  received  the  consent  of 
the  kingdoms  themselves,  and  been  offered  by 
them;  and  your  majesty  is  incomparably  more 
exalted  by  limiting  and  moderating  your  power, 
than  by  exercising  it  to  its  utmost  extent. 

"47.  Sire,  if  laymen,  who  have  no  exemption 
in  matters  of  tribute,  enjoy  that  which  the 
kindness  of  your  majesty  and  of  the  most 
Catholic  kings  grant  them;  if  they  do  not  pay 
till  they  choose  to  make  a  voluntary  offering; 
if  nothing  is  received  from  them  except  on  this 
condition,  will  religion,  your  majesty's  re- 
nowned piety,  and  the  devoted  zeal  of  the 
Council,  allow  the  clergy — the  sons,  the  min- 
isters of  God,  the  privileged,  those  who  are 
exempt  by  divine  and  human  law  in  all  the 
nations  of  the  world,  and  among  the  very 
pagans — to  enjoy  less  favor  than  strangers, 
Q 


482 


NOTES. 


who  are  not,  like  them,  either  ministers  of  the 
Church  or  priests  of  God  ?  Is  the  word  capiunt, 
sire,  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  ministers 
of  God,  and  the  word  accipiunt  to  men  of  the 
world  ?" 

In  his  work  intituled  Hietoria  Real  Sagrada, 
the  same  writer  raises  his  voice  against  tyranny 
with  extreme  severity : 

"  12.  Such,"  says  he,  "is  the  law  which  the 
king  whom  you  wish  for  will  maintain  in  your 
regard.  The  word  law  is  here  employed  ironi- 
cally, as  if  God  should  say:  'You  imagine, 
without  doubt,  that  this  king  of  yours  would 
govern  according  to  law;  on  this  supposition 
you  asked  for  him,  since  you  complained  that 
my  tribunal  did  not  govern  you.  Now,  the 
law  which  this  king  will  exercise  towards  you 
will  be,  to  disregard  all  law ;  and  his  law  will 
eventually  be  tyranny  respected.'  The  politi- 
cian who,  relying  upon  this  passage,  should 
attribute  as  a  right  to  the  monarch  a  power 
which  is  merely  pointed  out  by  God  to  the 
people  as  a  chastisement,  would  be  an  uncivil- 
ized being,  unworthy  of  being  treated  as  a 
rational  creature.  The  Lord,  in  this  instance, 
does  not  define  what  is  the  best;  he  does  not 
say  what  he  is  giving  them ;  these  words  are 
no  appreciation  of  power ;  he  merely  declares 
what  would  be  the  case,  and  what  he  condemns. 
Who  shall  dare  to  found  the  origin  of  tyranny 
on  justice  itself?  God  says,  that  he  whom 
they  desire  for  a  king  will  be  a  tyrant — not  a 
tyrant  approved  of  by  him,  but  a  tyrant  that  he 
reprobates  and  chastises.  And  subsequent 
events  clearly  shewed  it,  since  there  were  in 
Israel  wicked  kings,  by  whom  the  prophecy 
was  fulfilled,  and  Saints  who  obtained  on  the 
throne  the  mercy  of  God.  The  wicked  kings 
literally  accomplished  the  divine  threat,  by 
doing  what  they  were  forbidden ;  the  good  ones 
established  their  dignity  upon  propriety  and 
justice  within  prescribed  limits." 

Father  Marquez,  in  his  Christian  Prince  or 
Magistrate  (Gobernador  Cristiano),  also  en- 
larges on  the  same  question ;  he  expounds  his 
opinion  both  theoretically  and  practically. 

(Chapter  xvi.  53.) 

"  Thus  far  we  have  heard  the  words  of  Philo, 
writing  on  this  event  As  these  words  afforded 
me  an  opportunity  of  reasoning  on  the  obliga- 
tions of  Christian  kings,  I  have  taken  care  to 
quote  them  at  length.  I  will  not  expect  these 
kings  to  act  like  Moses ;  for  they  have  not  the 
miraculous  aid  which  the  Hebrew  legislator  re- 
ceived for  the  relief  of  the  people,  nor  the  rod 
which  God  gave  him  to  make  water  flow  from 
the  rock  at  need.  But  I  will  recommend  them 
to  reflect  maturely  on  the  additional  services 
they  shall  attempt  to  exact  from  their  subjects, 
and  the  burdens  they  shall  impose  on  them. 
Let  them  reflect  that  they  are  bound  to  justify 
the  motive  of  their  request  in  all  truth,  and 
without  any  false  coloringj  always  and  con- 
stantly aware  that  they  are  in  the  presence  of 
God,  that  the  eyes  of  God  are  fixed  on  their 
hands,  that  He  will  require  from  them  a  strict 
account  of  their  actions.  For,  as  the  holy 
doctor  of  Nazianzen  says,  the  Son  of  God  came 
designedly  into  the  world  at  the  taking  of  a 
census  and  a  resettlement  of  the  imposts,  in 
order  to  confound  kings  who  would  have  ap- 
pointed them  through  caprice;  so  that  kings 


may  now  know  that  the  Son  of  God  takes 
account  of  every  item,  and  weighs  in  the  bal- 
ance of  his  strict  justice  things  which  we 
should  account  of  little  moment. 

"  The  above  reflection  will  serve  to  dispel  the 
false  ideas  of  certain  flatterers,  who,  to  obtain 
the  favor  of  princes,  persuade  them  that  they 
are  perfectly  independent  and  the  masters  of 
the  lives  and  property  of  their  subjects,  free  to 
dispose  of  them  as  they  may  think  proper.  In 
support  of  this  pretended  maxim,  they  allege, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  history  of  Samuel,  who 
answered  the  people  on  the  part  of  God,  when 
they  were  demanding  a  king,  'You  shall  have 
one,  but  on  terrible  conditions/  This  king  was 
to  take  from  them  their  fields,  their  vineyards, 
their  oliveyards,  to  .give  them  to  his  servants; 
he  was  to  take  their  daughters  for  slaves,  'to 
make  him  ointments,  and  to  be  his  cooks  and 
bakers.'  And  they  have  not  observed  that,  as 
John  Bodin  says,  this  is  the  interpretation  of 
Philip  Melancthon,  which  alone  is  sufficient  to 
render  it  suspicious.  Moreover,  as  St.  Gregory, 
and  after  him  other  doctors,  have  observed, 
this  passage  of  Scripture  does  not  establish  the 
just  right  of  kings,  bui  rather  announces  be- 
forehand the  tyranny  of  a  great  number  of 
princes ;  in  fine,  these  words  do  not  explain 
what  good  princes  might  do,  but  merely  what 
bad  ones  would  usually  do.  Hence,  when 
Achab  seized  upon  the  vineyard  of  Naboth, 
God  was  angry  with  him,  and  we  know  how 
He  treated  him.  When  David,  the  elect  of 
God,  demanded  a  spot  whereon  to  set  up  the 
altar  of  Jebusee,  he  only  asked  it  on  condition 
of  paying  the  value  of  the  land. 

"For  this  reason  princes  should  examine 
with  scrupulous  attention  whether  contribu- 
tions are  just;  for  if  they  are  not,  doctors 
decide  that  they  cannot,  without  manifest  in- 
justice, thus  more  or  less  infringe  on  the  rights 
of  their  subjects.  This  doctrine  is  so  Catholic 
and  certain,  that  men  holding  sound  doctrine 
affirm  that,  in  this  case,  princes  cannot  impose 
fresh  tributes,  even  though  necessary,  without 
the  consent  of  the  nation.  For,  gay  they,  the 
prince  not  being  (which  he  certainly  is  not) 
the  master  of  his  subjects'  property,  cannot 
make  use  of  it  without  the  consent  of  those 
from  whom  he  is  to  receive  it.  This  custom 
has  been  long  in  practice  in  the  kingdom  of 
Castile,  where  the  laws  of  royalty  prohibit  the 
levying  of  any  new  impost  without  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Cortes :  after  having  received 
the  sanction  of  the  Cortes,  the  impost  is  sub- 
mitted to  the  vote  of  the  towns;  and  the  prince 
does  not  consider  his  demand  granted  till  it 
has  received  the  sanction  of  the  majority  of  the 
towns.  Edward  I.  of  England  made  a  similar 
law,  according  to  many  authors  of  weight;  and 
Philip  of  Commines  says,  that  it  was  the  same 
in  France  till  the  time  of  Charles  VII.,  who, 
urged  by  an  extreme  necessity,  suppressed 
these  formalities,  and  levied  a  tax  without 
waiting  for  the  consent  of  the  States,  and  this 
inflicted  on  the  kingdom  so  deep  a  wound,  that 
it  will  long  continue  unhealed.  If  we  may 
credit  certain  affirmations,  this  author  reports, 
that  it  was  then  asserted  that  the  king  had 
escaped  from  the  guardianship  exercised  by  the 
kingdom;  but  that  his  own  opinion  is,  that 
kings  cannot,  without  the  consent  of  their  peo- 
ple, exact  a  single  farthing;  princes  acting 


NOTES. 


483 


otherwise,  says  he,  fall  under  the  Pope's  ex 
communication ;  no  doubt  that  of  the  bull  / 
Coena  Domini,  For  my  own  part,  I  ought  t 
confess  that  I  do  not  find  this  in  Philip  d 

Commines With    respect    to    thi 

second  point,  it  is  evident,  that  the  prince  can 
not,  on  his  own  authority,  impose  new  tribute 
without  the  consent  of  the  nation,  wheneve 
this  nation  shall  have  acquired  by  any  of  th 
reasons  mentioned  a  contrary  right,  which 
consider  to  be  the  case  in  Castile.  No  one,  i: 
fact,  will  deny  that  kingdoms  at  their  com 
mencement  have  a  right  to  choose  their  king 
on  this  condition,  or  render  them  such  service 
as  to  obtain  in  return  that  no  new  imposts  shal 
be-  laid  on  them  without  their  consent.  Now 
in  either  case,  there  will  be  a  compact  made 
from  which  kings  cannot  depart ;  and  it  is  of 
no  consequence,  as  some  imagine  it  4o  be 
whether  they  have  obtained  their  kingdom 
through  the  election  of  their  subjects,  or  bj 
mere  force  of  arms.  Although  it  is  probable 
indeed,  that  a  State  yielding  itself  of  its  own 
accord,  will  obtain  greater  privileges  and  better 
conditions  than  those  acquired  by  a  just  war 
it  would  not,  however,  be  impossible  for  a  State, 
in  choosing  a  king,  to  confer  upon  him  all  its 
power  in  an  absolute  manner,  and  without  this 
restriction,  with  a  view  to  lay  him  under  greater 
obligations,  and  to  testify  to  him  a  greater 
degree  of  devotedness ;  and,  on  the  other  hand 
a  king,  who  had  subjected  a  kingdom  by  force 
of  arms,  might  nevertheless  voluntarily  granl 
it  this  privilege,  with  a  view  to  obtain  its 
gratitude,  and  more  affectionate  obedience  on 
its  part.  The  positive  rule,  therefore,  for  this 
particular  right,  will  be  the  contract  made, 
whether  virtually  or  expressly,  between  the 
State  and  the  prince ;  a  contract  which  should  be 
inviolable,  especially  if  it  is  sealed  by  an  oath." 

The  Prince,  or  Christian  Magistrate. 
(Liv.  ii.  ch.  xxxix.  g  2.) 

"  Princes,  it  is  said,  may  compel  their  sub- 
jects to  sell  at  half-price,  or  to  give  gratui- 
tously, a  part  of  their  property.  This  opinion 
is  generally  founded  on  the  law  which  ordains 
that,  when  a  ship  in  a  tempest  has  been  saved 
by  throwing  overboard  a  part  of  the  cargo,  the 
proprietors  of  the  remaining  part  are  obliged  to 
make  a  proportionate  contribution  to  indemnify 
the  suiferers  for  the  loss  they  have  sustained. 
Bartholus  and  other  authors  have  inferred  from 
this,  that  in  a  time  of  necessity  and  famine  the 
monarch  may  require  his  subjects  to  give  gratui- 
tously, and  a  fortiori  to  sell  at  a  lower  price,  a 
portion  of  their  property  to  those  in  need.  The 
monarch,  say  they,  might,  without  any  doubt, 
render  property  common,  as  it  was  before  the 
establishment  of  social  rights ;  he  may  conse- 
quently take  it  from  one  of  his  subjects  and 
give  it  to  another. 

"  It  is  certainly  said  in  the  laws  of  the  kings 
of  Israel,  that  he  who  should  be  chosen  by  Clod 
might  seize  upon  the  vineyards  and  property 
of  his  subjects,  to  confer  them  on  his  own  ser- 
vants;  but  the  doctors  do  not  support  their 
arguments  on  this  text.  In  fact,  as  we  have 
said  in  chapter  16th,  book  i.,  the  question  does 
not  concern  the  rights  of  a  good  prince,  but  the 
tyrannical  acts  of  a  bad  one.  Now,  a  careful 
study  of  the  Scriptures  will  shew,  that  this 


passage  must  be  favourable  to  one  or  other  of 
the  two  opinions;  for,  if  it  were  intended  to 
establish  that  kings  would  possess  in  conscience 
the  authority  set  forth  in  this  passage,  they 
would  certainly  have  the  right  of  seizing  the 
property  of  one  of  their  subjects  to  give  it  to 
another.  If  this  passage  is  merely  meant  as  a 
declaration  of  the  injustices,  of  the  extortions, 
and  the  tyrannies  of  wicked  monarchs,  it  is  no 
less  certain  that  in  Scripture  the  deed  is  con- 
sidered unjust;  for  this  deed  is  alleged  as  an 
example  of  what  tyrants  would  do;  now  if  it 
had  been  permitted  to  a  good  king,  it  would  not 
have  been  quoted  as  an  example  of  tyranny,  as 
the  Scriptures  suppose  it. 

"  Thus,  this  text  alone,  even  were  there  no 
other  in  support  of  this  doctrine,  would  satisfy 
me,  that  kings  cannot  lawfully  compel  their 
subjects  to  relinquish  their  property  for  less 
than  its  value,  not  even  under  pretext  of  the 
public  good.  In  fact,  were  this  pretext  valid, 
it  would  not  have  been  difficult  for  the  kings 
of  Israel  to  find  an  excuse  for  their  tyranny  ; 
they  might  have  alleged,  that  it  was  important 
to  the  public  good  to  reward  servants  whose 
fidelity  was  so  advantageous  to  the  interests  of 
the  kingdom.  Further,  King  Achab  might 
have  urged,  that  the  amusements  of  the  prince 
formed  a  part  of  .the  public  good,  since  the 
people  are  so  much  interested  in  the  health  of 
the  prince ;  and  under  this  pretext  might  have 
deprived  Naboth  of  his  vineyard  in  order  to 
enlarge  his  gardens.  We  find,  however,  that 
this  pretext  did  not  justify  him  in  compelling 
Naboth  even  to  sell  his  vineyard;  the  king, 
although  grieved,  was  not  offended  by  this 
man's  refusal,  neither  was  it  his  intention  to 
seize  the  vineyard,  had  not  the  impious  Jezabel 
furnished  him  with  the  means  of  doing  so. 

"Reason  is  evidently  in  favour  of  this  opi- 
nion.    Kings  are  the  ministers  of  justice,  and 
lave  been  appointed  to  administer  and  uphold 
justice   among  the   people.     As   St.   Thomas 
.caches,  the  contract  in  buying  and  selling  is 
mly  just  in  proportion  as  the  price  is  equiva- 
ent  to  the  thing  purchased.     Public,  it  is  true, 
should  be  preferred  to  individual  interest;  in 
jase,  therefore,  that  a  State  is  in  danger  of 
dissolution,  the  monarch   might   demand   pro- 
perty at  a  less  price,  or  even  for  nothing,  just 
as  he  might  compel  the  citizen  to  expose  his 
ife,  which  is  of  still  greater  value,  in  defending 
he  common  cause  in  a  just  war.     This  case, 
lowever,  as  P.  Molina  observes,  is  impossible, 
ince   the   monarch  would  always  be  able  to 
ndernnify  the  individual  for  the  loss  he  sus- 
ained,  by  levying  for  this  purpose  a  general 
ax,  a  just  tribute,  and  one  that  the  State  would 
ie   bound   to   pay.     To  prove  this  still  more 
learly,  let  us  imagine  the  most  urgent  case 
)ossible ;  let  us  suppose  that  the  king  is  be- 
ieged  in  his  capital  by  a  tyrant;  the  tyrant 
s  about  to  enter  sword  and  torch  in  hand ;  he 
ffers  to  raise  the  siege  on  condition  of  receiv- 
ng  a  statue  of  gold  of  great  value,  formerly 
he  property  of  his  ancestors,  which  a  subject 
f  the  besieged  king,  the  commander-in-chief 
f  his  armies,  had  taken  in  the  plunder  of  a 
own,  and  made  the  inalienable  property  of  the 
Idest  son  of  his  family.     To  render  the  case 
till   more   pressing,  let  us  suppose   that  the 
tyrant  has  a  dearly-cherished  relation  in  the 
service  of  the  besieged  king,  and  that  he  will 


484 


NOTES. 


be  satisfied  if  a  rich  lord  of  the  kingdom 
possessing  a  great  number  of  estates,  be  de 
spoiled,  and  his  property  conferred  on  hi; 
relation.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that,  in  orde: 
to  purchase  the  lives  of  all,  this  arrangemen 
might  be  entered  into;  and  that  the  king 
would  be  justified  in  acceding  to  the  demand 
in  taking  the  statue,  or  even  the  whole  of  this 
property,  to  confer  it  on  the  tyrant's  relation 
But  no  one  will  assert  that  the  lord  should 
suffer  the  whole  loss.  The  State  would  be 
under  the  obligation  of  indemnifying  him  for 
the  loss,  by  taking  upon  itself  the  indemnifi- 
cation, the  lord  merely  contributing  his  quota 
for  this  reason,  that  it  would  be  opposed  to 
natural  justice  for  the  burdens  of  the  whole  body 
to  fall  upon  a  single  member,  which  would  be 
the  case  according  to  the  law  proposed  by  the 
opponents.  If,  in  a  case  of  shipwreck,  all  the 
cargo  were  thrown  overboard  to  save  the  ship 
and  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  all,  the  obligation 
being  common  to  all,  it  would  not  be  just  that 
it  should  fall  exclusively  upon  the  owners  ; 
because  the  cargo  could  best  be  thrown  over- 
board and  most  endangered  the  ship's  safety  : 
the  loss  should  be  borne  by  all,  even  by  those 
whohad  with  them  things  only  of  little  weight,  as 
jewels  or  diamonds,  for  instance ;  since  neither 
these  latter  proprietors  nor  the  vessel  herself 
could  be  saved  without  lightening  her  by 
throwing  overboard  the  heavier  portion  of  the 
cargo. 

"  The  law  decrees  also  that  the  owner  of  the 
vessel  shall  pay  his  quota.  Not  that  he  is  ob- 
liged to  indemnify  the  owners  of  the  merchan- 
dise lost,  because  he  sees  them  in  need;  it 
may  be  supposed,  indeed,  that  these  parties  are 
rich,  and,  although  their  present  loss  is  extreme, 
they  will  nevertheless  be  under  the  obligation 
of  returning  what  would  then  have  been  lent 
to  them ;  for,  as  the  doctors  decide,  there  is  no 
obligation  of  giving  to  the  rich  man  when  he 
suffers  a  heavy  loss,  when  a  loan  will  answer 
the  same  end.  But  it  is  said  that  the  obliga- 
tion of  the  master  of  a  ship  is  founded  on  the 
fact,  that  all  the  passengers  and  the  proprietors 
being  interested  in  saving  their  lives  and  their 
property,  the  risk  and  the  loss  of  what  was 
thrown  overboard  ought  to  fall  on  all,  and  not 
exclusively  on  the  owners  of  what  was  lost.  As 
a  proof  that  this  is  the  correct  interpretation,  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  notice  the  summary  of  the 
title,  and  the  very  words  of  the  law,  which  are : 
Eo  quod  id  tributum  servatce  mercedes  deberent. 
"  But,  except  in  this  case,  or  in  others  equally 
pressing,  if  the  ruin  of  the  State  would  not 
result  from  the  mere  fact  of  an  individual 
refusing  to  yield  up  his  house  to  the  prince, 
the  latter  could  not  compel  the  proprietor  to 
give  it  up  for  a  less  price  than  its  just  value, 
and  still  less  for  nothing ;  for  so  long  as  the 
persons  and  the  property  of  the  State  are  safe, 
it  is  of  no  importance  to  the  body  corporate 
whether  such  or  such  persons  are  rich  or  poor ; 
no  one,  in  fact,  in  the  general  community  pos- 
sesses a  fixed  degree  from  which  he  can  neither 
descend  nor  rise.  This  instability  observable 
among  the  members  of  the  same  State,  some 
losing  what  others  gain,  and  vice  versa,  is  in- 
separable from  the  state  of  society,  such  is  the 
instability  of  temporal  affairs;  and  the  public 
good,  generally  speaking,  neither  loses  nor 
gains  by  it" 


NOTE  39,  p.  382. 

Some  persons  imagine,  that  in  speaking  of 
the  loss  of  liberty  in  Spain,  the  question  may 
be  readily  reduced  to  one  point  of  view,  as  if 
the  kingdom  had  always  possessed  the  unity 
which  it  only  acquired  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and  only  then  in  an  incomplete  manner. 
A  perusal  of  history,  and  especially  of  the 
codes  of  the  different  provinces  of  which  the 
monarchy  was  composed,  will  convince  us  that 
the  central  power  has  been  created  and  fortified 
among  us  very  slowly;  and  that  at  the  time 
when  this  difficult  task  was  nearly  accomplished 
in  Castile,  much  still  remained  to  be  done  in 
Aragon  and  Catalonia.  Our  constitutions,  our 
customs,  our  manners,  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, evidently  prove  that  the  monarchy  of 
Philip  II.,  such  as  we  conceive  it,  strong  and 
irresistible,  was  not  yet  established  in  the 
crown  of  Aragon.  I  will  abstain  from  adducing 
here  documents  and  quoting  facts  with  which 
every  one  is  acquainted ;  the  dimensions  of 
this  volume  require  me  to  be  brief. 

NOTE  40,  p.  388. 

The  immortal  work  of  Count  de  Maistre,  in 
which  he  so  ably  refutes  the  calumnies  of  the 
enemies  of  the  Apostolic  See,  is  well  known. 
Among  so  many  and  such  profound  observa- 
tions, there  is  one  deserving  of  particular  atten- 
tion :  that  on  the  moderation  of  the  Popes  in 
every  thing  relating  to  the  extension  of  their 
dominions,  when  he  points  out  the  difference 
aetween  the  Roman  and  the  other  European 
Courts.  "It  is,"  says  he,  "a  very  remarkable 
circumstance,  but  either  disregarded  or  not 
sufficiently  attended  to,  that  the  Popes  have 
never  taken  advantage  of  the  great  power  in 
heir  possession  for  the  aggrandisement  of  their 
States.  What  could  have  been  more  natural, 
'or  instance,  or  more  tempting  to  human  na- 
,ure,  than  to  reserve  a  portion  of  the  provinces 
onquered  from  the  Saracens,  and  which  they 
rave  up  to  the  first  occupant,  to  repel  the 
Turkish  ascendency, Always  on  the  increase? 
Jut  this,  however,  they  never  did,  not  even 
with  regard  to  the  adjacent  countries,  as  in  the 
nstance  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  to  which  they  had 
neon  testable  rights,  at  least  according  to  the 
deas  then  prevailing,  and  over  which  they 
ere  nevertheless  contented  with  an  empty 
overeignty,  which  soon  ended  in  the  haquenee, 
slight  tribute,  and  merely  nominal,  which 
tie  bad  taste  of  the  age  still  disputes  with 
hem. 

The  Popes  may  have  made  too  much,  at  the 
ime,  of  this  universal  sovereignty,  which    an 
pinion  equally  universal  allowed  them.    They 
may  have  exacted  homage ;  may  indeed,  if  you 
will,  have  too  arbitrarily  imposed  taxes.     I  do 
ot  wish  to  enter  into  these  points  here,  but  it 
till    remains   certain   that    they   have   never 
ught  to  increase  their  dominions  at  the  cx- 
ense  of  justice,  whilst  all  other  governments 
ell  under  this  anathema ;  and,  at  the  present 
ime  even,  with  all  our  philosophy,  our  ci'vili- 
ation,  and  our  fine  books,  there  is  not  perhaps 
ne  of  the  European  powers  in  a  condition  to 
ustify  all  its  possessions  before  God  and  rea- 

"     (Du  Pape,  book  ii.  chap.  6.) 


NOTES. 


485 


NOTE  41,  p.  350. 

I  will  here  insert  some  passages  in  which  St. 
Anselm  explains  the  motives  that  induced  him 
to  write,  and  the  method  which  he  intended  to 
follow  in  his  writings. 

Prcefatio  beati  Anselmi  Episcopi  Gantuariensis 
in  Monologuium. 

Quidam  fratres  saepe  me  studioseque  precati 
sunt,  ut  quaedam  de  illis,  quae  de  meditanda  di- 
vinitatis  essentia,  et  quibusdam  aliis  hujus 
meditation!  cohaerentibus,  usitato  sermone  col- 
loquendo  protuleram,  sub  quodam  eis  medita- 
tionis  exemplo  describerem.  Cujus  scilicet 
scribendae  meditationis  magis  secundum  suam 
voluntatem  quam  secundum  rei  facilitatem  aut 
meam  possibilitatem  hanc  mihi  formam  prae- 
stituerunt :  quatenus  auctoritate  scriptures  peni- 
tus  nihil  in  ea  persuaderetur.  Sed  quidquid 
per  singulas  investigationes  finis  assereret,  id 
ita  esse  piano  stylo  et  vulgaribus  argumentis 
simplicique  disputatione,  et  rationis  necessitas 
breviter  cogeret,  et  veritatis  claritas  patenter 
ostenderet.  Voluerunt  etiam  ut  nee  simplicibus 
peneque  fatuisobjectionibus  mihi  occurrentibus 
obviare  contemnerem,  quod  quidem  diu  tentare 
recusavi,  a.tque  me  cum  re  ipsa  comparans, 
multis  me  rationibus  excusare  tentavi.  Quanto 
enim  id  quod  petebant,  usu  sibi  optabant  faci- 
lius :  tanto  mihi  illud  actu  injungebant  diffici- 
lius.  Tandem  tamen  victus,  turn  precum 
modesta  importunitate,  turn  studii  eorum  non 
contemnenda  honestate,  invitus  quidem  propter 
rei  difEcultatem,  et  ingenii  mei  imbecillitatem, 
quod  precabantur  incaepi,  sed  libenter  propter 
eorum  caritatem,  quantum  potui  secundum 
ipsorum  definitionem  effeci.  Ad  quod  cum  ea 
spe  sim  adductus,  ut  quidquid  facerem  illis 
solis  a  quibus  exigebatur,  esset  notum,  et  paulo 
post  idipsum  ut  vilem  rem  fastidientibus,  con- 
temptu  esset  obruendum,  scio  enim  me  in  eo 
non  tarn  precantibus  satisfacere  potuisse,  quam 
precibus  me  prosequentibus  finem  posuisse. 
Nescio  tamen  quomodo  sic  praeter  spem  evenit, 
ut  non  solum  praedicti  fratres  sed  et  plures  alii 
scripturam  ipsam,  quisque  earn  sibi  transcri- 
bendo  in  longum  memoriae  commendare  sata- 
gerent,  quam  ego  saape  tractans  nihil  potui 
invenire  me  in  ea  dixisse,  quod  non  catholi- 
corum  patrum,  et  maxime  beati  Augustini 
scriptis  cohaereat. 


Idem.    Quod  hoc  licet  inexplicdbile  sit,  tamen 
credendum  sit.  (Cap.  Ixn.) 

Videtur  mihi  hujus  tarn  sublimis  rei  secretum 
transcendere  omnem  intellectus  aciem  humani : 
et  idcirco  conatum  explicandi  qualiter  hoc  sit, 
continendum  puto.  Sufficere  namque  debere 
existimo  rem  incomprehensibilem  indaganti  si 
ad  hoc  rationando  pervenerit,  ut  earn  certissime 
esse  cognoscat,  etiamsi  penetrare  nequeat  intel- 
lectu  quomodo  ita  sit,  nee  idcirco  minus  his  ad- 
hibendam  fidei  certitudinem,  quae  probationibus 
necessariis  nulla  alia  repugnante  ratione  asse- 
runtur,  si  suae  naturalis  altitudinis  incompre- 
hensibilitate  explicari  non  patiantur.  Quid 
autem  tarn  incomprehensibile,  quam  id  quod 
supra  omnia  est?  Quapropter  si  ea  quae  de 
sua  essentia  hactenus  disputata  sunt  necessariis 


rationibus  sunt  asserta,  quamvis  sic  intellectu 
penetrari  non  possint  ut  quae  verbis  valeant 
explicari :  nullatenus  tamen  certitudinis  eorum 
nutat  soliditas.  Nam  si  superior  consideratio 
rationabiliter  comprehendit  incomprehensibile 
esse,  quomodo  eadem  summa  sapientia  sciat  ea 
quae  fecit  de  quibus  tarn  multa  non  scire  ne- 
cesse  est;  quis  explicet  quomodo  sciat  aut 
dicat  se  ipsam,  de  qua  aut  nihil,  aut  vix  aliquid 
homini  sciri  possibile  est? 

Incipit  prooemium  in  Prosologuion  librum 
Anselmi,  Abbatis  Beccensis,  et  Arehiepiscopi 
Cantuariensis. 

Postquam  opusculum  quoddam  velut  exem- 
plum  meditandi  de  ratione  fidei,  cogentibus 
me  precibus  quorumdam  fratrum  in  persona 
alicujus  tacite  secum  ratiocinando  quae  nesciat 
investigantis  edidi,  considerans  illud  esse  mul- 
torum  concathenatione  contextum  argurnen- 
torum,  coepi  mecum  quaerere :  si  forte  posset 
inyenire  unum  argumentum,  quod  nullo  alio  ad 
se  probandum,  quam  se  solo  indigeret,  et  solum 
ad  astruendum  quia  Deus  vere  est;  et  quia  est 
summum  bonum  nullo  alio  indigens,  et  quo 
omnia  indigent  ut  sint  et  bene  sint,  et  quaa- 
cumque  credimus  de  divina  substantia  sufii- 
ceret.  Ad  quod  cum  saepe  studioseque  cogita- 
tiones  converterem,  atque  aliquando  mihi 
videretur  jam  capi  posse  quod  quaarebam,  ali- 
quando mentis  aciem  omnino  fugeret :  tandem 
desperans  volui  cessare,  velut  ab  inquisitione 
rei  quam  inveniri  esset  impossibile.  Sed  cum 
illam  cogitationem,  ne  mentem  meam  frustra 
occupando  ab  aliis  in  quibus  proficere  possem 
impediret,  penitus  a  me  vellem  excludere,  tune 
magis  ac  magis/  nolenti  et  defendenti,  se  coepit 
cum  importunitate  quadam  ingerere.  Quadam 
igitur  die  cum  vehementer  ejus  importunitati 
resistendo  fatigarer,  in  ipso  cogitationum  con- 
flictu  sic  se  obtulit  quod  desperabam,  ut  stu- 
diose  cogitationem  amplecterer,  quam  sollicitus 
repellebam.  JEstimans  igitur  quod  me  gaude- 
bam  invenisse,  si  scriptum  esset  alicui,  legend 
placiturum.  De  hoc  ipso  et  quibusdam  aliis 
sub  persona  conantis  erigere  mentem  suam  ad 
contemplandum  Deum,  et  quaerentis  intelligere 
quod  credit,  subditum  scripsi  opusculum.  Et 
quoniamnec  istud  nee  illud  cujus  supra  memini, 
dignum  libri  nomine,  aut  cui  auctoris  praepone- 
retur  nomen  judicabam:  nee  tamen  sine  aliquo 
titulo,  quo  aliquem  in  cujus  manus  venirent, 
quodammodo  ad  se  legendum  invitarent,  dimit- 
tenda  putabam,  unicuique  dedi  titulum :  ut 
prius  exemplum  meditandi  de  ratione  fidei,  et 
sequens  fides  quaerens  intellectum  diceretur. 
Sed  cum  jam  a  pluribus  et  his  titulis  utrumque 
transumptum  esset,  coegerunt  me  plures  et 
maxime  reverendus  Archiepiscopus  Lugdun- 
ensis  Hugo  nomine,  fungens  in  Gallia  legatione 
apostolica,  proecepit  auctoritate,  ut  nomen 
meum  illis  prsescriberem.  Quod  ut  aptius  fieret 
illud  quidem  Monologuium,  id  est  Soliloquium, 
istud  vero  Prosologuion,  id  est  Alloquium 
nominavi. 

I  have  said  that  St.  Anselm  excelled  Des- 
cartes in  his  manner  of  proving  the  existence 
of  God :  let  the  reader,  indeed,  peruse  the  fol- 
lowing passages.  I  do  not,  however,  intend  to 
pronounce  an  opinion  on  the  merits  of  this 
demonstration;  my  business  is,  to  notice  the 
progress  of  the  human  mind,  and  not  to  resolv* 
philosophical  questions. 
Q2 


486 


NOTES. 


PKOSOLOGTJITTM  D.  ANSELMI. 

Quod  Deus  non  possit  cogitari  non  esse. 

Quod  utique  sic  vere  est,  ut  nee  cogitari 
possit  non  esse.  Nam  potest  cogitari  esse 
aliquid,  quod  non  possit  cogitari  non  esse,  quod 
majus  est  quam  quod  non  esse  cogitari  potest. 
Quare  si  id,  quo  majus  nequit  cogitari,  potest 
cogitari  non  esse  :  id  ipsuin,  quo  majus  cogitari 
nequit,  non  est  id  quo  majus  cogitari  nequit ; 
quod  convenire  non  potest.  Sic  ergo  vere  est 
aliquid,  quo  majus  cogitari  non  potest,  ut  nee 
cogitari  possit  non  esse.  Et  hoc  es  tu,  Domine 
Deus  noster.  Sic  ergo  vere  es,  Domine  Deus 
meus,  ut  nee  cogitari  possis  non  esse.  Et  me- 
rito.  Si  enim  aliqua  mens  posset  cogitare  ali- 
quid melius  te,  ascenderet  creatura  super  Crea- 
torem;  et  judicaret  de  Creatore,  quod  valde 
est  absurdum.  Et  quidem  quidquid  est  aliud 
praeter  solum  te,  potest  cogitari  non  esse. 
Solus  igitur  verissime  omnium,  et  ideo  maxime 
omnium  babes  esse,  quia  quidquid  aliud  est 
non  sic  vere  est,  et  idcirco  minus  habet  esse. 
Cur  itaque,  dixit  insipiens  in  corde  suo  non  est 
Deus?  Cum  causa  in  promptu  sit  rational! 
menti,  te  maxime  omnium  esse?  Cur,  nisi 
stultus  et  insipiens  ? 

Quomodo  insipiens  dixit  in  corde  suo  quod  cogi- 
tari non  potest.  (Cap.  iv.) 

Verum  quomodo  dixit  insipiens  in  corde  suo 
quod  cogitare  non  potuit,  aut  quomodo  cogitare 
non  potuit  quod  dixit  in  corde,  cum  idem  sit 
dicere  in  corde,  et  cogitare.  Quod  si  vere,  imo 
quia  vere,  et  cogitavit :  quia  dixit  in  corde  et 
non  dixit  in  corde,  quia  cogitare  non  potuit; 
non  uno  tantum  modo  dicitur  aliquid  in  corde 
vel  cogitatur.  Aliter  enim  cogitatur  res,  cum 
vox  earn  significans  cogitatur :  aliter  cum 
idipsum,  quod  res  est,  intelligitur.  Illo  itaque 
modo,  potest  cogitari  Deus  non  esse  :  isto  vero, 
minime.  Nullus  quippe  intelligens  id  quod 
Deus  est,  potest  cogitare  quia  Deus  non  est; 
licet  haec  verba  dicat  in  corde,  aut  sine  ulla, 
aut  cum  aliqua  extranea  significatione.  Deus 
enim,  est  id  quo  majus  cogitari  non  potest. 
Quod  qui  bene  intelligit,  utique  intelligit  id 
ipsuin  sic  esse,  ut  nee  cogitatione  queat  non 
esse.  Qui  ergo  intelligit  sic  esse  Deum,  nequit 
eum  non  esse  cogitare.  Gratias  tibi,  bone 
Domine,  gratias  tibi,  quia  quod  prius  credidi 
te  donante,  jam  sic  intelligo  te  illuminante; 
ut  si  te  esse  nolim  credere,  non  possim  non 
intelligere. 

Ejusdem  beati  Anselmi  liber  pro  insipiente 
incipit. 

Dubitanti,  utrum  sit;  vel  neganti  quod  sit 
aliqua  tails  hatura,  qua  nihil  majus  cogitari 
possit;  tamen  esse  illam,  huic  dicitur  primo 
probari ;  quod  ipse  negans  vel  ambigens  de 
ilia,  jam  habeat  earn  in  intellectu,  cum  audiens 
illam  dici,  id  quod  dicitur  intelligit :  deinde, 
quia  quod  intelligit  necesse  est,  ut  non  in  solo 
intellectu,  sed  etiam  in  re  sit.  Et  hoc  ita  pro- 
batur;  quia  majus  est  esse  in  intellectu  et  in 
re,  quam  in  solo  intellectu.  Et  si  illud  in  solo 
est  intellectu,  majus  illo  erit  quidquid  etiam 
fuorit  in  re,  at  si  majus  omnibus,  minus  erit 
aliquo,  et  non  erit  majus  omnibus  quod  utique 
repugnat.  Et  ideo  necesse  est  ut,  majus  omni- 
bus, quod  est  jam  probatum  esse  in  intellectu, 


et  in  re  sit;  quoniam  aliter  majus  omnibus  esse 
non  poterit.  Responderi  potest,  quod  hoc  jam 
esse  dicitur  in  intellectu  meo,  non  ob  aliud, 
nisi  quia  id  quod  dicitur  intelligo. 

The  passages  I  have  just  quoted  will  have 
shewn  to  my  readers  that  thought  was  not  op- 
pressed in  the  Catholic  Church.  The  most 
eminent  doctors  were  accustomed  to  reason  on 
the  most  important  subjects  with  a  just  and 
reasonable  independence ;  and  although  with 
profound  respect  for  the  teaching  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church,  they  nevertheless  surveyed,  as  well 
as  Abelard  and  better,  the  field  of  true  phi- 
losophy. We  cannot  expect  from  human  in- 
telligence at  this  epoch  more  than  is  to  be 
found  in  St.  Anselm.  How  is  it,  therefore, 
that  such  eulogiums  have  been  passed  upon 
Roscelin  and  Abelard,  without  ever  mentioning 
this  holy  doctor?  Why  present  a  picture  of 
the  intellectual  movement  so  incomplete,  and 
not  insert  in  it  so  noble  and  beautiful  a  figure? 

If  you  would  know  how  incorrect  it  is  that 
Abelard,  as  M.  Guizot  amrms,  abstained  from 
attacking  the  doctrines  of  the  Church — how  in- 
correct M.  Guizot  is  in  his  statement  of  the 
causes  which  excited  the  zeal  of  the  pastors  of 
the  Church  against  Abelard,  read  the  letter  of 
the  Bishops  of  Gaul  to  Pope  Innocent,  in  which 
you  will  find  a  complete  recital  of  the  origin 
and  cause  of  this  important  affair.  Here  is  the 
letter : 

EPISTOLA  CCCLXX. 

Reverendissimo  Patri  et  Domino,  INNOCBNTIO, 
Dei  gratia  summo  Pontifici,  Henrietta  Seno- 
nensium  Archiepiscopus,  Carnotensis  Episco- 
pus,  Sanctce  Sedis  Apostolicce  famulus,  Aure- 
lianensis,  Antissiodorensis,  Trecensis,  Melden- 
sis  Episcopi,  devotas  orationes  et  debitam 
obedientiam. 

Nulli  dubium  est  quod  ea  quae  Apostolica  fir- 
mantur  auctoritate,  rata  semper  existunt;  nee 
alicujus  possunt  deinceps  mutilari  cavillatione, 
vel  iuvidia  depravari.  Ea  propter  ad  vestram 
Apostolicam  Sedem,  Beatissime  Pater,  referre 
dignum  censuimus  quaedam  quae  nuper  in  nos- 
tra  contigit  tractari  praesentia.  Quae  quoniam 
et  nobis,  etmultis  religiosis  ac  sapientibus  viris 
ration abiliter  acta  visa  sunt,  vestrae  serenitatis 
expectant  cornprobari  judicio,  simul  et  auctori- 
tate perpetuo  roborari.  Itaque  cum  per  totam 
fere  Galliam  in  civitatibus,  vicis,  et  castellis,  a 
Scholaribus  non  solum  intra  Scholas,  sed  etiam 
triviatim  :  nee  a  litteratis,  aut  provectis  tantum, 
sed  a  pueris  et  simplicibus,  aut  certe  stultis,  de 
Sancta  Trinitate,  quae  Deus  est,  disputaretur : 
insuper  alia  multa  ab  eisdem,  absona  prorsus  et 
absurda,  et  plane  fidei  catholicse,  sanctorumque 
Patrum  auctoritatibus  obviantia  proferrentur ; 
cumque  ab  his  qui  sane  sentiebant,  et  eas  in- 
eptias  rejiciendas  esse  censebant,  saepius  admo- 
niti  corriperentur,  vehementius  convalescebant, 
et  auctoritate  magistri  sui  Petri  Abailardi,  et 
cujusdam  ipsius  libri,  cui  Theologice  indiderat 
nomen ;  nee  non  et  aliorum  ejusdem  opusculo- 
rum  freti  ad  astruendas  profanasadinventiones 
illas,  non  sine  multarum  animarum  dispendio, 
sese  magis  ac  magis  armabant.  Quse  enim  et 
nos,  et  alios  plures  non  parum  moverant  ac 
laeserant;  inde  tamen  quaestionem  facere  vere- 
bantur. 

Verum  Dominus  Abbas  Clarse-vallis,  his  a  di- 


NOTES. 


487 


versis  et  saepius  auditis,  immo  certe  in  prae- 
taxato  magistri  Petri  Theologice  libro,  nee  non 
et  aliis  ejusdemlibris,  in  quorum  foijte  lectionem 
inciderat,  diligenter  inspeeus;  secreto  prius; 
ac  deinde  secum  duobus  aut  tribus  adhibitis 
testibus,  juxta  Evangelicum  praeceptum,  homi- 
nem  convenit:  Et  ut  auditores  suos  a  talibus 
compesceret,  librosque  suos  eorrigeret,  amicabi- 
liter  satis  ac  familiariter  ilium  admonuit.  Plures 
etiam  Scholariurn  adhortatus  est,  ut  et  libros 
venenis  plenos  repudiarent  et  rejicerent:  et  a 
doctrina,  quae  fidem  lasdebat  Catholicam,  cave- 
rent  et  abstinerent.  Quod  magister  Petrus  mi- 
nus patienter  et  nimium  aegre  ferens,  crebro  nos 
pulsare  coepit,  nee  ante  voluit  desistere,  quoad 
Dorninuin  Clara-vellensem  Abbatem  super  hoc 
scribentes,  assignato  die,  scilicet  octavo  Pente- 
costes,  Senonis  ante  nostram  submonuimus  ve- 
nire praesentiam :  quo  se  vocabat  et  offerebat 
paratum  magister  Petrus  ad  probandas  et  defen- 
dendas  de  quibus  ilium  Dominus  Abbas  Clara- 
vallensis,  quomodo  praetaxatum  est,  reprehende- 
rat  sententias.  Caeterum  Dominus  Abbas,  nee 
ad  assignatum  diem  se  venturum,  nee  contra 
Petrum  sese  disceptaturum  nobis  remandavit. 
Sed  quia  magister  Petrus  interim  suos  nihilo- 
minus  coepit  undequaque  convocare  discipulos ; 
et  obsecrare,  ut  ad  futuram  inter  se,  Dominum- 
que  Abbatem  Clara-vallensem  disputationem, 
ana  cum  illo  suam  sententiam  simul  et  scienti- 
am  defensuri  venirent;  Et  hoc  Dominum  Clara- 
vallensem  minime  lateret;  veritus  ipse,  ne  prop- 
ter  occasionem  absentiae  suaa  tot  profanae,  non 
sententia9  sed  insaniae,  tam  apud  minus  intelli- 
gentes,  quam  earumdem  defensores  majore 
dignse  viderentur  auctoritate,  praedicto  quern  sibi 
designaveramus  die,  licet  eum  minime  suscep- 
isset,  tactus  zelo  pii  fervoris,  imo  certe  Sancti 
Spiritus  igne  succensus,  sese  nobis  ultro  Senonis 
praesentavit.  Ilia  vero  die,  scilicet  octava  Pente- 
costes,  convenerant  ad  nos  Senonis  Fratres  et 
Suffraganei  nostri  Episcopi,  ob  honorem  et  reve- 
rentiam  sanctarum,  quas  in  Ecclesia  nostra  po- 
pulo  revelaturos  nos  indixeramus,  Reliquiarum. 
Itaque  praesente  glorioso  Rege  Francorum 
Ludovico  cum  Wilhelmo  religioso  Nivernis  Co- 
mite,  Domino  quoque  Rhemensi  Archiepiscopo, 
cum  quibusdam  suis  suffraganeis  Episcopis  no- 
bis etiam,  et  suffraganeis  nostris,  exceptis  Pa- 
risiis  et  Nivernis,  Episcopis  prsesentibus,  cum 
multis  religiosis  Abbatibus  et  sapientibus,  val- 
deque  litteratis  clericis  adfuit  Dominus  Abbas 
^  Clara- vallensis ;  adfuit  magister  Petrus  cum 
™  fautoribus  suis.  Quid  niulta  ?  Dominus  Abbas 
cum  librum  Theologiae  magistri  Petri  proferret 
in  medium,  et  quas  annotaverat  absurda,  imo 
haeretica  plane  capitula  de  libro  eodern  propo- 
neret,  ut  ea  magister  Petrus  vel  a  se  scripta  ne- 
garet,  vel  si  sua  fateretur,  aut  probaret,  aut 
eorrigeret:  visus  est  dimdere  magister  Petrus 
Abailardus,  et  subterfugere,  respondere  noluit, 
sed  quamvis  libera  sibi  daretur  audientia,  tu- 
tumque  locum,  et  sequos  haberet  judices.  ad 
vestram  tamen,  sanctissime  Pater,  appellans 
pra3sentiam,  cum  suis  a  conventu  discessit. 

Nos  autem  licet  appellatio  ista,  minus  Ca- 
nonica  videretur,  Sedi  tamen  Apostolicae  defe- 
rentes,  in  personam  hominis  nullam  voluimus 
prof erre  sententiam  :  Caeterum  sententias  pravi 
dogmatis  ipsius,  quia  multo  infecerant,  et  sui 
contagione  adusque  cordium  intima  penetrave- 
rant,  saepe  in  audientia  publica  lectas  et  re- 
lectas,  et  tam  verissimis  rationibus,  quam  Beati 
Augustini,  aliorumque  Sanctorum  Patrum  in- 


ductis  a  Domiuo  ,31ara-vallensi  auctoritatibus, 
non  solum  falsas,  sed  et  haereticas  esse  evi- 
dentissime  comprobatas,  pridie  ante  factam  ad 
vos  appellationem  damnavimus.  Et  quia  multos 
in  errorem  perniciosissimum  et  plane  damna- 
bilem  pertrahunt,  eas  auctoritate  vestra,  di- 
lectissime  Domine,  perpetua  damnatione  notari ; 
et  omnes  qui  pervicaciter  et  contentiose  illas 
defenderint,  a  vobis,  aequissime  Pater,  juxta 
poena  mulctari  unanimiter  «t  multa  precum 
instantia  postulamus. 

Ssepe  dicto  vero  Petro,  si  Reverentia  vestra 
silentium  imponeret,  et  tam  legendi,  quam  scri- 
bendi  prorsus  interrumperet  faeultatem,  et  li- 
bros ejus  perverse  sine  dubio  dogmate  respersos 
condemnaret,  avulsis  spinis  et  tribulis  ab  Eccle- 
sia Dei,  prevaleret  adhuc  laeta  Christi  seges  suc- 
crescere,  flcrere,  fructificare.  Quaedam  autem 
de  condemnatis  a  nobis  capitulis  vobis,  Reve- 
rende  Pater,  conscripta  transmisiinus,  ut  per 
hasc  audita  reliqui  corpus  operis  facilius  aesti- 
metis. 

Observe  how  St  Bernard  explains  the  system 
and  errors  of  the  celebrated  Abelard.  In  chap- 
ter 1  of  the  treatise  which  he  wrote,  De  errori- 
bus  Petri  Abailardi,  he  says  : 

"  Habemus  in  Francia  novum  de  veteri  magis- 
tro  Theologum,  qui  ab  ineunte  aetate  sua  in 
arte  dialectica  lusit;  et  nunc  in  scripturis  sanctis 
insanit.  Olim  damnata  et  sopita  dogmata,  tam 
sua  videlicet  quam  aliena  suscitare  conatur,  in- 
super  et  nova  addit.  Qui  dum  omnium  quae 
sunt  coelo  sursum,  et  quse  in  terra  deorsum, 
nihil  praeter  solum  Nescio  nescire  dignatur; 
ponit  in  coelum  os  suum,  et  scrutatur  alta  Dei, 
rediensque  ad  nos  refert  verba  ineffabilia,  quae 
non  licet  homini  loqui.  Et  dum  paratus  est  de 
omnibus  reddere  rationem,  etiam  quae  sunt 
supra  rationem,  et  contra  rationem  praesumit, 
et  contra  fidem.  Quid  enim  magis  contra  ratio- 
nem, quam  ratione  rationem  conari  transcen- 
dere  ?  Et  quid  magis  contra  fidem;  quam  cre- 
dere nolle,  quidquid  non  possit  ratione  attin- 
gere  ?" 

In  chapter  4,  he  sums  up,  in  a  few  words, 
the  aberrations  of  the  dialectician  : 

"Sed  advertite  caetera.  Omitto  quod  dicit 
spiritum  timoris  Domini  non  fuisse  in  Domino : 
timorem  Domini  castum  in  future  seculo  non 
futurum:  post  consecrationem  panis  et  calicis 
priora  accidentiaquas  remanent  pendere  in  acre : 
daemonum  in  nobis  suggestiones  contactu  fieri 
lapidum  et  herbarum,  prout  illorum  sagax  ma- 
litia  novit;  harum  rerum  vires  diversas,  diver- 
sis  incitandis  et  incendendis  vitiis,  convenire : 
Spiritum  Sanctum  esse  animam  mundi :  mun- 
dum  juxta  Platonem  tanto  excellentius  animal 
esse,  quanto  meliorem  animam  habet  Spiritum 
Sanctum.  Ubi  dum  multum  sudat  quomodo 
Platonem  faciat  Christianum,  se  probat  ethni- 
cum.  Haec  inquam  omnia,  aliasque  istiusmodi 
nsenias  ejus  non  paucas  praetereo,  venio  ad 
graviora.  Non  quod  vel  ad  ipsa  cuncta  re- 
spondeam,  magnis  enim  opus  voluminibus  esset. 
Ilia  loquor  quae  tacere  non  possum. 

"Cum  de  Trinitate  loquitur,"  says  he  in  Ms 
letter  192,  "  papit  Arium,  cum  de  Gratia  sapit 
Pelagium,  cum  de  persona  Christi  sapit  Nes- 
torium." 

Pope  Innocent,  condemning  the  doctrines  of 
Abelard,  says  :  "  In  Petri  Abailardi  perniciosa 
doctrina,  et  praedictorum  hsereses,  et  alia  per- 
versa  dogmata  catholicae  fidei  obviautia  pullu- 
lare  coeperunt." 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  (a),  p.  289. 

Quod  necesse  est  homines  simul  viventes  ab 
aliquo  diligenter  regi. 

Et  siquidem  homini  conveniret  singulariter 
vivere,  sicut  multis  animalium,  nullo  alio  diri- 
gente  indigeret  ad  finem,  sed  ipse  sibi  unus- 
quisque  esset  rex  sub  Deo  summo  rege,  in 
quantum  per  lumen  rationis  divinitus  datum 
sibi,  in  suis  actibus  seipsum  dirigeret.  Natu- 
rale  autem  est  homini  ut  sit  animal  sociale,  et 
politicum,  in  multitudine  vivens,  magis  etiam 
quam  omnia  alia  animalia;  quod  quidem  natu- 
ralis  necessitas  declarat.  Aliis  enim  animalibus 
natura  prseparavit  cibum,  tegumenta  pilorum, 
defensionem,  ut  dentes,  cornua,  ungues,  vel 
saltern  velocitatem  ad  fugam.  Homo  autem 
institutus  est  nullo  horum  sibi  a  natura  praepa- 
rato,  sed  loco  omnium  data  est  ei  ratio,  per 
quam  sibi  haec  omnia  officio  manuum  posset  prae- 
parare,  ad  qua)  omnia  praeparanda  unus  homo 
non  sumcit.  Nam  unus  homo  per  se  sufficienter 
vitam  transigere  non  posset.  Est  igitur  homini 
naturale,  quod  in  societate  multorum  vivat. 
Amplius,  aliis  animalibus  insita  est  naturalis 
industria  ad  omnia  ea  quae  sunt  eis  utilia  vel 
noeiva,  sicut  ovis  naturaliter  extimet  lupum 
inimicum.  Quaedam  etiam  animalia  ex  natu- 
rali  industria  cognoscunt  aliquas  herbas  medi- 
cinales,  et  alia  eorum  vitae  necessaria.  Homo 
autem  horum,  quae  sunt  suae  vitae  necessaria, 
naturalem  cognitionem  habet  solum  in  com- 
muni,  quasi  eo  per  rationem  valente  ex  uni- 
versalibus  principiis  ad  cognitionem  singulo- 
rum,  quae  necessaria  sunt  humanae  vitae,  per- 
venire.  Non  est  autem  possibile,  quod  unus 
homo  ad  omnia  hujusmodi  per  suam  rationem 
pertingat.  Est  igitur  necessarium  homini,  quod 
in  multitudine  vivat,  et  unus  ab  alio  adjuvetur, 
et  diversi  diversis  inveniendis  per  rationem 
occuparentur,  puta,  unus  in  medicina,  alius  in 
hoc,  alius  in  alio.  Hoc  etiam  evidentissime 
declaratur  per  hoc,  quod  est  proprium  hominis 
locutione  uti,  per  quam  unus  homo  aliis  suum 
conceptum  totaliter  potest  exprimere.  Alia 
quidem  animalia  exprimunt  mutuo  passiones 
suas,  in  communi,  ut  canis  in  latratu  iram,  et 
alia  animalia  passiones  suas  diversis  modis. 
Magis  igitur  homo  est  communicativus  alteri, 
quam  quodcumque  aliud  animal,  quod  gregale 
videtur,  ut  grus,  formica,  et  apis.  Hoc  ergo 
considerans  Salomon  in  Ecclesiaste  ait :  "  Me- 
lius  est  esse  duos,  quam  unum.  Habent  enim 
emolumentum  mutuae  societatis."  Si  ergo  natu- 
rale est  homini  quod  in  societate  multorum 
vivat,  necesse  est  in  hominibus  esse,  per  quod 
multitudo  regatur.  Multis  enim  existentibus 
hominibus  et  uno  quoque  id  quod  est  sibi  con- 
gruum  providente,  multitudo  in  diversa  disper- 
geretur,  nisi  etiam  esset  aliquis  de  eo  quod  ad 
bonum  multitudinis  pertinet,  curam  habens, 
sicut  et  corpus  hominis,  et  cujuslibet  animalis 
deflueret,  nisi  esset  aliqua  vis  regitiva  commu- 
nis  in  corpore,  quae  ad  bonum  commune  om- 
nium membrorum  intenderet  Quod  considerans 
488 


Salomon  dicit :  "  Ubi  non  est  gubernator,  dissi- 
pabitur  populus."  Hoc  autem  rationabiliter 
accidit :  non  enim  idem  est  quod  propium,  et 
quod  commune.  Secundum  propria  quidem 
differunt,  secundum  autem  commune  uniuntur: 
diversorum  autem  diversae  suntcausae.  Oportet 
igitur  praeter  id  quod  movet  ad  propium  bonum 
uniuscujusque,  esse  aliquid,  quod  movet  ad 
bonum  commune  multorum.  Propter  quod  et 
in  omnibus  quae  in  unum  ordinantur,  aliquid 
invenitur  alterius  regitivum.  In  universitate 
enim  corporum,  per  primum  corpus,  scilicet 
celeste,  alia  corpora  ordine  quodam  divinae  pro- 
yidentiaj  reguntur,  omniaque  corpora,  per  crea- 
turam  rationalem.  In  uno  etiam  homine  anima 
regit  corpus,  atque  inter  animae  partes  irascibilis 
et  concupiscibilis  ratione  reguntur.  Itemque 
inter  membra  corporis  unum  est  principale, 
quod  omnia  movet,  ut  cor,  aut  caput.  Oportet 
igitur  esse  in  omni  multitudine  aliquod  regiti- 
vum. (D.  Th.,  Opusc.  de  Begimine  Principum, 
1.  i.  cap.  1.) 

NOTE  (ft),  p.  290. 

Ubi  considerandum  est,  quod  dominium,  vel 
praelatio  introducta  sunt  ex  jure  humano :  dis- 
tinctio autem  fidelium  et  infidelium  est  ex  jure 
divino.  Jus  autem  divinum  quod  est  ex  gratia, 
non  tollit  jus  humanum  quod  est  ex  naturali 
ratione ;  ideo  distinctio  fidelium  et  infidelium 
secundum  se  considerata,  non  tollit  dominium, 
et  praelationem  infidelium  supra  fideles.  (2.  2. 
quest.  10,  art  10.) 

NOTE  (c),  p.  290. 

Respondeo  dicendum  quod  sicut  supra  dictum 
est  (quest.  10,  art.  10),  infidelitas  secundum  se 
ipsam  non  repugnat  dominio,  eo  quod  domi- 
nium introductum  est  de  jure  gentium,  quod 
est  jus  humanum,  Distinctio  autem  fidelium 
et  infidelium  est  secundum  jus  divinum,  per 
quod  non  tollitur  jus  humanum.  (2.  2.  quest. 
12,  art,  2.) 

NOTE  (d),  p.  290. 

Respondeo  dicendum  quod  sicut  actiones 
rerum  naturalium  procedunt  ex  potentiis  natur- 
alibus:  ita  etiam  operationes  humanae  proce- 
dunt ex  humana  voluntate.  Oportuit  autem  in 
rebus  naturalibus,  ut  superiora  moverent  infe- 
riora  ad  suas  actiones  per  excellentiam  natu- 
ralis virtutis  collatae  divinitus.  Unde  et  oportet 
in  rebus  humanis,  quod  superiores  moveant  in- 
feriores  per  suam  voluntatem  ex  vi  auctoritatis 
divinitus  ordinatae.  Movere  autem  per  rationem 
et  voluntatem  est  praecipere ;  et  ideo  sicut  ex 
ipso  ordine  naturali  divinitus  instituto  inferiora 
in  rebus  naturalibus  necesse  habent  subjici 
motioni  superiorum,  ita  etiam  in  rebus  humanis 
ex  ordine  juris  naturalis  et  divini,  tenentur 
inferiores  suis  superioribus  obedire.  (2.  2. 
quest.  105,  art.  1.) 


APPENDIX. 


489 


NOTE  (e),  p.  291. 

Obedire  autem  superior!  debitum  eat  secun 
dum  divinum  ordinem  rebus  inditum  ut  qsten- 
sum  est.  (2.  2.  quest.  104,  art.  2.) 

NOTE  (/),  p.  291. 

Respondeo  dicendum  quod  fides  Christi  esl 
justitiae  principium,  et  causa,  secundum  illud 
Rom.  iii.  "  Justitia  Dei  per  fidem  Jesu  Christi;' 
et  ideo  per  fidem  Christi  non  tollitur  ordo  jus- 
titiae sed  magis  firmatur.  Ordo  autem  justitiae 
requirit,  ut  inferiores  suis  superioribus  obediant 
aliter  enim  non  posset  humanarum  rerum  status 
conservari.  Et  ideo  per  fidem  Christi  non  ex- 
cusantur  fideles,  quin  principibus  secularibus 
obedire  teneantur.  (2.  2.  quest.  105,  art.  6.) 

NOTE  (0),  p.  291. 

Certum  est  politicam  potestatem  a  Deo  esse  a 
quo  non  nisi  res  bonse  et  licitae  procedunt,  et 
quod  probat  Aug.  in  toto  fere  4  et  5  libr.  de 
Civit.  Dei.  Nam  sapientia  Dei  clamat,  Pro- 
verb, viii. :  Per  me  reges  regnant;  et  infra: 
Per  me  principes  imperant.  Et  Daniel  ii.  : 
Deus  coeli  regnum  et  imperium  dedit  tibi,  &c.  ; 
et  Daniel  iv. :  Cum  bestiis  ferisque  erit  habi- 
tatio  tua,  et  fenum,  ut  bos  comedes,  et  rore  coeli 
infunderis  :  septem  quoque  tempora  mutabuntur 
super  te,  donee  scias  quod  dominetur  Excelsus 
super  regnum  hominum,  et  cuicumque  voluerit, 
det  illud.  (Bell,  de  Laicis,  1.  iii.  c.  6.) 

NOTE  (A),  p.  291. 

Sed  hie  observanda  sunt  aliqua.  Primo  poli- 
ticam potestatem  in  universum  consideratam, 
non  descen^lendo  in  particulari  ad  monarchiam, 
aristocratiam,  vel  dcmocratiam  immediate  esse 
a  solo  Deo ;  nam  consequitur  necessario  natu- 
ram  hominis,  proinde  esse  ab  illo,  qui  fecit 
naturam  hominis;  praeterea  haec  potestas  est 
de  jure  naturae,  non  enim  pendet  ex  consensu 
hominum,  nam  velint,  nolint,  debent  regi  ab 
aliquo,  nisi  velint  perire  humanum  genus,  quod 
est  contra  naturae  inclinationem.  At  jus  naturae 
est  jus  divinum,  jure  igitur  divino  introducta 
est  gubernatio,  et  hoc  videtur  proprie  velle 
Apostolus,  cum  dicit  Rom.  xiii :  Qui  potestati 
resistit,  Dei  ordinationi  resistit.  (Ib.) 

NOTE  (»),  p.  292. 

Secundo  nota,  hanc  potestatem  immediate 
esse  tanquam  in  subjecto,  in  tota  multitudine, 
nam  haec  potestas  est  de  jure  divino.  At  jus 
divinum  nulli  homini  particulari  dedit  hanc 
potestatem,  ergo  dedit  multitudini;  praBterea 
sublato  jure  positive,  non  est  major  ratio  cur 
ex  multis  aequalibus  unus  potius,  quam  alius 
dominetur :  igitur  potestas  totius  est  multitu- 
dinis.  Denique  humana  societas  debet  esse 
perfecta  respublica,  ergo  debet  habere  potesta- 
tem se  ipsam  conservandi,  et  proinde  puniendi 
perturbatores  pacis,  <fcc.  (Ib.) 

.    NOTE  (&),  p.  293. 

Tertio  nota,  hanc  potestatem  transferri  a  mul- 
titudine in  unuin  vel  plures  eodem  jure  naturae : 
62 


nam  Respub.  non  potest  per  seipsam  exercere 
hanc  potestatem,  ergo  tenetur  earn  transferre  in 
aliquem  unum  vel  aliquos  paucos;  et  hocmodo 
potestas  principum  in  genere  considerata,  est 
etiam  de  jure  naturae,  et  divino;  nee  posset 
genus  humanum,  etiamsi  totum  simul  conveni- 
ret,  contrarium  statuere,  nimirum,  ut  nulli  essent 
principes  vel  rectores.  (Ib.) 

NOTE  (1),  p.  293. 

Quarto  nota,  in  particulari  singulas  species 
regiminis  esse  de  jure  gentium,  non  de  jure 
naturae ;  nam  pendet  a  consensu  multitudinis, 
constituere  super  se  regem  vel  consules,  vel 
alios  magistrates,  ut  patet :  et  si  causa  legitima 
adsit,  potest  multitudo  mutare  regnum  in  aristo- 
cratiam, aut  democratiam,  et  e  contrario  ut 
Romae  factum  legimus. 

Quinto  nota,  ex  dictis  sequi,  hanc  potestatam 
in  particulari  esse  quidem  a  Deo,  sed  mediante 
consilio,  et  electione  humana,  ut  alia  omnia, 
quae  ad  jus  gentium  pertinent,  jus  enim  gentium 
est  quasi  conclusio  deducta  ex  jure  naturae  per 
humanum  discursum.  Ex  quo  colliguntur  duae 
differentiae  inter  potestatem  politicam,  et  eccle- 
siasticam :  una  ex  parte  subjecti,  nam  politica 
est  in  multitudine,  ecclesiastica  in  uno  homine 
tanquam  in  subjecto  immediate;  altera  ex 
parte  efficientis,  quod  politica  universe  con- 
siderata est  de  jure  divino,  in  particulari  consi- 
lerata  est  de  jure  gentium;  ecclesiastica  omni- 
bus modis  est  de  jure  divino,  et  immediate 
a  Deo.  (Ib.) 

NOTE  (m),  p.  294. 

In  hao  re  communis  sententia  videtur  esse, 
hanc  potestatem  dari  immediate  a  Deo  ut  auc- 
tore  naturae,  ita  ut  homines  quasi  disponant 
materiam  et  efficiant  subjectum  capax  hujus 
potestatis;  Deus  autem  quasi  tribuat  formam 
dando  hanc  potestatem.  Cita  a  Cajet.  Covar. 
Victor,  y  Soto.  (De  Leg.  1.  iii.  c.  3.) 

NOTE  (n),  p.  294. 

Secundo  sequitur  ex  edictis,  potestatem  civi- 
em,  quoties  in  uno  homine,  vel  principe  repe- 
ritur,  legitimo,  ac  ordinario  jure,  a  populo,  et 
communitate  manasse,  vel  proximo  vel  remote, 
nee  posse  aliter  haberi,  ut  justa  sit.  (Ibid, 
cap.  4.) 

NOTE  (o),  p.  294. 

Defensio  Fidei  Catholicae  et  Apostolicae  ad- 
versus  Anglicanae  sectae  errores,  cum  respon- 
lione  ad  apologiam  pro  juramento  fidelitatis  et 
_)raefationem  monitoriam  serenissimi  Jacobi 
Angliae  Regis,  Authore  P.  D.  Francisco  Suario 
Grratanensi,  e  Societate  Jesu,  Sacrae  Theologies 
n  celebri  Conimbrusensi  Academia  Primario 
rofessore,  ad  serenissimos  totius  Christian! 
>rbis  Catholicos  Reges  ac  Principes. 

Lib.  3.  De  Primatu  Summi  Pontificis,  cap.  2. 
Jtrum  Principatus  politicus  sit  immediate  a 
Deo,  seu  ex  divina  institutione. 

In  qua  rex  serenissimus  non  solum 

novo,  et  singular!  modo  opinatur,  sed  etiam 
acriter  invehitur  in  Cardinalem  Bellarminum, 
eo  quod  asseruerit,  non  regibus  authoritatem  a 
3eo  immediate,  perinde  ac  pontificibus  esse 


490 


APPENDIX. 


concessam.  Asserit  ergo  ipse,  regem  non  a  i  tota  hominum  collectione,  docet  conceptis  verbis 
populo,  sed  immediate  a  Deo  suam  potestatem  j  S.  Thomas  1.  2.  qu.  90.  art.  3  ad  2.  et  qu.  97. 
habere ;  suam  vero  sententiam  quibusdam  argu-  art.  3  ad  3  quern  sequuntur  Dominicus  Soto, 


mentis,  et  exemplis  suadere  conatur,  quorum 
emcaciam  in  sequenti  capite  expendemus. 

Sed  quamquam  controversia  hcec  ad  fidei  dog- 
mata direct*  nonpertineat  (nihil  enim  ex  divina 
Scriptura,  aut  Patrum  traditione  in  ilia  defini- 
tum  ostendi  poteet),  nihilominus  diligenter  tract- 
anda,  et  explicanda  est  Turn  quia  potest  esse 
occasio  errandi  in  aliis  dogmatibus ;  turn  etiam 
quia  praedicta  regis  sententia,  prout  ab  ipso 
asseritur  et  intenditur,  nova  et  singularis  est,  et 
ad  exaggerandam  temporalein  potestatem,  et 
spiritualem  extenuandam  videtur  inventa.  Turn 
denique  quia  sententiam  illustrissimi  Bellar- 
mini  antiquam,  receptam,  veram,  ac  necessariam 
esee  censemus. 

NOTE  (p\  p.  295. 

R.  P.  Hermanni  Busembaum  Societatis  Jesu 
Theologia  Moralis,  nunc  pluribus  partibus  aucta 
a  R.  P.  D.  Alphonso  de  Ligorio  Rectore  majore 
congregationis  SS.  Redemptoris;  adjuncta  in 
calce  operis,  praeter  indicem  rerum,  et  verborum 
locupletissimum,  perutili  instructione  ad  praxim 
confessariorium  Latine  reddita. 

Lib.  1,  Tract  2.  De  legibus,  cap.  1.  De  na- 
tura, et  obligatione  legis.  Dub.  2. 

104.  Certum  est  dari  in  hominibus  potestatem 
ferendi  leges;  sed  potestas  haec  quoad  leges 
civiles  a  natura  nemini  competit,  nisi  commu- 
nitati  hominum,  et  ab  fcac  transfertur  in  unum, 
rel  in  plures,  a  quibus  communitas  regatur. 

,  NOTE  (?),  p.  295. 

Theologia  Christiana  Dogmatico-Moralis  Auc- 
tore  P.  F.  Daniele  Concina  ordinis  Praadicato- 
rum.  Editio  novissima,  tomus  sextus,  de  Jure 
nat.  et  gent,  Ac.  Romae,  1768. 

Lib.  1.  De  Jure  natur.  et  gent,  Ac.  Disser- 
tatio  4,  De  leg.  hum.  C.  2. 

Summae  potestatis  originem  a  Deo  communi- 
ter  arcessunt  scriptores  omnes.  Idque  declara- 
vit  Salomon,  Prov.  viii.  "Per  me  reges  regnant, 
ot  legum  conditores  justa  decernunt."  Et  pro- 
fecto  quemadmodum  inferiores  principes  a 
summa  majestate,  ita  summa  majestas  terrena  a 
supremo  Rege,  Dominoque  dominantium  pen- 
deat  necesse  est  Illud  in  disputationem  vocant 
turn  theologi,  turn  jurisconsult!,  sit  ne  a  Deo 
proxime,  an  tantum  remote  haec  potestas  sum- 
ma? Immediate  a  Deo  haberi  contendunt 
plures,  quod  ab  hominibus  neque  conjunctim, 
neque  sigillatim  acceptis  haberi  possit  Omnes 
enim  patres  familias  aequales  sunt,  solaque 
ceconomica  in  propias  familias  potestate  fruun- 
tur.  Ergo  civilem  politicamque  potestatem, 
qua  ipsi  carent,  conferre  aliis  nequeunt  Turn 
si  potestas  summa  a  communitate,  tanqnam 
a  superiore,  uni,  aut  pluribus  collata  esset,  revo- 
cari  ad  nutum  ejusdem  communitatis  posset; 
cum  superior  pro  arbitrio  retractare  communi- 
catam  potestatem  valeat;  quod  in  magnum  so- 
cietatis detrimentum  recideret 

Contra  disputant  alii,  et  qnidem  prolabilius 
ac  verius,  advertentes  omnem  quidem  potesta- 
tem a  Deo  esse;  sed  addunt,  non  transferri  in 
particulares  homines  immediate,  sed  mediante 
societatis  civilis  consensu.  Quod  haec  potestas 
sit  immediate,  non  in  aliquo  singular!,  sed  in 


lib.  1.  qu.  1.  art  3.  Ledesma  2.  Part.  qu.  18.  art 
3.  Covarruvias  in  pract.  cap.  1.  Ratio  evidens 
est:  quia  omnes  homines  nascuntur  liberi, 
respectu  civilis  imperii ;  ergo  nemo  in  alterum 
civili  potestate  potitur.  Neque  ergo  in  singu- 
lis,  neque  in  aliquo  determinate  potestas  haec 
reperitur.  Consequitur  ergo  in  tota  hominum 
collectione  eamdem  extare.  Quae  potestas  non 
confertur  a  Deo  per  aliquam  actionem  pecu- 
liarem  a  creatione  distinctam ;  sed  est  veluti 
proprietas  ipsam  rectam  rationem  consequens, 
quatenus  recta  ratio  praescribit  ut  homines  in 
unum  moraliter  congregati,  expresso  aut  tacito 
concensu  modum  dirigendia,  conservandae,  pro- 
pugnandaeque  societatis  praBscribant. 

NOTE  (r),  p.  296. 

Hinc  infertur,  potestatem  residentem  in  prin- 
cipe,  rege,  vel  in  pluribus,  aut  optimatibus,  aut 
plebeiis,  ab  ipsa  communitate  aut  proxime,  aut 
remote  proficisci.  Nam  potestas  haec  a  Deo 
immediate  non  est.  Id  enim  nobia  constare 
peculiari  revelatione  deberet;  quemadmodum 
scimus,  Saulem  et  Davidem  electos  a  Deo 
fuisse.  Ab  ipsa  ergo  communitate  dimanet 
oportet 

Falsam  itaque  reputamus  opinionem  illam 
quae  assent,  potestatem  hanc  immediate  et 
proxime  a  Deo  conferri  regi,  principi,  et  cuique 
supreinae  potestati,  excluso  Reipublicae  tacito, 
aut  expresso  consensu.  Quamquam  lis  haec 
verborum  potius  quam  rei  est.  Nam  potestas 
haec  a  Deo  auctore  naturae  est,  quatenus  dispo- 
Buit,  et  ordinavitut  ipsa  Respublica  pro  societatis 
conservatione,  et  defensione,  uni,  aut  pluri- 
bus supremam  regiminis  potestatem  conferret. 
Immo  facta  designatione  imperantis,  aut  ira- 
perantium,  potestas  haec  a  Deo  manare  dicitur, 
quatenus  jure  naturali,  et  divino  tenetur,  socie- 
tas  ipsa  parere  imperanti.  Quoniam  reipsa 
Deus  ordinavit  ut  per  unum,  aut  per  plures 
hominum  societas  regatur.  Et  hac  via  omnis 
conciliantur  placita :  et  oracula  Scripturarum 
vero  in  sensu  exponuntur.  Qui  resistit  potes- 
tati, Dei  ordinationi  resistit.  Et  iterum  :  Non 
est  potestas  nisi  a  Deo :  ad  Rom.  viii.  Et  Pe- 
trus  Epist.  1,  cap.  ii.  Subject!  igitur  estote 
omni  humanae  creaturae  propter  Deum :  sivc 
Regi,  Ac.  Item  Joan.  xix.  Non  haberes  po- 
testatem adversum  me  ullam,  nisi  tibi  datum 
esset  desuper.  Quae,  alia  testimonia  evincunt, 
omnia  a  Deo,  supremo  rerum  omnium  modera- 
tore,  disponi,  et  ordinari.  At  non  propterea 
humana  consilia,  et  operationes  excluduntur; 
ut  sapienter  interpretantur  S.  Augustinus  tract 
6,  in  Joan,  et  lib.  22.  cont.  Faustum,  cap.  47, 
et  S.  Joannes  Chrysostomus  Horn.  23,  in  Epist 
ad  Rom. 

NOTE  (»),  p.  296. 

Quinam  possint  ferre  leges  ?  Dico  1.  Po- 
testas legislativa  competit  communitati  vel  illi, 
qui  curam  communitatis  gerit.  (Ibid.  art.  3.  0.) 

Prob.  1.  Ex  Isidore  L.  5-  Etymol.  C.  10  et 
refertur  C.  Lex,  Dist.  4.  ubi  dicit :  Lex  est  con- 
stitutio  populi,  secundum  quam  majores  natu 
sirnul  cum  plebibus  aliquid  sanxerunt  (Ibid. 
in  art  1.  0.) 


APPENDIX. 


491 


Prob.  1.  Ratione.  (Ibid.  0.)  Ulius  est  condere 
legem,  cujus  est  prospicere  bono  communi; 
quia,  ut  dictum  est,  leges  feruntur  propter  bo- 
num commune  :  atqui  est  communis,  vel  illius, 
cui  curam  coramunitatis  habet,  prospicere  bono 
communi :  sicut  enim  bonum  particulare  est 
finis  proportionatus  agenti  particular!,  ita  bo- 
num commune  est  finis  proportionatus  commu- 
nitati,  vel  ejus  vices  gerenti ;  ergo.  Confirma- 
tur:  (Ibid,  ad  2.)  lex  habet  vim  imperandi  et 
coercendi ;  atqui  nemo  privatus  habet  vim  im- 
perandi multitudini  et  earn  coercendi,  sed  sola 
ipsa  multitude,  vel  ejus  Rector:  Ergo.  (Tract, 
de  Legi.  Art.  4.) 

NOTE  (*),  p.  296. 

Dices:  Superioris  est  imperare  et  coercere; 
atqui  communitas  non  est  sibi  superior:  Ergo 
R.  D.  Min.  Communitas,  sub  eodem  respectu 
considerate,  non  est  sibi  superior,  C.  Sub  di- 
verso  respectu,  N.  Potest  itaque  communitas 
considerari  collective,  per  modum  unius  corpo- 
ris  moralis,  et  sic  considerata  est  superior  sibi 
considerate  distributive  in  singulis  membris. 
Item  potest  considerari  vel  ut  gerit  vices  Dei,  a 
quo  omnis  potestas  legislativa  descendit,  juxta 
illud  Proverb.  Per  me  reges  regnant,  et  legum 
conditores  justa  decernunt ;  vel  ut  est  guberna- 
bilis  in  ordine  ad  bonum  commune :  primo 
modo  considerata  est  superior  et  legislativa; 
secundo  modo  considerata  est  inferior  et  legis 
susceptiva. 

NOTE  («),  p.  297. 

Quod  ut  clarius  percipiatur,  observandum 
est  hominem  inter  animalia  nasci  maxime  des- 
titutum  pluribus  turn  corporis  cum  animaa  ne- 
cessariis,  pro  quibus  indigot  aliorum  consortio 
et  adjutorio,  consequenter  eum  ipsapte  natura 
nasci  animal  sociale:  societas  autem  quam 
natura,  naturalisve  ratio  dictat  ipsi  necessariam, 
diu  subsistere  non  potest,  nisi  aliqua  publica 
potestate  gubernetur ;  juxta  illud  Proverb.  Ubi 
non  est  gubernator,  populus  corruet.  Ex  quo 
sequitur,  quod  Deus,  qui  dedit  talem  naturam, 
simul  ei  dederit  potestatem  gubernativam  et 
legislativam,  qui  enim  dat  formam,  dat  etiam 
ea,  quee  hsec  forma  necessario  exigit.  Verum, 
quia  base  potestas  gubernativa  et  legislativa 
non  potest  exerceri  a  tota  multitudine ;  difficile 
namque  foret,  omnes  et  singulos  simul  conve- 
nire  toties  quoties  providendum  est  de  necessa- 
riis  bono  communi,  et  de  legibus  ferendis ;  ideo 
solet  multitude  transferre  suum  jus  seu  potesta- 
tem gubernativam,  vel  in  aliquos  de  populo  ex 
omni  conditione,  et  dicitur  Democratia;  vel  in 
paucos  optimates,  et  dicitur  Aristocratia ;  vel  in 
unum  tantum,  sive  pro  se  solo,  sive  pro  succes- 
soribus  jure  haereditario,  et  dicitur  Monarchia. 
Ex  quo  sequitur,  omnem  potestatem  esse  a  Deo, 
ut  dicit  Apost.  Rom.  xiii.  immediate  quidem  et 
jure  naturae  in  communitate,  mediate  autem 
tantum  et  jure  humano  in  Regibus  et  aliis 
Rectoribus :  nisi  Deus  ipse  immediate  aliquibus 


hanc  potestatem  conferat,  ut  contulit  Moysi  in 
populum  Israel,  et  Christus  SS.  Pontifici  in  to- 
tam  Ecclesiam. 

Hanc  potestatem  legislativam  in  Christianos, 
maxime  justos,  non  agnoscunt,  Lutherani  et  Cal- 
vinistce,  secuti  in  hoc  Valdenses,  Wicleffum,  et 
Joan.  Hue.  damnatos  in  Cone.  Constant,  sess.  6. 
can.  15.  Et  quamvis  Joannes  Hus  earn  agnos- 
ceret  in  principibus  bonis,  earn  tamen  denega- 
bat  malis,  pariter  ideo  damnatus  in  eodem 
Condi,  sess.  8. 

NOTE  (x),  p.  297. 

Compendium  Salmatic.  authore  R.  P.  F.  R. 
Antonio  a  S.  Joseph  olim  Lectore,  priore  ac  exa- 
minatore  Synodali  in  suo  collegio  Burgensi, 
nunc  procuratore  generali  in  Roraana  Curia  pro 
Carmelitarum  Discalceatorum  Hispanica  Con- 
gregatione.  Romse,  1779.  Superiorum  per- 
missu.  Tractatus  3,  De  Legibus,  cap.  2.  De 
potestate  ferendi  leges. 

Punctum  1.  De  potestate  legislativa  civili. 

Inq.  1.  An  detur  in  hominibus  potestas  con- 
dendi  leges  civiles  ?  R.  Affirm,  constat  ex  illo 
Prov.  viii.  Per  me  reges  regnant,  et  legum  con- 
ditores justa  decernunt.  Idem  patet  ex  Apost. 
ad  Rom.  xiii.  et  tanquarn  de  fide  est  definitum 
in  Cone.  Const,  sess.  8,  et  ultima.  Prob.  ration, 
quia  ad  conservationem  boni  communis  requiri- 
tur  publica  potestas,  qua  communitas  guberne- 
tur :  nam  ubi  non  est  gubernator,  corruet  popu- 
lus, sed  nequid  gubernator  communitatem  nisi 
mediis  legibus  gubernare  :  ergo  certum  est  dari 
in  hominibus  potestatem  condendi  leges,  quibus 
populus  possit  gubernari.  Ita  D.  Th.  lib.  i.  de 
regim.  princip.  c.  1  et  2. 

Inq.  2.  An  potestas  legislativa  civilis  conve- 
niat  principi  immediate  a  Deo  ?  R.  omnes  asse- 
runt  dictam  potestatem  habere  principes  a  Deo. 
Verius  tamen  dicitur,  non  immediate  sed  medi- 
ante  populi  consensu  illam  eos  a  Deo  recipere. 
Nam  omnes  homines  sunt  in  natura  aequales, 
nee  unus  est  superior,  nee  alius  inferior  ex  na- 
tura, nulli  enim  dedit  natura  supra  alterum 
potestatem,  sed  haec  a  Deo  data  est  hominum 
communitati,  quae  judicans  rectius  fore  guber- 
nandum  per  unam  vel  per  plures  personas 
determinatas,  suam  transtulit  potestatem  in 
unam,  vel  plures,  a  quibus  regeretur,  ut  ait  D. 
Th.  1.  2.  q.  90.  a.  3.  ad.  2. 

Ex  hoc  naturali  principle  oritur  discrimen 
regiminis  civilis.  Nam  si  Respublica  transtulit 
omnem  suam  potestatem  in  unum  solum,  appel- 
latur  Regimen  Monarchicurn ;  si  illam  contulit 
Optimatibus  populi,  nuncupatur  Regimen  Aris- 
tocraticum;  si  vero  populus,  aut  Respublica 
sibi  retineat  talem  potestatem,  dicitur  Regimen 
Democraticum.  Habent  igitur  Principes  re- 
gendi  potestatem  a  Deo,  quia  supposita  elec- 
tione  a  Republica  facta,  Deus  illam  potestatem, 
quae  in  communitate  erat,  Principi  confert. 
Unde  ipse  nomine  Dei  regit,  et  gubernat,  et  qui 
illi  resistit,  Dei  ordinationi  resistit,  ut  dicit 
Apost  loco  supra  laudato. 


INDEX. 


ABBON,  a  monk — his  poem  on  the  siege  of 
Paris,  241. 

Abelard,  account  of,  401 ;  error  of  M.  Guizot 
with  regard  to  him,  402:  document  proving 
this,  486. 

Abuses,  checked  by  the  Church,  422. 

Ademar,  his  chronicle,  241 . 

Adon,  Archbishop  of  Vienne — his  work  on 
universal  history,  241. 

Adrian  (Pope)  protects  the  marriages  of  slaves, 
113;  his  doctrine  on  the  right  of  slaves  to 
marry,  113. 

Agde,  Councils  of,  103;  ibid,  decree  against 
those  who  refused  to  be  reconciled,  176. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  Council  of,  enjoins  bishops  to 
found  hospitals  to  contain  all  the  poor  that 
their  revenues  can  support,  188. 

Albigenses  described,  252. 

Alphonsus  (of  Ligouri;,  on  power  of  making 
laws,  295. 

Amat  (Don  Felix;,  his  false  political  theory, 
333;  ibid,  on  resistance  to  government,  471. 

Ambrose  (St.),  conduct  of  towards  the  Em- 
peror Theodosius,  178;  sells  the  sacred  ves- 
sels to  redeem  slaves,  432. 

Anabaptists,  excesses  committed  by,  in  Ger- 
many in  the  16th  century,  197. 

Angers,  Council  of,  its  decree  against  acts  of 
violence,  176. 

Anselm  (St.),  writings  of,  403;  ibid,  on  St. 
Paul  to  the  Romans,  459;  extracts  from, 
showing  his  way  of  viewing  religious  mat- 
ters, 485 ;  intellectual  movement  in  the 
Church  within  the  limits  of  faith,  486 ;  he 
anticipates  Descartes'  demonstration  of  the 
existence  of  a  God,  485. 

Arabians,  their  civilization  described,  237; 
probability  that  they  were  indebted  to  the 
eastern  monasteries  for  much  of  their  know- 
ledge, 237 ;  the  connexion  between  their 
science  and  that  of  antiquity  may  yet  be 
found,  237. 

Arbogen,  Council  of,  forbids  church  burial  to 
be  given  to  pirates,  ravishers,  &c.,  182. 

Aristocracy  in  the  16th  century,  consisted  of 
the  nobles  and  clergy,  348 ;  differences  be- 
tween them,  349;  intermediate  class  between 
the  throne  and  the  people,  349. 

Aristotle,  immoral  doctrine  of,  443  ;  his  views 
on  public  education,  443;  his  absurd  inter- 
ference of  the  State  in  domestic  matters, 
443 ;  his  doctrines  reformed  by  Christianity, 
351. 

Aries,  Council  of,  its  decree  against  feuds,  177. 

Armagh,  Council  of,  109;  ibid,  frees  all  the 
English  slaves,  437. 

Association,  a  favorite  principle  of  Catholicity, 

Atheism,  tendency  towards,  in  the  17th  cen- 
tury, 61. 


Augustin  (St.),  his  description  of  paganism, 
89;  his  noble  sentiments  on  slavery,  111 ;  re- 
markable passages  from,  on  political  forms, 
390 ;  on  the  name  Catholic  being  given  to 
the  true  Church  only,  422, 

Author,  declaration  of,  419. 

Authority  in  religion,  tendency  towards,  in 
the  17th  century,  61. 

Avignon,  Council  of,  its  decree  in  favor  of  the 
truce  of  God,  181. 

Aymon  (of  Aquitaine^  writes  the  history  of 
the  French,  241. 

BARBARIANS,  those  who  invaded  the  Roman 
Empire  described,  122;  their  real  condition, 
444  ;  their  laws  and  manners,  447. 

Barcelona,  councillors  of,  their  bold  language 
to  the  king  of  Spain,  340 ;  its  trades-associa- 
tions described  by  Capmany,  477. 

Bayle,  dictionary  of,  described,  63 ;  its  effects, 
63. 

Bellarmine,  doctrine  of,  on  the  divine  law,  291  j 
on  the  civil  power,  292,  on  the  distinction 
between  political  and  ecclesiastical  power, 
293;  vindication  of,  294. 

Benedict  (St.),  described,  238;  his  monastic  in- 
stitute, 238. 

Beneficence,  public,  unknown  to  the  ancients, 
184 ;  was  the  work  of  Christianity,  184  ;  it 
required  permanent  institutions,  184;  they 
were  conceived  and  founded  by  the  Church, 
185 ;  institutions  of,  founded  by  Catholicity, 
185;  they  require  the  support  of  Christian 
charity,  189. 

Bernard  (St  ),  observations  on,  409. 

Beza,  evidence  of,  against  Protestantism,  423. 

Bible,  why  forbidden  in  the  vulgar  tongue  in 
Spain,  215. 

Bible  Societies,  effects  of,  64. 

Billuart,  F.,  on  the  right  of  making  laws,  296 ; 
on  the  origin  of  society  and  the  civil  power, 
296. 

Bishops,  slaves  of,  set  free  at  their  death  by  de- 
cree of  Council,  108. 

Bonald  on  the  Esprit  des  Lois,  186;  his  doc- 
trines, 283. 

Boneuil,  Council  of,  described,  106. 

Bossuet,  his  negotiations  with  Leibnitz  to  re- 
unite the  Churches,  61 ;  school  of,  283  :  his 
Universal  History  the  first  great  work  on 
the  philosophy  of  history,  418. 

Brentzen,  testimony  of,  to  the  incredulity  pre- 
vailing among  the  early  reformers,  429. 

Brescia,  Arnauld  of,  troubles  excited  by,  251. 

Bruis  (Pierre  de),  his  iconoclastic  fanaticism, 
251. 

Buchanan,  his  remark  on  the  degradation  ot 
women  wherever  Christianity  does  not  pre- 
vail, 136. 

Bull-fights,  those  of  Spain  discussed,  174. 
493 


491 


INDEX. 


Busenbaum  on  the  power  of  making-  laws,  295 
Bull  (Ccena  Domini)  containing  an  excom- 
munication against  those  who  levy  excessive 
taxes,  360 

C.ESAR  (3.)  on  the  manners  of  the  Germans 

and  Britons,  153. 

Oalmet,  on  St.  Paul  to  the  Romans,  461. 
Calvin,  intolerance  of,  421  ;  his  vulgar  abuse, 
421 ;  evidence  of,  in  favor  of  the  Pope,  423 . 
Calvinism,  as  connected  with  democracy,  355. 
Caprnany  on  the  trades-corporations  of  Barce- 
lona, 477. 

Carranza,  trial  of,  212;  its  duration,  212;  car- 
ried to  Rome,  212  ;  his  dying  declaration, 
212;  conduct  of  Philip  II.  towards  him,  21 3; 
causes  of  his  trial,  213;  nature  of  his  writ- 
ings, 214  ;  his  reason  why  the  Scriptures  in 
the  vulgar  tongue  were  forbidden  in  Spain, 
215. 

Cassia n,  his  account  of  the  origin  of  religious 
institutions,  223. 

Cathari,  the,  described,  251. 

Catholicity,  its  doctrines  always  the  same,  65; 
its  past  services  to  society,  and  what  may 
be  expected  from  it  for  the  future,  73;  its 
progress  in  several  countries  of  Europe,  74 ; 
not  opposed  to  the  true  spirit  of  liberty,  80 ; 
its  effects  on  European  civilization,  80 ;  was 
strong  in  the  west  and  weak  in  the  east,  81  ; 
importance  of  the  unity  produced  by  it  for 
the  safety  of  Europe  amid  perils,  81  ;  degra- 
ded condition  of  society  when  it  appeared, 
90 ;  not  opposed  to  the  feeling  of  individual- 
ity, but  promotes  it,  131  ;  the  elevation  of 
woman  due  to  it  alone,  135,  155;  places  wo- 
men on  an  equality  with  men,  135;  mistake 
of  its  opponents,  149  ;  its  institutions  falsely 
assailed  by  Protestants  and  philosophers, 
147  ;  its  exertion  in  favor  of  beneficence  im- 
peded by  Protestantism,  which  compelled  it 
to  stand  on  its  defence,  188;  unfairly  treated 
with  regard  to  tolerance,  190;  its  doctrine 
with  respect  to  errors  of  the  mind,  200;  was 
the  work  of  God,  256  ;  its  fertility  in  re- 
sources, 257 ;  its  charity,  257 ;  its  true  doc- 
trines with  regard  to  the  civil  power,  323  ; 
its  relations  with  the  people,  353 ;  its  rela- 
tions with  liberty,  357  ;  its  effects  on  the  de- 
velopment of  the  intellect,  392  ;  effects  of  its 
principle  of  submission  to  authority,  393 ; 
effects  of  the  same  on  the  sciences,  393  ;  an- 
cient and  modern  philosophy  compared  with 
it,  395;  its  morality,  397;  its  revealed  dog- 
mas, 397  ;  is  not  opposed  to  true  philosophy, 
397;  compared  with  Protestantism  with  re- 
spect to  learning,  universities,  &c. ,  412;  its 
unity  and  concert,  423  ;  its  services  against 
slavery. — (See  Slavery.) 

Celchite,  Council  of,  109. 

Celibacy,  influence  of  that  of  the  clergy  in 
preventing  an  hereditary  succession,  accord- 
ing to  Guizot,  351  ;  what  would  have  hap- 
pened without  it,  352. 

Censors,  among  the  ancients,  they  took  the 
place  of  religious  authority,  161. 

Chalons,  Council  of,  108. 

Chalons-sur-Saone,  Council  of,  excommuni- 
cates those  who  fight  within  the  precincts  of 
churches,  176. 

Chanoinesses,  enjoined  by  the  Council  of  Aix 
to  keep  an  hospital  for  poor  women,  188. 

Charity,  its  effects  on  toleration,  192. 

Charles  V.,  why  released  from  his  oath  by  the 
Pope,  210. 


Chateaubriand,  writings  of,  described,  71 ;  de- 
scribes Zachary  as  selling  himself  as  a  slave 
to  buy  the  liberty  of  a  husband  for  his  wife 
and  children,  104;  extract  from,  on  the  ef- 
fects of  Catholicity  and  Protestantism,  415. 

Chivalry,  its  relations  with  women,  150;  did 
not  elevate  them,  but  found  them  elevated 
by  Christianity,  151. 

Christ,  all  his  miracles  beneficent,  184;  his 
whole  life  spent  in  doing  good,  184. 

Christians,  the  early,  their  constancy  in  mar- 
tyrdom, 224;  they  seek  asylums  for  retire- 
ment and  prayer  in  the  deserts,  224. 

Christianity,  effects  of,  on  society,  67 ;  effects 
produced  by  its  appearance,  88;  opposes 
slavery,  102;  could  not  endure  the  savage 
heroism  of  the  Romans,  104;  development 
of  the  moral  life  by  means  of,  134  ;  was  un- 
known to  the  ancients,  134;  the  effects  which 
would  have  followed  from  the  loss  of  its  in- 
fluence on  Europe,  134;  ideas  of  some  mod- 
ern philosophers  with  regard  to  it,  156;  how 
it  is  embodied  in  Catholicity,  156;  its  pro- 
gress in  the  early  ages  described,  230 ;  its 
effects  on  the  invading  barbarians,  235. 

Church,  the  Catholic,  services  of,  to  society,  in 
combating  the  fatalist  doctrines  of  the  Re- 
formation, 68 ;  her  opposition  to  slavery,  102; 
she  protects  the  freedom  of  newly  emanci- 
pated slaves,  103;  consecrates  manumission 
by  having  it  performed  in  the  churches,  103; 
protects  slaves  recommended  to  her  by  will, 
103;  allows  her  sacred  vessels  to  be  sold  to 
redeem  slaves,  104 ;  gives  letters  of  recom- 
mendation to  emancipated  slaves,  105; 
causes  tending1  to  promote  slavery  with 
which  she  had  to  contend,  105;  she  makes 
a  law  enabling  those  who  had  been  com- 
pelled to  sell  themselves  as  slaves  to  recover 
their  liberty  by  paying  back  the  price,  106; 
she  allows  her  ministers  to  give  their  liberty 
to  slaves  belonging  to  her,  while  she  forbids 
other  property  to  be  alienated,  10S;  sum- 
mary of  tier  measures  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  114 — (see  Councils)  ;  its  abolition 
due  to  her  alone,  114;  reforms  marriage, 
136;  preserves  its  sanctity,  137;  great  evils 
thereby  prevented,  137;  her  unity  in  doc- 
trines and  fixity  in  conduct  not  inconsistent 
with  progress,  145 ;  her  struggles  with  the 
corrupted  Romans  and  savage  barbarians, 
176 ;  decrees  of  her  Councils  against  ani- 
mosities, 176;  her  persevering  efforts,  177  ; 
treats  kings  and  great  men  as  severely  as 
the  lowly,  177 ;  her  boldness  in  checking  the 
crimes  of  kings,  178;  her  interference  in 
civil  affairs  of  old  justified  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  times,  182;  her  Councils  pro- 
tect the  weak — viz.  clergy,  monks,  women, 
merchants  and  pilgrims — against  the  strong, 
182 ;  her  exertions  in  favor  of  the  vanquish- 
ed in  war,  183  ;  she  preserves  unity  of  faith, 
and  founds  institutions  for  doing  good,  185; 
what  she  would  have  done  for  the  cure  of 
pauperism  if  the  Reformation  had  not  plun- 
ged Europe  into  revolutions  and  reactions, 
188 ;  encourages  the  aristocracy  of  talent, 
361 ;  service  which  she  did  to  the  human 
mind  by  opposing  the  spirit  of  subtlety  of 
the  innovators,  407  ;  her  interference  in  the 
management  of  hospitals,  449. 
Churches,  the  Protestant,  only  the  instruments 

of  the  civil  power,  186. 
Cicero,  on  the  necessity  of  religion  to  the  State, 


INDEX. 


495 


Civilization,  that  of  Europe  during-  the  16th 
centuf  y  not  owing1  to  Protestantism,  82  ;  cha- 
racteristics of  that  of  modern  Europe  de- 
scribed, 115;  compared  with  ancient  and 
modern  non-Christian  civilization,  116;  its 
superiority  owing-  to  Catholicity,  117;  may 
be  reduced  to  three  elements — the  individual, 
the  family,  and  society,  117;  its  universal 
progress  impeded,  and  unity  broken;  by 
Protestantism,  260. 

Clement,  St.  (Pope),  passage  from,  on  Chris- 
tians selling-  themselves  as  slaves  to  redeem 
their  brethren,  104. 

Clergy,  the  effects  on  society  of  their  power  and 
influence,  175 ;  fatal  effects  of  the  diminu- 
tion of  their  political  influence  in  the  16th 
century,  370;  advantag-es  which  might  have 
resulted  from  it  to  popular  institutions,  373; 
their  relations  with  all  the  powers  and  class- 
es of  society,  373. 
Clermont,  Council  of,  its  decree  in  favor  of  the 

truce  of  God,  181. 
Coblentz,  Council  of,  106. 
Concina  (P.)>  on   the  origin  of  power,  295; 

how  it  exists  in  governments,  296. 
Conduct,  firmness'bf,  its  powerful  effects  in  the 

world,  145. 

Conscience,  the  public,  described,  157;  that  of 
Europe  contrasted  with  that  of  ancient  times, 
159;  how  influenced  by  the  Church,  160; 
both  illustrated  by  the  story  of  Scipio,  165; 
the  former  was  formed  by  Catholicity  alone, 
166. 

Conscience,  the  individual,  described,  158. 
Constance,  Council  of,  its  doctrine  on  the  mur- 
der of  king-s,  336. 

Cornelius  a  Lapide,  on  St.  Paul  to  the  Ro- 
mans, 460. 

Cortes,  severe  measures  of  that  of  Toledo 
ag-ainst  the  Jews,  205 ;  decline  of,  in  Spain, 
331. 

Cottereaux,  excesses  of,  252. 
Councils  of  the  Church,  their  influence  on  po- 
litical laws  and  customs,  360 ;  canons  of, 
which  improve  the  condition  of  slaves,  430 ; 
check  all  attempts  ag-ainst  the  liberty  of  the 
enfranchised  slaves  of  the  Church,  or  who 
had  been  recommended  to  her  by  will,  431 ; 
undertake  that  the  Church  will  defend  the 
liberty  and  property  of  the  freed  who  have 
been  recommended  to  her,  431 ;  make  the 
redemption  of  captives  the  first  care  of  the 
Church,  and  g-ive  their  interests  precedence 
over  her  own,  432;  excommunicate  those 
who  attempt  to  reduce  men  into  slavery, 
433 ;  declare  those  who  make  Christians 
slaves  to  be  guilty  of  homicide,  434  ;  ordain 
that  those  who  have  sold  themselves  as  slaves 
shall  recover  their  liberty  by  repaying-  the 
price,  434;  protect  the  slaves  belonging  to 
.  Jews,  434  ;  provide  means  for  their  becom- 
ing free,  434;  forbid  Jews  to  acquire  new 
Christian  slaves,  435  ;  ordain  that  if  a  mas- 
ter gives  meat  to  a  slave  on  a  fasting  day, 
the  tatter  becomes  free,  435;  forbid  Jews  to 
hold  Christian  slaves  at  all,  435;  forbid 
Christian  slaves  to  be  sold  to  Jews  or  pa- 
gans, 435;  or  to  be  sold  out  of  the  kingdom 
of  Clovis,  436 ;  severely  condemn  clerics 
who  sell  their  slaves  to  Jews,  436;  command 
bishops  to  respect  the  liberty  of  those  freed 
by  their  predecessors,  436;  they  mention  the 
power  given  to  bishops  to  free  deserving 
slaves,  a~nd  fix  the  sum  which  they  may  give 
them  to  live  on,  436 ;  exempt  them  from  the 


general  rule,  that  alienations  made  by  bish  • 
ops  who  leave  nothing  of  their  own  must  be 
restored,  436;  ordain  that  when  a  bishop 
dies,  all  his  slaves  shall  be  set  at  liberty,  and 
that  at  the  funeral  each  bishop  or  abbot  may 
set  three  slaves  free,  giving  them  three  solidi 
each,  436;  free  all  the  English  slaves  in  Ire- 
land, 437  ;  forbid  slaves  ot  the  Church  to  be 
exchanged  for  others,  437  ;  grant  liberty  to 
slaves  who  wish  to  embrace  the  monastic 
life,  with  proper  precautions  to  prevent 
abuses,  437 ;  check  the  abuse  of  ordaining 
slaves  without  the  consent  of  their  masters, 
437 ;  allow  parish  priests  to  select  some  cle- 
rics from  the  slaves  of  the  Church,  438  ;  al- 
low slaves  to  be  ordained,  having  been  first 
freed,  438. 

Crusades  vindicated,  242. 

Cyprian  (St.),  on  the  redemption  of  captives, 
432. 

DE  MAISTRE  on  the  word  "catholic,"  422  ;  on 
general  Councils,  480;  compares  the  con- 
duct of  the  Popes  with  that  of  other  rulers, 
484. 

Democrats,  difference  between  ancient  and 
modern,  130. 

Democracy,  its  alliance  with  kings  against 
the  aristocracy,  303;  notion  formed  of,  in 
the  16th  century,  350;  two  kinds  of,  364; 
their  progress  in  the  history  of  Europe,  365; 
their  characters,  366 ;  their  causes  and  ef- 
fects, 366;  historical  facts  with  regard  to,  in 
France,  England,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and 
Germany,  367. 

Descartes,  his  demonstration  of  the  existence 
of  God  anticipated  by  St.  Anselm,  486. 

Divorce,  consequences  of  the  facility  of,  in 
Germany,  according  to  M.  de  Stael,  139. 

Divines,  spirit  of  the  writings  of  the  old  Catli- 
lic,  compared  with  that  of  modern  writers, 
238. 

Doctrines,  their  effects  on  society,  311 ;  those 
prevalent  in  the  16th  century  with  regard  to 
democracy,  350;  those  prevalent  in  political 
matters  in  Europe  before  the  appearance  of 
Protestantism  compared  with  those  of  the 
school  of  the  18th  century  and  those  of  mo- 
dern publicists,  374. 

Dominicans,  their  exertions  in  favor  of  the 
native  Americans,  as  stated  by  Robertson, 
441. 

EAST,  the,  injury  caused  there  by  breaking" 
unity  in  religion,  235. 

Elvira,  Council  of,  its  decree  in  favor  of  slaves, 
100. 

England,  policy  of,  towards  Spain,  76. 

Eon,  his  fanatical  delusion,  251. 

Epaone,  Council  of,  100. 

Erigena,  account  of,  400. 

Errors,  those  of  the  mind  not  always  inno- 
cent, 200. 

Error  described,  70. 

Europe,  characteristics  of  her  civilization,  116; 
condition  of,  in  the  13th  century,  245  etseq.; 
singular  contrasts  therein,  246 ;  struggle  be- 
tween barbarism  and  Christianity  there,  247; 
instances  of  great  and  good  principles  some- 
times abused  in  practice,  247 ;  barbarism 
therein  improved  by  religion,  and  religion 
disfigured  by  barbarism,  248  ;  effects  of  the 
crusades,  249 ;  increasing  power  of  the  com- 
monalty, 249 ;  decline  of  the  feudal  system, 
249;  power  of  great  ideas,  250;  critical 


496 


INDEX. 


epochs,  250;  great  agitation  prevailing,  and 
horrible  doctrines  spread,  among  the  people 
at  that  time,  250—  (see  Tancheme,  Eon,  Ca- 
thari,  Vaudois,  Albigenses)  ;  what  she  would 
have  done  for  civilization  if  she  had  not  been 
impeded  by  Protestantism,  261 ;  her  condi- 
tion when  it  appeared,  261 ;  great  increase 
of  power  and  development  of  mind,  262 ; 
divisions  occasioned  by  it,  262 ;  the  nations 
thereof  require  religious  institutions  for  or- 
ganizing beneficence  and  education  on  a 
larg-e  scale,  277  ;  state  of,  at  the  end  of  the 
15th  century,  344;  social  movement  at  that 
time,  344 ;  its  causes,  344 ;  its  effects  and  ob- 
ject, 345;  development  of  the  industrial 
classes  there,  354  ;  this  took  place  under  the 
influence  of  Catholicity  alone,  385 ;  picture 
of,  from  the  llth  century  to  the  14th,  382; 
religion  and  the  human  mind  there,  404 ; 
intellectual  condition  of  the  nations  of  mo- 
dern, distinguished  from  that  of  those  of  an- 
tiquity, 405 ;  causes  which  have  accelerated 
it  among  the  former,  406. 
Eximeno,  letter  of,  on  the  sciences,  425. 

FACTS,  consummated,  how  they  are  to  be 
treated,  333. 

Faith,  unity  of,  not  adverse  to  political  liberty, 
388. 

Forms,  political,  their  value,  357. 

Francis  I.  (of  France),  his  opinion  on  the  ne- 
cessity of  expelling  the  Moors  from  Spain, 
210. 

Francis,  St.  (de  Sales),  his  list  of  titles  given 
to  the  Popes,  423. 

Franks,  their  custom  of  going  armed  to  church 
forbidden  by  Councils,  176. 

Free-will,  its  denial  discarded  by  Protestants 
themselves,  68 ;  its  effects,  68  j  its  noble  re- 
sults, 134 ;  supported  by  Catholicity  against 
the  Reformation,  135. 

GAMBLING,  passion  of,  described,  142. 
Games,  public,  those  of  the  Romans  prohi- 
bited by  the  Christian  Church,  175. 
Gerbet   (1'Abbe"),  his   excellent  refutation  of 

Lammenais'  doctrines,  338. 
Germans,  manners  of  the  ancient,  described 

by  Tacitus,  152 ;  why  embellished  by  him, 

153;  are  but  little  known  to  us,  154;  their 

struggles  with  the  Romans,  154. 
Gibbon,  testimony  of,  to  the  merits  of  Bossuet's 

History  of  the  Variations,  421. 
Gilles  (St.),  Council  of,  its  decree  in  favor  of 

the  truce  of  God,  179. 
Gironne,  Council  of,  in  favor  of  the  truce  of 

God,  180. 
Glaber    (Monk),   of  Cluny,   his    history  of 

France,  241. 
Gotti  (Cardinal),  doctrines  of,  on  the  origin 

of  power,  295. 
Gous-et  (1'Abbe"),  on  Catholic  Hebrew  studies, 

413. 
Government,  three  principles  of — monarchy, 

aristocracy,  and  democracy,  344. 
Governments,  revolutionary  ones  are  cruel  in 

self-defence,  not  being  based  on  right,  128  ; 

right  of  resistance   to  de  facto  ones,  330; 

falsehood  of  the  theory  which  imposes  the 

obligation  of  obeying  them  merely  as  such 

331 ;  difficulties  on  this  point  explained,  332 
Grace,  effects  of  the  Catholic  doctrine  of,  234 
Gratian,  merit  of  his  literary  labors,  241. 
Gregory  (Pope) ,  passage  from,  108  ;  frees  two 

slaves  of  the  Roman  Church,  436 ;  his  rea 


son  why  Christians  liberated  their  slaves, 
436. 

Gregory  III.  (Pope),  on  selling  slaves  to  th« 
pagans  for  sacrifice,  435. 

'"'regory  IX.  (Pope),  his  decretals  on  slavery, 
109  ;  against  the  hereditary  succession  of  the 
clergy,  352. 

Gregory  XVI.    (Pope),  his  apostolic   letters 
against  the  slave  trade,  438. 
^rotius,  his  servile  doctrine  on  the  civil  power, 
323;  his   evidence  in  favor  of  Catholicity, 
424. 
iruet,  his  incredulity  and  execution,  429. 

Ciuibert,  historical  labors  of,  241. 
uizot,  on  the  effects  of  the  Church  upon  slave- 
ry, 113;  his  doctrine  of  the  personal  inde- 
pendence of  individuals  among  the  barba- 
rians stated  and  discussed,  119;  true  the- 
ory thereon,  121 ;  incoherence  of  his  own 
doctrines,  124;  cause  of  his  error,  125;  his 
acknowledgment  with  regard  to  the  refor- 
mation and  liberty,  343 ;  extract  from,  shew- 
ing that  the  clergy  were  not  a  caste,  351 ;  an 
opinion  of,  refuted,  399;  extract  from,  shew- 
ing the  immense  superiority  of  the  Church 
to  the  barbarians  in  legislation,  447  ;  docu- 
ments shewing  his  error  with  respect  to 
Abelard,  486. 

HACKET,  fanaticism  of,  427. 

Harlem,  Mathias,  mad  fanaticism  of,  426. 

Heresy,  held  a  sin  by  the  Catholic  Church,  200. 

Heretics,  characteristics  of  those  of  the  early 
ages,  425. 

Herman,  preaches  the  murder  of  all  priests 
and  magistrates,  426. 

Hermandad,  charter  of,  between  the  kingdoms 
of  Leon  and  Castile,  for  the  preservation  of 
their  liberties,  475. 

History,  difficulties  in  its  study,  248  ;  necessi- 
ty of  taking  into  account  times  and  circum- 
stances of  events  therein,  248. 

Hobbes,  his  false  theory  of  society,  304 ;  his 
servile  doctrine,  323. 

Honor,  principle  of,  in  monarchies,  according 
to  Montesquieu,  161. 

Horace,  on  the  origin  of  society,  462. 

Hospitals,  destroyed  by  Henry  VIII.  in  Eng- 
land, 185;  Catholic  bishops  the  protectors 
and  inspectors  of,  187  ;  laws  made  respecting 
them  by  the  Church,  187 ;  attached  to  mon- 
asteries and  colleges  in  the  middle  ages,  449 ; 
superintended  by  the  bishops,  449 ;  their 
property  protected  by  being  considered  as 
belonging  to  the  Church,  449. 

Hugh  of  St.  Victor,  historical  labors  of,  241. 

Humility,  its  effects  with  regard  to  toleration, 
193. 

IDEAS,  irreligious  ones  cannot  be  confined  to 
theory,  but  enter  on  the  field  of  practice,  70; 
destroy  themselves,  71 ;  power  of,  169 ;  they 
are  divided  into  those  that  flatter  the  pas- 
sions, and  those  that  check  them,  170 ;  they 
require  an  institution  to  preserve  and  en- 
force them,  170 ;  how  they  became  corrupted 
among  mankind  before  Christianity,  170; 
how  effected  by  the  press,  171 ;  their  natural 
progress,  171 ;  their  rapid  succession  in  mo- 
dern times,  171. 

Impiety  allies  itself  with  liberty  or  despotism 
to  suit  its  purpose,  388. 

Incredulity  in  Europe  the  fruit  of  Protes- 
tantism, 60;  spirit  of,  has  lost  much  of  its 
strength,  70. 


INDEX. 


497 


Independence,    personal,   feeling1    of,    existed 

among1  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  124. 
Indifference,  religious,  in  Europe,  the  fruit  of 

Protestantism,  60. 

Individual,  the,  how  absorbed  by  the  state 
among1  the  ancients,  127  ;  fatal  effects  of  the 
complete  annihilation  of  the  feeling's  of  re- 
spect for,  in  society,  129 ;  witnessed  among 
nations  not  Christians,  129. 

Individuals,  how  the  freedom  of,  was  fettered 
among1  the  ancient  republics,  130;  every 
thing1  ruled  by  the  state,  130. 

Inquisition,  the,  misrepresentations  with  re- 
gard to  that  of  Spain,  203  ;  its  duration  may 
be  divided  into  three  periods,  205;  appeals 
from  it  to  Rome,  207;  indulgence  of  the  lat- 
ter, 203;  interference  of  the  Popes  to  soft- 
en the  rigours  of,  203;  mildness  of  that  of 
Rome,  203;  no  case  of  capital  sentence  pro- 
nounced by  it,  203 ;  rigours  of  that  of  Spain 
in  the  time  of  Philip  II.  caused  by  the  Pro- 
testants themselves,  214;  compels  a  preacher 
to  retract  who,  in  the  presence  of  Philip  II., 
had  maintained  that  kings  have  absolute 
power  over  their  subjects,  218 ;  became  mild- 
er with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  218;  remarks 
thereon,  452;  appellants  to  Rome  from,  for- 
bidden to  return  to  Spain  under  pain  of 
death  by  pragmatic  sanction  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  454  ;  how  affected  by  the  poli- 
cy of  the  Spanish  kings,  455;  the  latter  ear- 
nestly endeavoured  to  have  the  judgment  in 
Spain  made  final,  without  appeal,  which  the 
Popes  refused,  455;  affected  impartiality  of 
writers  with  regard  to  it,  455.  See  Perez, 
Puigblanch,  Villanucva,  Llorente,  and  Jomtob- 

Institutions,  religious,  opposed  by  Protestant- 
ism and  philosophers,  219;  their  importance 
and  connexion  with  religion  herself,  221 ; 
have  survived  the  attempts  made  to  destroy 
them,  221 ;  their  nature  described,  222 ;  their 
object,  222  ;  are  perfectly  conformable  to  the 
spirit  of  the  Christian  religion,  223 ;  their 
commencement,  according  to  Cassian,  223  ; 
have  always  existed  in  the  Church  from  the 
time  of  Constantine,  223;  conduct  of  the 
Popes  towards  them,  224 ;  their  accordance 
with  the  Gospel  precepts,  225 ;  their  effects 
on  the  human  mind,  226;  their  services  and 
necessity,  227  ;  their  necessity  for  the  salva- 
tion of  society,  275 ;  not  inconsistent  with 
the  improvements  of  modern  times,  280; 
historical  view  of  them,  458 ;  coup  d'&il  at 
their  origin  and  development,  458-9. 

Institutions,  free,  injured  by  Protestantism, 
363. 

Institutions,  their  study,  248  ;  necessity  of  un- 
derstanding the  times  when  they  existed, 
248. 

Intellect,  the,  its  development,  how  affected 
by  Catholicity,  392;  influence  thereof  upon, 
historically  examined,  393;  its  relations 
with  religion,  404 ;  its  development  among 
the  nations  of  Europe  different  from  that  of 
those  of  antiquity,  405;  causes  that  have 
hastened  its  development  in  Europe,  405 ; 
origin  of  the  spirit  of  subtlety,  406  ;  service 
rendered  to  it  by  the  Church  in  opposing  the 
subtleties  of  the  innovators,  403  ;  its  progress 
from  the  eleventh  century  to  our  times,"412 ; 
different  phases,  412. 

Intolerance,  that  of  some  irreligious  men,  194  ; 
of  the  Romans,  196 ;  of  the  pagan  emperors, 
196 ;  has  continued  from  the  establishment 
of  Christianity  by  the  state,  in  various  forms, 


down  to  the  present  time,  196;  recent  in- 
stances of  it,  196  ;  case  of  France  examined, 
197 ;  doctrine  which  condemns  all  intoler- 
ance with  regard  to  doctrines  and  actions 
discussed  and  refuted,  198;  consequences 
which  would  flow  from  it,  198;  would  pro- 
duce impunity  for  crimes,  198;  civil  and 
religious,  distinguished,  450;  mistaken  by 
Rousseau ,  450 ;  its  existence  in  ancient  and 
modern  times  held  by  some  Protestants,  451. 

Irreligion,  spirit  of,  has  lost  much  of  its 
strength,  70. 

Isabella,  part  taken  by,  in  the  establishment 
of  the  Inquisition  in  Spain,  205. 

JANSENISTS,  the,  described,  62. 

Jerome,  St.,  on  the  name  Catholic  not  being 
given  to  heretics,  422. 

Jesuits,  importance  of,  in  the  history  of  civil- 
ization, 268 ;  their  eminent  services,  269 ; 
error  and  contradiction  of  M.  Guizot  in 
their  regard,  270;  false  charges  against, 
271. 

Jews,  the  slaves  of,  protected  by  decrees  of 
Councils,  107  ;  struggle  between  truth  and 
error  among,  170 ;  now  the  truth  was  pre- 
served, 170;  their  avarice,  206 ;  popular  ha- 
tred against,  206 ;  atrocities  charged  against 
them  by  the  people,  207 ;  pragmatic  sanction 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  with  regard  to, 
454;  law  of  Philip  II.  against,  455. 

John  de  Ste.  Marie,  extracts  from,  on  Chris- 
tian politics,  463. 

Jomtob,  Nathaniel,  his  work  called  The  Inqui- 
sition Unveiled,  456;  his  prejudice  and  vul- 
gar abuse,  456. 

Judaisers  pursued  by  the  Inquisition,  209. 

Justin,  on  martyrdom,  132;  his  Apology,  286. 

Justinian  gives  bishops  the  control  of  hospi- 
tals, 450. 

KINGS,  inviolability  of,  337  ;  greatest  increase 
of  the  power  of,  in  Europe,  dates  from  the 
appearance  of  Protestantism,  363. 

Knowledge,  state  of,  when  Christianity  ap- 
peared, 85;  sterility  of,  in  creating  social 
institutions,  85. 

LABORERS,  protected  by  the  Council  of  Rheims, 
182. 

Lacordaire  (I'Abbe')  on  the  Spanish  Inquisi- 
tion, 210. 

Lamennais  (1'Abbe"),  his  attempt  to  ally 
Catholicity  with  extreme  democracy,  131 ; 
his  doctrines  on  government  compared  with 
those  of  St.  Thomas,  333. 

Las  Casas,  exertions  of,  in  favor  of  the  native 
Americans  related  by  Robertson,  442. 

Lateran,  general  Council  of,  confims  the  truce 
of  God,  181 ;  eleventh  general  Council  of, 
forbids  the  maltreatment  of  monks,  clergy, 
pilgrims,  merchants,  peasants,  and  the  ship- 
wrecked, 182. 

Law,  the  divine,  false  interpretation  of,  284; 
St.  John  Chrysostom  on,  285;  according  to 
Bellarmine,  291.— See  St.  Thomas,  SuareX, 
Gotti,  Busenbaum,  lA^uori,  Billuart,  and  the 
Compendium  Salmalicense . 

Law. — See  St.  Thomas. 

League,  the  Hanseatic,  described,  354. 

Legislation,  that  of  Rome  described,  86;  was 
probably  influenced  by  Christianity,  86. 

Leibnitz,  "his  negotiations  with  Bossuet  to  re- 
unite the  Churches,  61 ;  his  theological  system 
contains  the  chief  dog-mas  of  Catholicity,  424. 


498 


N  D  E  X  . 


Lepers,  ordered  to  be  maintained  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  Church,  187. 

Lerida,  Council  of,  excludes  those  at  variance 
from  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  176;  de- 
crees seven  years'  penance  against  infanti- 
cide, 184. 

Leyden,  John  of,  his  excesses  at  Munster, 
426. 

Liberty,  a  word  ill  understood,  79;  examples 
of,  79 ;  how  limited,  79 ;  Catholicity  favora- 
ble to  its  true  spirit,  80 ;  true  nature  of,  228 ; 
according  to  Catholic  doctors,  31 1 ;  political 
freedom  owes  nothing  to  Protestantism,  352 ; 
Catholicity  favorable  to  it,  352;  why  it  has 
fallen  into  bad  repute  with  some,  362  ;  con- 
sidered in  relation  to  religious  intolerance, 
382 ;  cannot  subsist  without  morality,  389 ; 
remarkable  passage  from  Augustin  on  the 
subject,  390. 

Lillebonne,  Council  of,  enforces  the  truce  of 
God,  180. 

Llandaff,  Council  of,  177. 

Llorente,  his  History  of  the  Inquisition,  457  ; 
his  attempt  to  introduce  schism  and  heresy 
into  Spain,  457  ;  his  misrepresentation,  457  ; 
burns  a  portion  of  the  documents  belonging 
to  the  Inquisition  of  Madrid,  457. 

London,  Council  of,  106. 

Louis  of  Bavaria,  the  doctrine  that  the  impe- 
rial power  comeB  immediately  from  God. 
maintained  by  the  princes  of  the  empire  in 
his  time,  462. 

Love,  passion  of,  its  effects,  143 ;  how  treated 
by  Catholicity  and  Protestantism,  144 ;  ad- 
vantages of  the  course  pursued  by  the  for- 
mer, 145. 

Luther,  his  opinion  on  polygamy,  138;  effects 
which  his  doctrines  would  have  had,  had 
they  been  proclaimed  sooner,  138 ;  his  intol- 
erance towards  the  Jews,  209;  specimens 
of  his  violence,  grossness,  and  intolerance, 
421 ;  his  evidence  against  Catholicity,  423 ; 
his  interview  with  the  Devil,  425;  infidel 
passages  from  his  writings,  428. 

Lyons,  Council  of,  105 ;  Council  of,  see  Lepers; 
poor  men  of,  described,  251. 

MACON,  Councils  of,  104. 

Manichees,  unusual  severities  exercised  to- 
wards, 204  ;  description  of,  252. 

Manners,  gentleness  of,  one  of  the  character- 
istics of  European  civilization,  172  ;  wherein 
it  consists,  172 ;  exists  in  advanced  societies, 
172 ;  not  found  in  young  nations,  172 ;  did 
not  exist  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans, 
173  ;  causes  of  this,  173  ;  their  excessive  cor 
ruption  among  the  ancients,  445. 

Mariana,  his  popular  doctrines,  312 ;  on  the 
liberties  of  Spain,  481. 

Marquez,  P.,  on  the  disputes  between  rulers 
and  their  subjects,  482;  on  the  levying  of 
taxes,  and  the  right  of  rulers  over  the  pro- 
perty of  their  subjects,  483. 

Marriage,  doctrines  of  Catholicity  and  Protes- 
tantism with  regard  to,  compared,  136;  im- 
portance of  guarding  the  sanctity  of,  139; 
not  admitted  as  a  sacrament  by  Protestant- 
ism, 139;  different  conduct  of  Catholicity 
and  Protestantism  with  regard  to,  140. 

Martyrs,  heroism  of  the  Christian,  132. 

Matha,  John  of,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Or- 
der of  the  most  holy  Trinity  for  the  Redemp- 
tion of  Captives,  259. 

Mathematics,  obscurity  of  their  first  principles, 
425. 


Melancthon,  his  complaints  against  the  other 
Reformers,  421 ;  superstitions  of,  426. 

Merchants  protected  by  Councils,  182. 

Merida,  Council  of,  100. 

Missions,  their  unity  broken  by  Protestantism, 
260 ;  injury  thereby  done  to  them,  263 ;  what 
they  might  have  effected  had  it  not  appeared, 
263;  what  united  efforts  effected  in  earlier 
times,  264 ;  need  of,  on  a  large  scale,  for  the^ 
conversion  of  the  heathen,  265;  zeal  dis- 
played by  the  Church  in  the  promotion  of, 
in  latter  times,  266 ;  powerful  means  for  pro- 
moting at  the  command  of  Rome  before 
unity  was  broken,  266. 

Monarchy,  why  hereditary  is  preferable,  143; 
idea  formed  of,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
346;  application  thereof,  347  ;  in  what  it  dif- 
fered from  despotism,  347;  what  it  was  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  347  ;  its  relations  with 
the  Church,  348 ;  when  necessary  in  Europe, 
356;  different  character  of,  in  Europe  and 
Asia,  357  ;  passagf  from  De  Maistre  on,  358 ; 
institutions  for  limiting  it,  358 ;  it  acquired 
strength  in  the  sixteenth  century,  361 ;  pre- 
vailed over  free  institutions,  362 ;  causes  of 
this,  370. 

Monasteries,  those  in  the  east  established  in 
imitation  of  the  solitaries,  235 ;  causes  of 
their  decline,  235 ;  services  they  might  have 
rendered  to  literature,  236 ;  what  they  did 
for  knowledge,  236 ;  those  of  the  west  estab- 
lished, 238 ;  their  effects,  238  ;  property  ren- 
dered sacred,  239 ;  their  property,  239  ;  their 
claims  thereto,  239;  their  improvements, 
240;  encouragement  given  to  the  country 
life,  240 ;  their  services  to  Germany,  France, 
Spain,  and  England,  240;  great  men  they 
produced,  240  j  their  services  to  science  and 
letters,  240 ;  their  civilizing  effects,  242  ;  new 
forms  assumed  by  them  in  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries,  242  ;  their  objects,  243; 
benefits  they  conferred  on  mankind,  243. 

Monks,  protected  by  Councils,  180. 

Monogamy  not  owing  to  climate,  138. 

Montaigne  on  the  Reformation,  61 ;  his  infidel 
sentiments  changed  at  his  death,  429. 

Montanus,  Arias,  employed  by  Philip  II.  to 
collect  books  and  MSS.,  218. 

Montesquieu  on  the  principle  of  honor  in  mo- 
narchies, 162;  that  of  virtue  in  republics, 
161 ;  he  is  bound  by  his  theory,  165;  on  the 
destruction  of  monasteries  and  hospitals  in 
England  by  Henry  VIII..  185;  his  doctrine 
with  regard  to  the  latter,  186. 

Montpelher,  Council  of,  its  decrees  to  secure 
peace,  181. 

Moors,  the,  dread  of  their  power  in  Spain,  205 ; 
papal  bull  in  favor  of,  209;  law  of  Philip 
III.,  expelling  them,  454. 

NAPOLEON  and  the  Spanish  nation,  331 ; 
Narbonne,  Council  of,  its  decree  in  favor  of 

the  truce  of  God,  179. 
Nationality,  importance  of,  76. 
Nicholas,  a  fanatic  who  taught  that  it  was  good 

to  continue  in  sin  that  grace  might  the  more 

abound, 427. 
Nuns,  protected  by  the  Council  of  Rouen,  181. 

OBEDIENCE,  motives  of,  founded  on  the  will  of 

God,  97. 
Olive  trees,  why  protected  by  the  Council  of 

Narbonne,  180. 
Opinions,  the  rapid  succession  of,  in  modern 

times,  171. 


INDEX. 


499 


Opinion,  public,  influence  of,  on  morals,  163. 
Orange,   Council  of,   its  decree  in  favor  of 

slaves,  103. 
Orders,  the  religious-military  described,  242 ; 

the  mendicant  ditto,  252 ;  the  necessity  for 

the  latter,  253;  their  popular  nature,  254; 

their  influence,  254  ;  were  the  work  of  God, 

254;  their  relations  with  the  Pontiffs,  256; 

those  for  the  redemption  of  captives,  257; 

visions  inspiring  them,  259  ;  their  founders, 

259. 
Orleans,  Council  of,  its  decree  in  favor  of  slaves, 

100,  103,  107 ;  forbids  any  one  to  be  armed 

at  church,  176 ;  protects  hospitals,  187 ;  the 

poor  and  prisoners,  187. 
Oxford,  Council  of,  its  decree  against  robbers, 

182. 

PACTS,  298. 

Paganism  described  by  St.  Augustin,  89. 

Palafox,  on  the  duties  of  kings,  princes,  and 
magistrates,  321 ;  on  taxes  and  tyranny,  483. 

Palentia,  Council  of,  protects  the  defenceless, 
182.  ' 

Papin,  evidence  of,  in  favor  of  Catholicity,  424. 

Paris,  trades-union  of,  354. 

Passions,  the,  differently  treated  by  Catholici- 
ty and  by  Protestantism,  140 ;  why  so  active 
in  times  of  public  disturbance,  143. 

Patrick,  (St.),  Council  of,  105. 

Paul,  (St.),  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  459. 

Peasants. — See  Lateran. 

Penance,  efficacy  of  the  sacrament  of,  167. 

Perez,  on  the  condemnation  of  a  preacher  for 
absolutist  doctrines  by  the  Inquisition  of 
Spain,  455. 

Peter,  (St. ) ,  of  Arbues,  his  murder  by  the  Jews 
not  a  proof  of  the  unpopularity  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, 207  ;  tumult  occasioned  thereby,  207. 

Peter,  (St.),  Nolasque,  founds  the  Order  of 
Mercy  for  the  Redemption  of  Captives,  259. 

Philanthropy,  inadequate  for  works  of  benefi- 
cence without  Christian  Charity,  189. 

Philosophers,  the  irreligions  of  the  last  century 
preferred  pagan  to  Christian  institutions, 
161. 

Philosophy,  schools  of,  can  destroy  but  not 
create,  171. 

Philip  II.  of  Spain  did  not  institute  the  Inqui- 
sition, but  continued  it,  210;  why  so  much 
attacked  by  Protestants,  210;  probability 
that  the  attempts  made  to  introduce  Protes- 
tantism into  Spain  in  his  time  would  suc- 
ceed, owing  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
times,  211;  his  conduct  to  Carranza,  213; 
his  services  to  Catholicity,  215;  general  feel- 
ing in  his  reign  with  regard  to  cruel  punish- 
ments very  different  from  the  present,  217 ; 
his  patronage  of  literature,  218 ;  his  letter  to 
Arias  Montanfus,  456. — See  Inquisition. 

Pilgrims  protected  by  Councils,  181. 

Pitt,  anecdote  of,  76. 

Pius  II.  (Pope),  his  apostolic  letters  against 
slavery,  439. 

Pius  VII .  ( Pope ) ,  interposes  to  abolish  the  slave 
trade,  441. 

Plato,  immoral  doctrines  of,  422. 

Polygamy,  not  the  effect  of  climate,  138. 

Poor,  the,  regulations  of  Councils  in  favor  of, 
187. 

Popes,  the,  services  they  rendered  to  society 
by  preserving  the  sanctity  of  marriage,  137  ; 
support  the  truce  of  God,  181 ;  their  attempts 
to  mitigate  the  rigour  of  the  Spanish  Inqui- 
sition, 208;  appoint  judges  of  appeal,  208; 


their  intolerance  compared  with  the  toler- 
ance of  Protestantism,  208 ;  their  temporal 
powers,  340;  doctrines  of  theologians  with 
regard  to  them  in  case  they  should  fall  into 
heresy,  342 ;  nature,  origin,  and  effects  of 
their  temporal  power,  386;  list  of  titles  given 
to,  in  ancient  times,  423. 

Power,  origin  of,  284;  the  paternal,  considered 
with  regard  to  the  civil,  286;  the  latter,  ac- 
cording to  Bellarmine,  resides  immediately 
in  the  people,  292 ;  divine  origin  of,  298 ; 
violence  of,  when  illegitimate,  303 ;  mediate 
and  immediate  transmission  of,  305 ;  this  dis- 
tinction important  in  some  respects  and  un- 
important in  others,  306;  why  Catholic  di- 
vines have  so  zealously  supported  the  mediate, 
308;  faculties  of  the  civil,  317;  calumnies 
of  the  opponents  of  the  Church  on  this  point, 
317 ;  resistance  to  the  civil,  324 ;  comparison 
between  Catholicity  and  Protestantism  on 
this  point,  327  ;  vain  timidity  of  some  minds 
on  this  point,  324;  obedience  to  the  civil, 
taught  by  Catholicity  when  legitimate,  325; 
civil  distinguished  from  spiritual,  326;  con- 
duct of  Catholicity  and  Protestantism  with 
respect  to  the  separation  of  the  two,  326;  the 
independence  of  the  spiritual,  a  guarantee 
for  the  liberty  of  the  people,  326 ;  doctrines 
of  St.  Thomas  on  obedience  to  the  civil,  328; 
doctrines  of  St.  Thomas,  Bellarmine,  Suarez, 
&c.  on  resistance  to  the  civil,  in  extreme 
cases,  338. 

Preaching,  that  of  Protestantism  without  au- 
thority, 167. — See  Protestantism. 

Prebendaries,  bound  to  give  a  tenth  of  their 
fruits  to  an  hospital,  188. 

Press,  the  effects  of,  on  opinions,  171. 

Prisoners,  exertions  of  the  Church  in  favor  of, 
187. 

Protestantism,  present  condition  of,  64;  at- 
tempts to  preserve  itself  by  violating  its  fun- 
damental principle,  64;  causes  of  its  conti- 
nuance, 64;  has  almost  entirely  disappeared 
as  a  fixed  creed,  but  remains  as  a  body  of 
sects,  65;  its  positive  doctrines  repugnant  to 
the  instinct  of  civilization,  68 ;  its  essential 
principle  one  of  destruction,  69;  can  boast 
only  of  its  ruins,  69 ;  was  the  work  of  human 
passions,  and  not  of  God,  69;  effects  which 
even  its  partial  introduction  into  Spain  would 
produce,  74,  76,  78 ;  advantages  of  the  prac- 
tice of  preaching  preserved  Dy,  90,  166;  its 
preaching  is  without  authority,  167;  its  doc- 
trine with  respect  to  errors  of  the  mind,  199; 
effects  which  its  introductien  into  Spain 
would  have  produced,  216;  would  have  bro- 
ken the  unity  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  216; 
is  opposed  to  vows  and  celibacy,  219;  its  ap- 
pearance, 262;  its  effects  in  breaking  the 
unity  of  European  civilization,  262;  divided 
the  missionaries  among  themselves,  263;  dis- 
astrous effects  of,  267;  exalts  the  temporal 
power  at  the  expense  of  the  spiritual,  308 ; 
its  relations  with  liberty,  343 ;  real  state  of 
the  case  on  this  point,  344;  its  origin  aristo- 
cratic, 355 ;  not  favorable  to  the  poor,  355 ; 
has  contributed  to  destroy  free  institutions, 
363 ;  fearful  state  of  Europe  after  it  appeared, 
369;  political  doctrines  prevailing  in  Europe 
before  its  appearance  compared  with  those 
of  modern  publicists  and  the  school  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  374 ;  has  prevented  the 
homogeneity  of  European  civilization,  375; 
historical  proofs,  376;  compared  with  Catho- 
licity with  regard  to  learning,  criticism,  the 


500 


INDEX. 


learned  languages,  the  foundation  of  univer- 
sities, the  progress  of  literature  and  the  arts, 
mysticism,  high  philosophy,  metaphysics, 
morals,  religious  philosophy,  and  the  philo- 
sophy of  history,  412;  evidences  ag-ainst, 
from  Luther,  Melancthon,  Calvin,  Beza, 
Grotius,  Papin,  Puffendorf,  and  Leibnitz, 
423;  its  superstition  and  fanaticism,  425; 
bad  faith  of  its  founders,  428;  passages  prov- 
ing1 this,  428 ;  progress  of  infidelity  soon 
after  its  appearance  proved  from  Luther, 
Brentzen,  Gruet,  and  Montaigne,  428. 

Puffendorf,  his  false  theory  of  society,  >4j04 ; 
evidence  of,  against  Protestantism,  423. 

Puigblanch.— See  Jomlob. 

Punishments,  right  of  inflicting  capital,  deriv- 
ed from  God,  300;  cannot  come  from  pacts, 
300;  mildness  of,  among  barbarian  nations 
not  a  proof  of  civilization  but  of  indifference 
to  crime,  447  ;  immense  superiority  of  the 
legislation  of  the  Church  with  respect  to,  ac- 
cording to  M.  Guizot,  447. 

REGULUS,  virtue  bordering  on  ferocity,  104. 

Religion,  always  existed  in  some  shape  among 
the  greater  part  of  mankind,  66  ;  power  of, 
an  Spain,  76;  condition  of,  when  Christianity 
appeared,  84;  atrocities  committed  in  the 
name  of,  by  Catholics  and  Protestants,  204; 
importance  of,  to  the  civil  power,  311 ;  cor- 
ruption of,  among  the  ancients,  445. 

Revolutions,  those  of  modern  times,  389 ;  dif- 
ference between  that  of  the  United  States  of 
America  and  that  of  France,  389. 

Rheims,  Councils  "of,  104;  commands  that  the 
clergy,  monks,  women,  travellers,  laborers, 
and  vine-dressers  shall  be  respected  during 
war,  182 ;  protects  the  poor,  187. 

Robertson.— See  Dominicans  and  Las  Casas. 

Romans,  the,  their  savage  heroism  not  tolerat- 
ed by  the  mild  spirit  of  Christianity,  104 ; 
futile  attempts  made  to  imitate  them,  128; 
their  manners  effeminate  without  being  gen- 
tle, 173. 

Rome,  legislation  of,  86;  how  affected  by 
Christianity,  86  ;  vice  of  her  political  (organ- 
ization, 87;  Council  of,  its  decrees  in  favor 
•of  slaves,  109 ;  the  court  of,  endeavors  to 
tnitigate  the  severity  of  the  Spanish  Inqui- 
sition, 208;  mildness  of  the  Inquisition  at 
Rome  compared  with  that  in  other  places, 
208  ;  no  instance  of  a  capital  sentence  hav- 
ing been  pronounced  thereby,  208 ;  the  de- 
clfne  and  fall  of  the  empire  of,  229. 

Roscelin  described,  400;  compared  with  St. 
Anselm,  407. 

Rouen,  Council  of,  its  decree  in  favor  of  the 
truce  of  God,  181. 

Rousseau,  doctrines  of,  282  ;  his  appeal  to  the 
passions,  288;  his  Contrat  Social,  299;  his 
misrepresentation  of  Catholicity,  450;  doc- 
trines of  his  Control  Social,  451 ;  his  intoler- 
ance, 451. 

fsAAVEDRA,  his  popular  doctrines,  313. 

Salamanca,  Compendium  of,  on  the  transmis- 
sion of  power  by  the  people's  consent,  295. 

Sciences,  the  natural  and  social  compared, 85. 

IScipio,  story  of,  165. 

Self-defence,  right  of,  alleged  as  a  plea  for  the 
intolerance  of  governments,  202. 

Seneca,  on  the  worship  of  the  gods,  316. 

Sigebert,  historical  labors  of,  241. 

Slaves,  their  large  numbers  among"  the  an- 
cients, 91 ;  their  numbers  at  Athens,  Sparta, 


Rome,  and  in  the  eastern  countries,  91; 
opinions  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  regarding 
them,  91 ;  their  treatment,  91 ;  dangers  from 
their  numbers,  91 ;  their  rebellions,  92;  their 
immediate  emancipation  impracticable,  93; 
the  Church  did  all  that  could  be  done  in  their 
favor,  94 ;  difficulties  she  had  to  contend 
with  in  their  emancipation,  94:  conduct,  de- 
signs, and  tendencies  of  the  Church  favora- 
ble to  them,  94 ;  their  natural  inferiority  to 
freemen  proclaimed  by  the  heathen  philoso- 
phers, 95;  their  natural  equality  with  them 
inculcated  by  the  Scriptures  and  the  Church, 
97  ?  motives  for  their  obedience,  97 ;  their  ill- 
treatment,  98 ;  spirit  of  hatred  and  revolts 
thereby  caused,  98;  St.  Paul's  instructions 
to  them,  98 ;  power  of  life  and  death  possess- 
ed over  them  by  their  masters,  and  cruelties 
exercised,  99;  scene  from  Tacitus,  99;  St. 
Paul  intercedes  for  one  of  them,  100;  ill- 
treatment  of  them  forbidden  by  Councils  of 
the  Church,  100;  she  substitutes  public  trial 
for  private  vengeance  in  their  regard,  101 ; 
the  clergy  forbidden  to  mutilate  them,  101  ; 
she  condemns  to  penance  those  who  put  them 
to  death  of  their  own  authority,  101 ;  she 
protects  those  newly  emancipated,  103;  those 
of  the  Church  not  allowed  to  be  sold  or  ex- 
changed, 109;  those  who  embrace  the  mon- 
astic state  arc  freed  by  decree  of  the  Council 
of  Rome,  109;  abuse  thereof,  109;  were  rais- 
ed to  the  priesthood,  but  not  until  they  had 
been  freed,  110;  prevalence  of  the  abuse  of 
ordaining  slaves  without  the  consent  of  their 
masters,  110;  the  Church  protects  their  mar- 
riages, and  forbids  them  to  be  dissolved  by 
their  masters,  113. — See  Councils. 

Slavery,  the  offspring  of  sin,  112. 

Society,  will  always  be  either  religious  or  su- 
perstitious, 67  ;  modern,  described,  72  ;  its 
progress,  82  ;  condition  of,  when  Christianity 
appeared,  84  ;  present  state  of,  274  ;  admin- 
istration alone  not  adequate  to  its  wants ; 
principle  of  charity  required,  276;  physical 
means  of  restraining  the  masses  of,  278 ; 
moral  means  required,  280 ;  origin  of,  ac- 
cording to  St.  Thomas;  289;  not  the  work 
of  man,  291  ;  not  to  be  saved  by  strict  polit- 
ical doctrines,  without  religion  and  moral- 
ity, 314;  why  modern  conservative  schools 
are  powerless  in  preserving  it,  315  ;  struggle 
therein  between  the  three  elements,  monar- 
chy, aristocracy,  and  democracy,  369. 

Solitaries,  the  early,  described,  231  ;  numbers 
of,  231  ;  influence  of,  in  spiritualising  ideas 
and  improving  morals,  232;  overcome  the 
difficulties  of  the  luxurious  and  enervating 
climate,  234  ;  great  men  who  received  their 
inspirations  from  them,  234. 

Spain,  effects  which  the  partial  introduction  of 
Protestantism  would  have  produced  there, 
74,  76,  77  ;  power  of  religious  ideas  there,  76; 
peculiar  manner  in  which  revolutionary 
ideas  have  come  into  operation  there,  77  ; 
has  not  yet  obtained  the  government  which 
she  requires,  78 ;  effects  of  the  loss  of  her 
national  unity,  78 ;  her  intolerance  in  reli- 
gious matters  not  so  great  as  it  has  been  re- 
presented, 218;  bold"  language  used  there 
with  regard  to  politics,  312;  industrial  pro- 
gress therein,  354  ;  Catholicity  and  politics 
there,  377 :  real  state  of  the  question,  377; 
causes  of  the  ruin  of  her  free  institutions, 
378;  ancient  and  modern  freedom,  378; 
Communeros  of  Castile,  379;  policy  of  her 


INDEX 


501 


rulers,  380;  Ferdinand,  Ximenes,  Charles 
V.,  and  Philip  II.  381. 

Stephen,  (Abbot),  his  account  of  the  excesses 
committed  by  the  Manichees  in  France,  252. 

Suarez,  on  the  origin  of  power,  294;  his  reply  to 
King-  James  I.  of  ling-land,  294 ;  on  the  dis- 
putes between  subjects  and  their  rulers,  473. 

Subtlety,  spirit  of,  in  the  middle  ages,  its 
causes,  406. 

TACITUS,  scene  from,  of  cruelty  to  slaves,  99 ; 
on  the  ancient  Germans  with  regard  to  wo- 
men, 152;  his  description  of  their  manners, 
why  embellished,  152. 

Tact,  value  of,  171. 

Tancheme,  excesses  of,  250. 

Telugis,  Council  of,  ordains  the  truce  of  God, 
180 

Tertullian,  apology  of,  286. 

Thcodosious,  the  emperor,  excluded  from  the 
Church  by  St.  Ambrose,  for  the  slaughter  at 
Thessalonica.  178. 

Theories,  rapid  succession  of,  in  modern  times, 
171. 

Theresa,  St.,  extracts  from  the  visions  of,  427. 

Thierry,  M.,  his  history  of  the  Conquest  of 
England  by  the  Normans,  120. 

Thomas,  St.,  of  Aquin,  extract  from,  on  the 
origin  of  society,  289;  on  the  Divine  law, 
290;  his  definition  of  law,  319;  his  doctrines 
with  regard  to  laws  and  royal  power,  319; 
on  obedience  to  laws,  328 ;  utility  of  his  dic- 
tatorship in  the  schools  in  the  middle  ages 
to  the  human  mind,  411 ;  passages  from,  on 
the  duties  of  rulers  and  subjects,  470;  his 
doctrines  on  the  forms  of  government,  480. 

Times,  superiority  of  the  primitive,  has  been 
exaggerated,  422. 

Toledo,  Councils  of,  103,  107,  108,  111. 

Toleration,  how  misunderstood  and  misrepre- 
sented, 190;  prejudices  against  Catholicity 
with  regard  to,  190;  principle  of,  considered, 
191 ;  in  religious  men  is  the  produce  of  two 
principles,  charity  and  humility,  191 ;  illus- 
trations, shewing  how  they  are  affected  by 
intercourse  with  the  world  on  this  point,  192 ; 
that  of  some  irreligious  men,  194;  consider- 
ed in  society  and  governments,  194 ;  its  ex- 
istence in  society  not  owing  to  the  philoso- 
phers, 195;  its  causes,  195;  principle  of  uni- 
versal, discussed,  196. 

Tours,  Council  of,  ordains  that  the  poor  shall  be 
supported  in  their  own  town  or  parish,  187. 

Trades-corporations,  origin  and  salutary  ef- 
fects of,  477. 

Trades-union. — See  Paris. 

Trajan,  the  emperor,  6000  gladiators  slain  at 
his  games,  174. 

Transubstantiation,  discussion  with  regard  to, 
in  consequence  of  the  philosophy  of  Des- 
cartes, 397. 


Trent,  Council  of,  gives  bishops  the  power  of 

visiting  hospitals,  449. 
Troja,  Councils  of,  promote  the  truce  of  God, 

180. 
Truce  of  God  described,  179;  established  by 

Church  Councils,  179 ;  supported  by  Popes, 

180. 

Truth,  described,  69. 
Tubuza,  Council  of,  establishes  the  truce  of 

God,  179. 

UNBELIEVERS,  doctrines  of,  with  regard  to  er- 
rors of  the  mind,  200. 
Universities,  those  founded  by  Catholicity,  414. 

VAISON,  Council  of,  decree  of,  in  favor  of  found- 
lings and  against  infanticide,  184. 

Valois,  Felix  of,  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Order  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity  for  the  Re- 
demption of  Captives,  259. 

Vaudois,  described,  252. 

Verneul,  Council  of,  105. 

Villanueva,  prejudice  and  egotism  of,  457. 

Vine-dressers,  protected  by  the  Council  of 
Rheims,  182. 

Virginity,  respected  by  the  ancients,  &c.,  but 
not  by  Protestantism,  146;  how  important 
that  it  should  be  respected,  146;  not  inju- 
rious to  the  state,  147 ;  its  effects  on  the  fe- 
male character,  149. 

Visions,  (see  Orders)',  effects  of,  259;  those  of 
Catholics,  427. 

Vives,  Louis,  on  human  knowledge,  424. 

Voltaire  described,  63;  extract  from,  on  the 
importance  of  the  morals  of  courts  to  socie- 
ty, 137. 

Vows,  vindication  of  religious,  228 ;  those  of 
chastity  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Church,  458. 

WIDOWS,  their  vows  of  chastity  in  the  early 
ages  of  the  Church,  458. 

Witmar,  a  German  monk,  his  chronicles  much 
esteemed  241 ;  used  by  Leibnitz,  241. 

Women,  degraded  condition  of,  among  the 
ancients,  136,  441 ;  their  elevation  due  en- 
tirely to  Catholicity,  136,  156;  how  affected 
by  chivalry,  150;  their  elevation  falsely  as- 
cribed to  the  ancient  Germans,  151 ;  pro- 
tected by  Councils,  182. 

Worms,  Council  of,  excommunicates  those 
who  refuse  to  be  reconciled,  177. 

ZEBALLOS,  P..  on  Christian  politics  and  Na- 

both's  vineyard,  467. 
Ziegler,  a  Lutheran,  an  ardent  defender  of 

the  immediate  communication  of  temporal 

power,  463. 

Zonarus,  on  charitable  establishments,  187. 
Zuinglius,  his  phantom,  426. 


THE  END. 


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